Phone Galapagos: Japan Mobile Megathread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Phone Galapagos: Japan Mobile Megathread

felch me daddy jr.: Oct 30, 2009

So I'm a real noob when it comes to mobile phones, and still use a basic prepaid phone. However, I want to buy a smartphone while in Japan and get with the times, so I have a few questions.

I'm looking at the Infobar A01 posted earlier in this thread, as I really like the design and UI and it seems it has most the features that are available. I'm guessing it's restricted to au only? I tried finding out about plans on their site, but my Japanese skills aren't quite there yet, and even with extensive rikai-chaning I didn't quite understand... well, anything. I'm looking for a one-year plan (or a longer plan without outrageous cancelling fees; I'm only staying about 10 months), preferably with packet-houdai and mail-houdai (or at least a high set amount), and maybe a few minutes included, but I don't call much. What kind of monthly fee am I looking at here, and how much for the phone itself?

I'm also interested in OneSeg, but I don't really know much about how it works. I'm assuming I'll have to sign up for extra services to watch TV? Is there any recording feature, or will I still have to watch stuff live?

Finally, I'm guessing payment is always month-by-month? I would prefer paying everything in one lump sum when I buy it, both because I won't have to worry about bills every month, but also because I probably won't have a bank account immediately when I get there, and I want to get the phone asap.

Speaking of getting it quickly, will I need the ARC itself, or is the little note saying it's being processed enough?

I'm probably going to bring a Japanese friend with me to the store to help me when I'm buying, but I want to be prepared in advance so I don't walk out with loads of stuff I have no idea what is, so I hope someone can help me.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2011 10:11

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 00:36

felch me daddy jr.: Oct 30, 2009

jet_dee posted:

I was looking at AU plans yesterday, and I read that the Everybody discount, which reduces your monthly payments significantly, locks you into an automatically-renewing 2 year contract from which there is an almost 10,000 yen cancellation fee. I don't know if there is a contract cancellation fee if you don't take the Everybody discount, though.

By the way, I found that all out on AU's English site, so why not check http://www.au.kddi.com/english/ ?

Yeah, payment is by monthly installments. You can opt to pay your bill at the convenience stores rather than have it automatically withdrawn from your bank account. Still though, sort out the bank account before your phone.

The paper saying it's being processed worked fine when I signed up with AU.

D'oh, I didn't even think about checking if au had an English site. Thanks for the link!

And paying at a convenience store does sound very convenient. Yeah, I'm probably getting a bank account eventually, but I'm thinking that if I'm gonna pay for a year of service, then I'm using as much of it as possibly can.

tarepanda posted:

You can get a one month Plan SS (5 minutes or so) that will give you a base charge of around 1000 yen, then toss pakehoudai (unlimited data) on top of that. E-mail is just data, so it's included in pakehoudai. The shortest payment term on cell phones with au that I know of is 12 months, but I'm just saying that off the top of my head. When you cancel your phone, you will have to finish paying it off.

Depending on what you get, where you get it, and what kind of deals you get, you're looking at a base charge of around 10000 yen. au pakehoudai works on a sliding scale; you pay for your data up to a certain point (6000 yen or so? It's been a while...) and then you just don't pay more than that no matter how much data you use. So if you go all the way up to that point, you could be looking at around 16000 yen a month.

Oh, that sounds pretty good. I probably won't use a lot of data transfer, but I like having the safety of knowing I'm not suddenly going to be charged an outrageous amount because I did something stupid.

quote:

Phones are much more expensive here than in America.

I'm not American, and I'm used to stuff being more expensive than in Japan.

quote:

OneSeg is just watching TV on your tiny phone screen. Reception can be crap. Your phone can record shows. You don't really have to sign up for anything extra, though there are pay channels/shows/movies.

Yay, my animes!

quote:

You will need your alien card. They need the number and the proof of your address/occupation/visa. Obviously they don't want to give a phone to someone with a 12-month contract if their visa is three months.

But if I have the processing note and my passport with the visa in, wouldn't that be enough? Not really a big deal, but again, if I can get a couple of weeks longer of service, then I want to.

Thanks for the help, guys!

# ¿ Jul 29, 2011 12:51

felch me daddy jr.: Oct 30, 2009

So does anyone know if you can put a SIM in an Infobar A01? I can't find any info on it online, but I really want to use it when I return from Japan too (don't really know if it's worth it if I'm only gonna use it for ~10 months).

# ¿ Aug 10, 2011 16:31

felch me daddy jr.: Oct 30, 2009

Speaking of Softbank prepaid, is it possible to reactivate an expired account? My account expired in december or january, but since it says my number would be reserved for 360 days after expiry, and active again if I bought a new card, I bought one yesterday. And sure enough, I can receive mails no problem, but it seems I can't send any, despite the account information line telling me I have 2976 yen in my account. So did I just pay for receiving stuff on the same mail/number, or is something wrong?

EDIT: Turns out I can make calls, just not send any mails.

felch me daddy jr. fucked around with this message at 07:53 on Aug 19, 2011

# ¿ Aug 19, 2011 02:50

felch me daddy jr.: Oct 30, 2009

Ah, that's right! Thanks!

# ¿ Aug 19, 2011 15:30

felch me daddy jr.: Oct 30, 2009

Speaking of mixi, is there any clever way to bypass the cell phone registration? I use a prepaid phone, so while I receive the confirmation mail, I can't visit the site. Am I going to have to get a proper plan if I want to register? Some people I know claimed that they were able to register without registering cell phones when they used their school e-mail address, but that didn't work for me.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2011 02:17

felch me daddy jr.: Oct 30, 2009

Kenishi posted:

Borrow someone's phone and visit the link on that?

Yeah, guess that's my only hope, problem is finding someone with a phone that isn't registered on mixi. I considered buying a cheap-rear end plan, but I only have around 8 months left of my stay, and don't really need it for anything other than mixi, so I figured it wouldn't be worth it.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2011 03:32

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 00:36

felch me daddy jr.: Oct 30, 2009

Rogue 7 posted:

My work's encouraging me to get a smartphone, since I won't immediately have internet access in my apartment, apparently, and my trainer seems to indicate that getting internet coverage through my cell provider is the sensible way to go. This makes some degree of sense to me.

What would I be looking at in terms of costs? I'd like to keep it under 5k a month for the phone because I'm a cheap rear end, but I'm not stingy on actual internet access at home because good lord am I addicted to this poo poo.

The earlier mentioned B-mobile is pretty decent for a really cheap option if you can live with 3G on your phone. The plan I'm on includes 1GB a month, but you can also get 2GB without going over 5000 yen. Also you can probably use your current smartphone if you have one, and you don't have to get like a 2-year contract (5 months IIRC).

# ¿ Dec 16, 2013 18:24

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