Cellphone Queries

[hatefulsandwich]

Recently my phone got an enormous crack in its screen and while still usable, I've been considering just getting a new phone - more specifically an iPhone. A large part of the reason I want to get the iPhone is because of, well, Japan. The iPhone is a world phone so it uses both gsm and CDMA frequencies. In South Africa we're on GSM while Japan is, obviously, CDMA. This would work well for me.

However, I haven't the slightest clue how CDMA works. I hear a lot of phones in USA are carrier locked. We don't do that here. How does CDMA actually work? From what I've read, there isn't a SIM card involved... Or am I misunderstanding something there? Really, I mainly want to know if I would be able to easily get on to a Japanese cellular network if I came with an unlocked iPhone from South Africa?

Of course the other option will be to get an iPhone in Japan (should I make it through, of course). I hear there can be problems getting them on contract because of the fact that our contracts with JET are technically only 1 year while the average contract for a phone is 2 years. Is it possible to bypass this with a Japanese citizen vouching for you or something like that? Otherwise I suspect you just pay full price for the phone, right? Approximately how much does that work out to (for the current iPhone 4S)?

[Siyris]

I don't know where you've heard it's hard to get a cell phone contract for 2 years... it's inaccurate. If you decide to stay for only one year it just results in the same as it would in your home country -- you pay a small (usually around 10,000 yen or so I've heard) fee for breaking contract and there you go. The difficulty (if you want to call it that) with smart phones is that many carriers do not seem to want to let foreigners pay for it in monthly payments along with their monthly bill like most Japanese people will... which means dishing out 40,000+ yen when you first get here on a cell phone. Not exactly fun, but not terrible either. I'm not sure of what the 4s will cost, but my 4 from 7 months ago was just under 50,000 yen.... I think the 4s is a little more expensive than that, but again, I'm not sure.

As for bringing over your iphone... I had the same idea. I was hoping to get a sim-only plan... unfortunately, those either don't exist here or are extremely hard to come by. So now I have my American iphone as well as my Japanese one. Perhaps I'll sell the Japanese one to my successor when I leave, or turn it in (supposedly there is a small refund you can get if you do this) to Softbank. I kept my American one so that when I return home I can just reactivate it.
I would not advise trying to bring a phone (any phone) over in hopes of getting it onto a contract with a Japanese company, even if it is an international phone. However, I WOULD say bring a phone with you if possible... it can be really lonely the first few weeks, and it's good to have SOMETHING in case of any emergency.

[hatefulsandwich]

Okay, so the only thing you can do is take a contract, but you can't actually get the phone on contract? There's no kind of equivalent of Prepaid where you can use your own phone? And if the Network Provider doesn't offer a phone you want (hypothetically), you're basically SOL? Or if you wanted to get a new phone after you'd taken out the contract, you're out of luck unless you buy from your provider? Am I getting this all right or have I misunderstood some stuff here?

To me, pretty much the whole point of getting a contract is because it tends to subsidize the cost of the phone. I would also be pretty annoyed to have to pay to end a contract if I left after one year.

What would be the point of bringing a phone in order to keep in touch with home in the beginning if you can't actually connect to the Japanese networks? I imagine roaming costs would be astronomical.

[hatefulsandwich]

Oh, and actually, I was wondering about the fact that you say you'll possibly sell your handset to your successor... So is it possible to get a contract with, say, the phone you sell as long as that person also uses SoftBank?

[mobiuschic42]

It's been awhile since I was in Japan for study abroad (fall 2007), but I know I bought my SoftBank phone outright since I was only there for a semester. I don't remember exactly how much it cost, but it was something like 12000 yen, and then my monthly cell phone bill was...less than 6000? That was not a smart phone, obviously (since it was 2007! The iPhone was only released in the US in July of that year), but it also was definitely not the cheapest phone they had, either, so that should give you some kind of an idea.
I know there were definitely other students enrolled for a full year who were getting phones with 1 year contracts, so those exist, too.

Also, you may find that there are features of Japanese phones that you won't be able to get on foreign phones that you might end up wanting once you get to Japan. The one that I'm thinking of is infrared signaling - that lets you send and receive other people's contact info without entering it all in manually. It's very cool, but we don't have that on US phones.

So, if my phone broke today, I think I'd probably just get some cheapo non-smart phone (or use an old one/buy a used one cheap) to tide me over and wait until I got to Japan to get a new phone. Especially since, given my lack of Japanese skills, I know it's going to be hard enough to set up cell service without trying to say "I want to use this existing foreign phone and your service."

Hope my out-dated knowledge helps a bit!

[mobiuschic42]

Also, if you got a new phone now, wouldn't that lock you into a South African contract for 2 years? I'm planning on turning off or at least severely limiting my US service if I go to Japan...

[Laurel]

OK, lots of questions lol. Let's see if I can help/
I brought my smart phone with me from the UK to Japan. I, like yourself, was hoping that I could get a Japanese simcard to use with it. Unfortunately, when I got here I found out that this was not possible (asked my supervisor and softbank rep etc). I ended up buying an iphone. I think the phone itself cost me 5man at most. The reason I had to by the phone was because I hadn't lived in Japan for a year. The contract itself is 3000 a month (similar to a phone contract in Britain).
I know that buying the cellphone is an extra expense you may want to avoid, but I don't think you can avoid it. If you want to lower the cost, you can go for a Japanese cellphone. They are still pretty cool, and as said previously, you may really like some of the cool things they provide.

Oh, if you do want to take your phone with you still, you need to get it unlocked. If it's an iphone, I don't know if you can do that.

[Eigen]

When I arrived last year, I was curious about similar things. I would recommend AGAINST buying an iPhone or other device and bringing it in. You can get a discount if you lock in a 2-year contract with Softbank or other carriers (1 years offer nothing, or aren't available). The smallest monthly payment plan is 2 years. I won't say it's impossible to get a payment plan as a foreigner, but it is very difficult. Also, as stated above, many phones that you'd think would work in Japan may work, but the carriers Softbank, Docomo, NTT, etc could just refuse to let you use it.

The cost of an iPhone and the deals you get varies by time and region, so watch for sales or specials! It's not a huge difference but it is there if you're a penny pincher.

When I arrived, it was 46,500 yen for the phone and all combined costs. I opted for a full flat-rate data package. As a foreigner you're going to cling to your 3G connection ability wherever you go. Being able to pull up mapping and information at the touch of a button is so great. Some people don't buy the flat rate package but I was very worried about data charges or going over my time. It's quite possible to rack up a HUGE (and I mean huge) bill in data charges with an iPhone. So many features are constantly streaming.

Your iPhone/Smartphone/Keitai will be your best friend here. Seriously. Also, before you sign a contract, it's good to see what carriers your local friends and JETs will be on. Softbank offers free calling/SMS messaging between friends that are also on Softbank!

[hatefulsandwich]

As far as I'm aware, in South Africa it isn't actually legal to lock phones to certain providers. Even if it were locked on GSM, I doubt that would affect the CDMA side of it. I was actually thinking of getting a phone second-hand. Ultimately I'd probably like to get the next generation of iPhone whenever it finally gets released, so perhaps I could go for a cheaper phone initially anyway.

It would appear that the iPhone is cheaper in Japan than here anyway (most things are cheaper in a lot f the world than here anyway).

[Allison_NaraPA]

What would be the point of bringing a phone in order to keep in touch with home in the beginning if you can't actually connect to the Japanese networks? I imagine roaming costs would be astronomical.

Many new JETs may not have immediate internet access, Japanese cell phones, international payphones, etc. Having an option, even if the roaming costs are astronomical, can be very helpful if you have an emergency or just want to touch base with beloved friends or family.

[losdutchmen]

Ok, stupid question, but here goes.

With all of these foreign ALTs walking around with iphones, what happens when their teaching contract is up? What do they do with their smart phones? Do they take them home? Sell them back to the phone company? Sell them to incoming ALTs?

I'm going to assume that since bringing a phone from outside of Japan doesn't work, vice versa is true. Or do they work back home?

[maulen]

When I got my IPhone, I was offered to buy it upfront or take a monthly plan (added like 1500 yen a month to the bill or something). I took the monthly installments.

Guess my nearest Yamada Denki is really easy going b/c I don't get all this "it's difficult/impossible to do monthly plans".

I think if you buy it straight up, it's like 40,000 yen or something.


Now, I did get screwed on that "we don't know how long you'll be in the country" when I was looking to buy a car.

[mobiuschic42]

Ok, stupid question, but here goes.

With all of these foreign ALTs walking around with iphones, what happens when their teaching contract is up? What do they do with their smart phones? Do they take them home? Sell them back to the phone company? Sell them to incoming ALTs?

I'm going to assume that since bringing a phone from outside of Japan doesn't work, vice versa is true. Or do they work back home?

Not a stupid question at all! I took my phone back home after study abroad because it's a fun souvenir and it might be useful if I go to Japan again (though I'd probably eventually get a new phone). I would think you might be able to sell it to an incoming ALT, but remember that phones are a very personal choice and most people want something newer, so I wouldn't count on being able to sell it.
I think my Japanese phone would technically work here in the US (I use T-Mobile), but I haven't really tried it. I once tried putting my US sim card in (it's the same shape/size) for kicks, but it didn't seem to work. I didn't spend a lot of time on it though.

[Cliodhna]

My personal experience as an exchange student might echo or differ from some of the posts already made in this thread (after a day of serious storms here, I'm kinda tl;dr right now) but I still want to share:

We as students looked over all the carriers in general and decided that AU made the most sense for us price-wise and service-wise. This is because DoCoMo is way overpriced (we're talking $100-200+ a month), mostly because their selling point is that they still work even when the subway is moving in Tokyo (which is silly to buy it for when you can just wait 45 seconds until you stop at another station and you have a signal again.). Softbank seemed better for those who wanted a prepay phone (which one or two did get, but I think their services were limited), but their coverage wasn't that great. AU, while they didn't have a signal while the subway moved, seemed to have equally good coverage as DoCoMo with better prices better than both them and Softbank, and had a wide range of services. AU was a two year contract, but we realized that if we tried to do anything less than a proper contract with them that it would cost us more in the long run than the $150 to break the contract at the end of the year, so we opted for that. AU phones run off of an ICID card (if I'm remembering correctly) that acts as a key to allow the phone to work in the AU network. Without the card (which looks like a sim card), the phone is pretty useless beyond its preinstalled apps. When you break your contract, they remove the ID and all your emails and addresses are still intact, but after a couple of months my phone started to go a little wonky without it.

Speaking of the phone, when you sign the contract, you have a selection of free phones like with US/Western carriers. AU only had one bilingual phone to offer, and it was one that was designed with middle aged people in mind, but it worked just fine for me, and even with my fellow students who got phones that weren't bilingual and that did more things (like radio and tv), I was able to get more use out of my phone in the long run and my phone looked a little more high quality, haha.

I got my phone apart from the majority of the other students and went to the AU store with a friend who was a former JET oddly enough. My friend negotiated my phone for me, and the salesman was so impressed that he gave me a discount, haha. This being said, I do suggest bringing a friend who is either a native or fluent speaker of Japanese with you to the store so as to circumvent awkwardness/frustration in filling out contracts and answering questions.

Another point is how Japanese cell phones are actually used. You do not make phone calls on your phone. Talking on your phone in public is considered really rude. Because of this, phone contracts come with virtually no minutes. If you try to use a japanese cell phone for calls like a western one, you'll be paying hundreds of dollars a month unnecessarily. For sanity's sake, I opted for having the 47 minute plan. I think everyone else took the cheaper 17 minute one. Your phone is used to send emails and surf the net mostly. Net use is charged by the packet sent and/or received on a yen or fraction of a yen basis. For example, say you send an email that ends up sending 27 packets to the server and say your rate is ¥0.2 a packet. 27x.2=¥5.4 is then what you're charged. I can't recall how packets are calculated, but it's like a few kilobytes or something. If you just stick to emails and occasionally checking the weather channel, with a 47 minute plan your bill will come out to around $45 a month for your phone. As I did see someone mention early on about jerky cell phone salespeople, if someone isn't going to give you a proper contract, I would personally leave the store. To prevent someone being a jerk, this is also why I suggest bringing a native or fluent Japanese speaker you can trust with you- they'll help you to not get ripped off and get you off to a good start. I've personally never run into jerky salespeople at AU, and bringing a friend who is fluent helps reduce the stress of "OMGGAIJIN" when you walk in.

When you receive your bill in the mail, all you have to do is go to your nearest convenience store (as long as it's listed as ok on the back of the bill- generally 711 is the place to go), and as you're shopping, put your bill on top of your items of purchase and the bill will be added as part of the price. You pay them (cash), they stamp your bill in two places, hand you back the stub, and you've paid your cell phone bill. Incidentally enough, you can also pay your utility bills in the exact same way. It's pretty nifty. Don't be afraid when you have to thumb out ¥30,000 on the counter for bills, though. It's normal, and you're not going to get mugged on your way out.

I would not buy a phone from another jet, simply because you're going to want a new phone with your own email address that won't get confused with your pred (basecode for the root email address for the phone doesn't change no matter what you change the actual user address to, if that makes sense. In that way, you give your close friends your basecode address and everyone else your flavor of the month user address- if you think you might not want to talk to people later, haha). Previously I wouldn't have recommended getting an iphone for japan simply because I couldn't see how the functions of the iphone would be useful in the ways that are specific to Japanese phones, but in the past couple years this seems to have changed and the iphone has become pretty much the same it seems. So, unless your pred is trying to sell you an iphone, I would probably just start from scratch when you go to the carrier's store, haha.

After you cancel your contract, you keep your phone. I still have mine, as senile as it's become since leaving japan. I still charge it up every now and then to look at all the pictures stuck on it, because the phone companies have conspired with the major micro SD chip makers so their phones will only take the $40 name brand chips (like sony or sanyo) instead of the larger capacity, $5 ones from china, so all my stuff's still stranded on it, haha. Your Japanese cell phones will NOT work in your home country most likely. I know the US, for example, uses a different wavelength for cell phones than japan does, so they're incompatible.

This post has become pretty long. Sorry about that. But this is everything I can suggest and share at the moment about cellphones in japan. Hope it helps give some idea of what it's like!

[bananathursdays]

That was very informative!
I had never heard about being able to pay for bills at a 711 like that. Also, I like that talking on the phone in public is considered rude. Where I live, people being are their phones all the time is a problem and there is a big lack in common courtesy...