Best Phone Plan

[Sensei]

I am about to get reamed by Au and want advice on switching!

My wife and I are long-term in Japan. Au pulled us in with a cheap plan, but now not only is their ¥0 new-phone plan gone, but the plans for my wife and I are both shooting up by ¥2000 all of a sudden despite not having a new phone any more. They almost tricked me—one guy last week lied to me, saying the rates would only go up by ¥500. Fortunately, I did my usual ask-another-person-on-another-day strategy and found the real story. Lucky I did this with a month to spare before our contracts get auto-renewed or else I'd be out the 10,210 yen fee times 2, or else stuck with Au and huge payments.

We would like cheap plans. 3-5 GB data per month minimum would be optimal; the option to upgrade when you go over without getting taken to the cleaners would be great. My wife wants free calls on her plan—she makes a lot—but I'm OK either way, as I don't make that many at all. I mostly need the data and access to calling.

Another thing: I'm looking to upgrade to an iPhone 8 in 10 or so months, but if I start a new 2-year contract now, I get stuck in a loop—I start the 2-year membership, then when I get a new phone a year later, I would enter a new 2-year deal with the new phone, one year later the 2-year basic contract renews, and when the new-phone deal ends, I still have a year left in the automatically renewed 2-year basic plan. No good.

Ideally, if there's a place which offers inexpensive monthly plans but can let you switch to a 2-year subsidized plan for a new phone when you want to, that'd be great. Am looking for alternatives in case that doesn't exist.

I know, I may be looking for a freakin' unicorn.

Any recommendations? Thanks!

[Wage Slave]

Is this or something like it a possibility?

[wagyl]

Is this or something like it a possibility?

Mineo also operate on the au network if you prefer. I don't think they will do Apple hardware though. And to be frank, unless you buy your iPhone outright, the network will want to tie you in to a two year contract to recoup the costs of subsidising your phone. There is the option of not tying yourself in to a two year contacts while you bridge that gap, but perhaps you have become too used to the fairly substantial 50%-discounts-for-two-year-promise common throughout the industry.

I don't have a Mineo account myself but I do know that calling someone who has the 050 VoIP number on the au network out in the countryside can lead to very bad, choppy poor sound quality. I don't know if the situation is any better in the cities.

My standard go to site for mobile industry information, although it is not maintained as often as it used to be http://www.japanmobiletech.com/

Out of interest, what au plans are you on currently and what are you paying each month?

[inflames]

I have an iPhone and I use Rakuten Mobile - 3,500 yen a month (give or take) for 5gb of memory and the first 5 mins of calls free. (note: handset I had to bring myself). Uses NTT Docomo's network so it is actually reasonable.

No real issues but originally went into their store, which was terrible so just ordered online. Was tired of paying Softbank 9,000 yen a month when I could get basically the same service for 3,500.

[Wage Slave]

Is this or something like it a possibility?

Mineo also operate on the au network if you prefer. I don't think they will do Apple hardware though. And to be frank, unless you buy your iPhone outright, the network will want to tie you in to a two year contract to recoup the costs of subsidising your phone. There is the option of not tying yourself in to a two year contacts while you bridge that gap, but perhaps you have become too used to the fairly substantial 50%-discounts-for-two-year-promise common throughout the industry.

I don't have a Mineo account myself but I do know that calling someone who has the 050 VoIP number on the au network out in the countryside can lead to very bad, choppy poor sound quality. I don't know if the situation is any better in the cities.

My standard go to site for mobile industry information, although it is not maintained as often as it used to be http://www.japanmobiletech.com/

Out of interest, what au plans are you on currently and what are you paying each month?

According to Google translate of that page you can keep your existing mobile number and it also works with iphones. But if you have read it and say that's not true then of course you are right.

Another possibility is to get a data only SIM from Mineo, DMM or someone and also a second cheap phone tied to a very basic and cheap contract with AU or one of the other operators. That's what I do - A flip phone from DoCoMo with free calls to family group and a data only SIM from DMM in an Android phablet type phone.

[wagyl]

Is this or something like it a possibility?

Mineo also operate on the au network if you prefer. I don't think they will do Apple hardware though. And to be frank, unless you buy your iPhone outright, the network will want to tie you in to a two year contract to recoup the costs of subsidising your phone. There is the option of not tying yourself in to a two year contacts while you bridge that gap, but perhaps you have become too used to the fairly substantial 50%-discounts-for-two-year-promise common throughout the industry.

I don't have a Mineo account myself but I do know that calling someone who has the 050 VoIP number on the au network out in the countryside can lead to very bad, choppy poor sound quality. I don't know if the situation is any better in the cities.

My standard go to site for mobile industry information, although it is not maintained as often as it used to be http://www.japanmobiletech.com/

Out of interest, what au plans are you on currently and what are you paying each month?

According to Google translate of that page you can keep your existing mobile number and it also works with iphones. But if you have read it and say that's not true then of course you are right.

Another possibility is to get a data only SIM from Mineo, DMM or someone and also a second cheap phone tied to a very basic and cheap contract with AU or one of the other operators. That's what I do - A flip phone from DoCoMo with free calls to family group and a data only SIM from DMM in an Android phablet type phone.

Apologies for any confusion: yes, the nanosim will fit in an iPhone, but Mineo will not sell you an iPhone. You will have to buy it outright from Apple. I am not sure whether you have to select whether you use the Docomo network or the au network, or whether the sim in capable of either.

You can keep your existing number, but the monthly charge for Mineo is more expensive if you do.

[Sensei]

Thanks! I will probably go with a reseller for monthly until I need a phone, then see which major carrier will offer the best deal. Or, if the 3rd-party works better over time, just stay with them...

[matsuki]

I have an iPhone and I use Rakuten Mobile - 3,500 yen a month (give or take) for 5gb of memory and the first 5 mins of calls free. (note: handset I had to bring myself). Uses NTT Docomo's network so it is actually reasonable.

No real issues but originally went into their store, which was terrible so just ordered online. Was tired of paying Softbank 9,000 yen a month when I could get basically the same service for 3,500.

5gb of bandwidth? How long have you been using this? It sounds like a great deal...

The only thing Docomo has really done for me is be good about phone replacement with their relatively inexpensive insurance. Other than that, the forced carrier mail app that basically has it's own built in folders for official Docomo spam is quite annoying and unwelcome.

[wagyl]

5gb of bandwidth? How long have you been using this? It sounds like a great deal...

Proof right there that money spent on Yoshiki was a waste viewtopic.php?f=18&t=31387&hilit=yoshiki You participated in that thread.

[Mike Oxlong]

Japan Victory Over Mobile Carriers Triggers $34 Billion Rout

NTT Docomo Inc. led a 3.8 trillion yen ($34 billion) stock rout of Japan’s top three mobile carriers after it appeared to cave in to pressure from the government, which has long claimed the nation’s phone bills are among the highest in the world.

Docomo, which said Wednesday it may cut rates 40 percent and “return” 400 billion yen to customers, plunged as much as a record 15 percent in Tokyo trading on Thursday. Rival KDDI Corp. tumbled up to 17 percent, and SoftBank Group Corp. slumped as steeply as 9.1 percent amid concern that they will follow suit.

Docomo’s plan to cut rates in the year starting April 1 sparked concern that industry profits will slump for years, exacerbating a market that’s already plagued by saturation and increasing competition. The move comes after Japan’s government, particularly Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, repeatedly called for carriers to reduce phone bills.

“What surprised investors is Docomo will take about five years to recover above the profit level for the current fiscal year,” said Naoki Fujiwara, chief fund manager for Shinkin Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “Other major mobile carriers may have little choice but to follow Docomo with price cuts.”

During its earnings announcement on Wednesday, Docomo unveiled a mid-term plan that signaled its profits won’t recover until fiscal 2023. Docomo reduced its forecast for net income in the current fiscal year by about 3.6 percent to 670 billion yen, which would mark a 10 percent drop and the first annual decline in years.

Docomo’s warning on Wednesday that the company will offer plans starting April 1 that will lower rates by 20 percent to 40 percent overshadowed the announcement that it will repurchase as much as 7.24 percent of its stock for 600 billion yen to help drive up shareholder returns. It will consider canceling all the shares it buys back.

On Thursday, KDDI President Makoto Takahashi said the company won’t follow Docomo’s price cuts. He said the company had already introduced lower rates.

The latest round of comments by government officials began in August, when Suga said carriers have room to cut bills by 40 percent. In response, investors lopped more than $14 billion off the combined market value for the three big carriers over two days. The shares had fully recovered from that plunge, only to plummet on Thursday.

Japanese carriers are a big part of the Nikkei 225 Stock Average, with the big three accounting for about 6.7 percent of the index’s weighting. The benchmark fell 1.1 percent on Thursday.

Separately, KDDI agreed to provide Rakuten Inc. with roaming services for the latter’s 4G mobile network to be launched in October next year. Under the deal, Rakuten will provide its payment platforms and network of affiliated stores for KDDI’s "au Pay" barcode-and-QR payment service starting in April. KDDI also reported operating income rose 4.9 percent to 272.8 billion yen in the three months ended September, while sales gained 1.9 percent to 1.24 trillion yen.

Docomo parent Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., the former monopoly that counts on mobile communications for about 40 percent of profit, slid as much as 14 percent.

Japan’s mobile-phone bills are the second highest among Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development nations, according to estimates compiled by the group. High users in Japan paid an average of $69.79 a month as of May 2017, about twice the $31.46 average, the data show. The OECD based the estimate on a package of 900 calls and 2 gigabytes of data.

https://www.bloomberg.com/technology

[Grumpy Gramps]

Japan Victory Over Mobile Carriers Triggers $34 Billion Rout

The OECD based the estimate on a package of 900 calls and 2 gigabytes of data.

A whopping 900 calls and only 2 GiB of data in 1 month or what? Is that realistic?

[Mike Oxlong]

"Just because a man gets his money from a whore, that don't make him no true pimp. Real pimps are really rare."
The sample may have been biased.

[Grumpy Gramps]

Ah, yep, that must be it