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  • fuckedgaijin ‹ General ‹ Tokyo Tech

Rental keitai is expensive?

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Rental keitai is expensive?

Postby akatsuka » Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:05 am

I've read some of the other posts here about rental keitai's in Japan. Basically I'm going to Japan for 1 month and would need a phone to make life easier. I dont care how it looks as long as it works and is cheap!

I've found 2 rental companies operating at Narita airport, Air's (http://www.air-s.biz/Plan%20D.html) and G-Call (http://www.g-call.com/e/rental/dom/ryokin.php). G_call seems the cheapest but I am the kind of person that judges the quality of a company through websites etc, and these guys websites are pretty crap... I dont know whether or not to trust them! Has anybody ever used rental mobile phones, if so, which company did you use and how was it?

Also, most of the price plans tend to go on the daily basis? Is there any monthly/weekly price plan out there that I can take advantage of? Seems pretty dumb to pay per day for a month...??

Thanks all ^^
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Postby Kuang_Grade » Mon Apr 09, 2007 3:20 pm

For the short duration, I suspect it is due to the fact that most visiting Japan don't stay all that long and if they do, then they probably have the kind of visa that would allow them to buy a prepaid or regular cell phone service. It looks like some of the rental firms even cap maximum rental period to less than a month.

While US and EU GSM phones will not work in Japan, phones that can handle UTMS (which is starting to show up on some of the higher end phones in the US and EU) MAY work in Japan. I've been debating about buying a Sony Ericsson K800i and one of the reasons I'm interested in it is that it is a UTMS phone and that I could possibly use softbank's SIM card rental plan the next time I visit Tokyo.
http://www.softbank-rental.jp/en/price/
Although I don't use the phone all that much, so Softbanks higher rates don't pose much threat to me but they might give a big talker reason to pause. However, on the plus side, you can book your reservation to be picked up at one of the stores in Tokyo, so you don't have to deal with it the first moment when you walk out of customs. So if you have a pretty sexy and recent phone, you might have that option...but that said, I've seen a fair bit of contradictory posts in my own recent research on this, so there may be a fair number of variables if you go this route.
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Postby FG Lurker » Mon Apr 09, 2007 4:35 pm

Do you know someone (Japanese or gaijin+visa) in Tokyo? If so the best thing you can do is to ask them to arrange for a prepaid phone for you. You pay for the phone (10,000yen or so) and for a prepaid card. Give them the phone back when you leave.
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Postby Greji » Mon Apr 09, 2007 4:41 pm

Kuang_Grade wrote:...but that said, I've seen a fair bit of contradictory posts in my own recent research on this, so there may be a fair number of variables if you go this route.


Must of our customers blow through Japan for a period on two days up to about one month. All of them that want rental phones rent them at one of the counters for keitai service at Narita. When they depart, they turn them in at the same counter.

All they need to show is their passport for identification and have a credit card. I don't really know if there is that much price difference between them, or how cheap it is, but it is sure easier than trying to find a rental downtown.
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Postby Tsuru » Mon Apr 09, 2007 4:57 pm

Kuang_Grade wrote:While US and EU GSM phones will not work in Japan, phones that can handle UTMS (which is starting to show up on some of the higher end phones in the US and EU) MAY work in Japan. I've been debating about buying a Sony Ericsson K800i and one of the reasons I'm interested in it is that it is a UTMS phone and that I could possibly use softbank's SIM card rental plan the next time I visit Tokyo.
I have a SE W850i, and to my surprise my provider (Orange) now offers roaming in Japan with NTT. It is mighty expensive (about $3 a minute) but my god, it works.

Apparently you don't even need a UMTS device for it, I've been told any phone that supports CDMA will work.
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Postby Mulboyne » Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:03 pm

Tsuru wrote:I have a SE W850i, and to my surprise my provider (Orange) now offers roaming in Japan with NTT.

By coincidence, I have that phone with Orange. Did you need to register for the service or do you just switch on and start paying through the nose when you hit Narita?
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Postby akatsuka » Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:25 pm

As I'm only going for a month and no concrete plans to go again, (although I'd like to if I find an internship) im not really interested in getting an english phone that would work in Japan or vice versa. My current phone is pay-as-you-go and it suits me fine.

WHen I was in Japan before I mainly used my phone for emailing with the occassional call. So I guess rental is better for me.

Thanks for the softbank link, even though the rates are higher, the website is better... i feel i can trust them!!
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Postby GomiGirl » Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:45 pm

OMG - does that mean a new number for you?
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Postby Tsuru » Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:56 pm

Mulboyne wrote:By coincidence, I have that phone with Orange. Did you need to register for the service or do you just switch on and start paying through the nose when you hit Narita?
There was no registration as far as I know, it's available for everyone. Because of the costs however, I only really use it for emergencies and don't turn the phone on as soon as I leave the plane. For normal use in Japan I use my fiancee's old unit with a prepaid card ;)
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Postby Mulboyne » Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:28 pm

Thanks Tsuru, I'll give it a go.
GomiGirl wrote:OMG - does that mean a new number for you?

No, I was thinking I could give that phone to any friend who plans to stop by in Japan when I am there. They probably will never need to use it but it might be handy if I could call them on occasion. The prepaid still suits me better although Softbank bumped up the call charges quite substantially.
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Postby Tsuru » Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:57 pm

Mulboyne wrote:Thanks Tsuru, I'll give it a go.
Be sure to check with them before you set off on your next trip from Rondon, Orange are after all a French company with a strong reputation of not offering the same services in the different countries where they do buiness. Best of luck ;)
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Postby Kuang_Grade » Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:59 pm

Tsuru wrote:Apparently you don't even need a UMTS device for it, I've been told any phone that supports CDMA will work.


That could be the case...although I'm not enough tech maven to say, although I thought that CDMA and WCDMA (what's currently used in Japan) were horses of a different color and didn't get along...but that said, UTMS is apparently only 'sort of' an universal standard as of yet (with some early countries/companies starting out on different freqs/flavors than some later ones but ultimately everyone trying to end up in the same place, maybe...I've found some posts of people who bought UTMS phones in the US from US carriers, but most of the 3G UTMS stuff didn't work properly in the US but apparently it worked great in Japan:p). This stuff is so fluid and fast changing nowadays both with the carriers and the phone manufacturers that I suspect most things beyond SMS and voice are YMMV to some degree.
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Postby Mulboyne » Tue Apr 10, 2007 7:53 pm

[quote="Tsuru"]Be sure to check with them before you set off on your next trip from Rondon, Orange are after all a French company with a strong reputation of not offering the same services in the different countries where they do business. Best of luck ]
The website confirms what you say for the w850i so I'll give it a go. I did also phone Orange only to be told "We've always had that service" which is completely false and took no account of any handset requirements. Idiots.
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