Cable Modem Service in Tokyo?

[JAFG]

My ADSL connection sucks. It cuts out a LOT, sometimes 4 or 5 times inside 2 hours at night.

Every day, without exception, I lose my connection at least twice. I'm starting to get really frustrated with this, and I want a better solution. I think Cable might be the answer, but I understand that's not so good in Tokyo.

Does anyone have any information on this for me? Or a better solution to my connectivity problem?

My thanks in advance,
A

[gkanai]

Find out who is providing cable to your area. It's sort of a limited monopoly. Here in Meguro, I am using Shinagawa Cable. It is slower and more expensive than DSL, but reliable. It has never been down in the 9 months that I have used it, albeit, I do not use it 24 hrs a day.

[Captain Japan]

Find out who is providing cable to your area. It's sort of a limited monopoly. Here in Meguro, I am using Shinagawa Cable. It is slower and more expensive than DSL, but reliable. It has never been down in the 9 months that I have used it, albeit, I do not use it 24 hrs a day.

I've got ITSCOM. Also in Meguro. I've had no problems. http://www.itscom.net/

I also have their cable TV service. I'm less impressed with that however...

[oyajikun]

My ADSL connection sucks. It cuts out a LOT, sometimes 4 or 5 times inside 2 hours at night.

Every day, without exception, I lose my connection at least twice. I'm starting to get really frustrated with this, and I want a better solution. I think Cable might be the answer, but I understand that's not so good in Tokyo.

Does anyone have any information on this for me? Or a better solution to my connectivity problem?

My thanks in advance,
A

Are you sure it's not a dynamic ip issue? If you are running a server and having problems then you should use a dynamic dns service. http://dyndns.org is a good one.

[Big Booger]

It could be your modem. I had this happen to me. No matter what I did, it always dropped my connection back when I was on a 1.5Mbit plan with NTT. I called them. They ran a test. The line was working perfectly fine.

Then, I checked with the gas company about some service they install on the telephone that can interfere with the transmission of the ADSL service. THey came out and fixed that. Still had the same problem.

So I asked for a new modem. It came, service worked great thereafter.


Not saying this is your issue, but it could be.

[kamome]

Like Captain Japan, I also have ITSCOM's cable modem service and have had no problems at all for the past 3 years. They even improved download speeds AND decreased my monthly payments over that period. Upgrades to the service and regular maintenance are always done at offpeak times (like 3AM to 6AM), so there is virtually no down time. I am very happy with them.

I think ITSCOM only services the most populous parts of Tokyo, like Shibuya-ku and Meguro-ku, so if you live in the boondocks you might not get similar service.

[JAFG]

Are you sure it's not a dynamic ip issue? If you are running a server and having problems then you should use a dynamic dns service. http://dyndns.org is a good one.

Can you go into some more detail on this?

As for my problem, I have to confess, I don't believe it's software-related. I have two lamps on my ADSL modem that, when green, indicate a live connection. They are the LINE and PPP lamps. The VoIP lamp is likewise green.

Very frequently, the top two lamps (L and p) go out, the VoIP lamp goes red, and my connection is lost. The modem then attempts to automatically reconnect, which can take from 30 seconds to 3 or 4 minutes.

I have no actual phones connected to this line, nor does calling the number seem to have any effect.

Also, to those of you who indicated that the cable service you have is slower than ADSL, how much slower are we talking about?

My thanks in advance,

JAFG

[Taro Toporific]

Also, to those of you who indicated that the cable service you have is slower than ADSL, how much slower are we talking about?

Slooooooooooooow, if you are on a "Mansion Plan" and share the same 100MB fibre line with dozens of other households. Do the math, 20 apts. on one 100MB fibre line is the pits. My neighbor across the street in a 50 unit building is getting less the 56k throughput on Tokyu Cable. The ONLY sure way to know is ask your neighbors in your building. On the other hand, a single family home with 100MB fibre line is sweeeeeat and Tokyu Cable is just fine.

Finally, have you checked for an open WiFi connection at your location. When Caustic Saint was staying at my place, we discovered there were two open WiFi connections in my building for trying out his new iBook .... FREE is the BEST -

Read this ISPs in Japan FAQ, by Keith Wilkinson (2003 info)

[Caustic Saint]

Finally, have you checked for an open WiFi connection at your location. When Caustic Saint was staying at my place, we discovered there were two open WiFi connections in my building for trying out his new iBook .... FREE is the BEST

There woudl be three open WiFi connections in your building, but somebody had to go and turn on WEP in his Airport Extreme Base Station. :P

[Blah Pete]

I use JCOM out here in the suburbs. Have TV, phone and internet all through the cable. Internet is 10mB but actually runs about 7-8. They are supposed to upgrade the line to 25mB w/o charge soon.
Phone service is good and cheaper than NTT.
As someone mentioned you will be limited to the one cable service in your area.

[NeoNecroNomiCron]

My ADSL connection sucks. It cuts out a LOT, sometimes 4 or 5 times inside 2 hours at night.

Every day, without exception, I lose my connection at least twice. I'm starting to get really frustrated with this, and I want a better solution. I think Cable might be the answer, but I understand that's not so good in Tokyo.

Does anyone have any information on this for me? Or a better solution to my connectivity problem?

My thanks in advance,
A

From personal experience with my adsl, and as i work for the comapny and got the inside information. I know how it can be fixed and how much it is going to be.

The way it is fed to you house:



[Base station]
|
|
|
|
|
-----------------[houses]
-----------------[More houses branching off in tree like fashion]
|
|
|
-----------------[your house]
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|
[jumbled mess of overhead wires]


Solution: an engineer will bridge the connection at one of the branches

[Base station]
|
|
|
|
|
||-----------------[houses]
||(bridge)-----------------[More houses branching off in tree like fashion]
|
|
|
-----------------[your house]
|
|
[jumbled mess of overhead wires]


This shortens the distance of the cable to your house. Short cable = quicker, it also lessens noise = no dropped connections.

Problem it costs 1,0000 yen for each bridge and usualy they recomend 3 bridges. This is how they recoupe the costs and it is not covered by your telephone line insurance. They will also never mention that it is often required when they are signing you up.

The best thing is to get an optical connection, and it is getting cheaper just now.

My adsl connection was running at 90kbs for ages, after an earthquake about a month ago, one telephone pole had to be taken down, so I got a bridge connection for free. Have you seen the mess of overhead connections in japan. Its becasue they daisy chain every connection. Even the engineer cant give the best advice on where the best bridge will go so that is why they will say 3 and just place them randomly, why you are praying for your pr0n fix.

[oyajikun]

P2P clients can cause problems as well. If you are using one, try lowering the amount of connections that it can make. I know I had to reboot my WRT54G alot before I figured out that it was the amount of torrents I had going.

[JAFG]

The best thing is to get an optical connection, and it is getting cheaper just now.

How might I go about this?

JAFG

[NeoNecroNomiCron]

The best thing is to get an optical connection, and it is getting cheaper just now.

How might I go about this?

JAFG

THe only provider i know off hand is ntt, its not nepitism i wish i had another choice myself. anyway, there is an english customer help line for ntt. And the same place will do everything for you. as ntt is broken up into different regions and i dont know where you live i cant put you to the right website. anyway just go to the main site and browse. http://www.ntt.co.jp

it is in english so it wont matter. anway when yuo find the customer support number phone it. optical information is only in japanese on the sites and the english is not updated. all you are looking for is the support number. the instalation my cost around 4,0000 but over the year and considering the speed its quite good.

[JAFG]

Can anyone who's currently got a fiberoptic hookup explain to me how you got it and approximately how much you're paying?

Everything I've found so far seems reallllllly expensive...but the idea of a fiber connection to my house sounds equally cool.

JAFG

[Big Booger]

Can anyone who's currently got a fiberoptic hookup explain to me how you got it and approximately how much you're paying?

Everything I've found so far seems reallllllly expensive...but the idea of a fiber connection to my house sounds equally cool.

JAFG

I have NTT's family fiber true 100mbit plan. I pay about 6000 yen per month and a modem (ONU) rental fee of about 1000 yen per month. Luck for me the installation was free as they had a special at that time for free installation. The installation can cost up to 30000 yen or more depending on the type of install and the amount of fiber they use. I had them run it through my aircon duct so it didn't take them long at all.

I usually can download at over 7MBytes per second. That is from a source like the MS servers, download speed checkers etc...

BUt your download speed is not really limited on your end with fiber.. it is the source of where you are getting your downloads from that limits your speed... Normally you get anywhere from 200-900KB per second.. again depending on the source.

As for browsing and such.. you don't need fiber. I'd say compared with DSL/cable it is about the same.. no real noticeable difference.

The install for fiber differs depending on where you live, apartment, house, etc...

Oh and you can have up to 5 split connections, and emails per fiber plan.
No worries there.

Eventually though you get used to 100mbit and you want more.. it is the never ending saga of more more more...

Any more questions just ask

Any more questions just ask.

[Manarak]

Hi Booger

What is the upload bandwidth?
I mean, is it possible to run a server from home?