NTT to make your landline worthless

[Mulboyne]

MDN: NTT plans to dump phone subscription right system by 2011

Telecommunications giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Co. (NTT) has decided to set itself on a course to abolish its system of charging telephone subscription rights when users set up a new line, it has been learned.
...However, NTT said it would treat the money people had paid for subscription rights as one-time payments and would not make any refunds.
...Telephone subscription rights can be bought and sold and many firms treat them as intangible fixed assets. However, abolishment of the subscription right system would render the rights worthless, which would have a large effect on businesses. Because of this, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC)...will ask NTT to gradually reduce the 75,600 yen it currently charges for telephone subscription rights over a five- to six-year period beginning from fiscal 2006.
...[N]ew phone line services that don't require telephone subscription rights will begin this winter.
...Since revenue collected from subscription right payments have been used to lay new telephone lines, users have claimed that the revenue is a loan from users to construct a "collective possession" of the nation. Abolishing the system and rendering the rights worthless is therefore likely to draw opposition.

[Taro Toporific]

MDN: NTT plans to dump phone subscription right system by 2011[

I was trying to do the math on this the other day.
NTT aka the Government has extorted 70,000yen for what they have called "refundable bond" for telephone subscription right from let's conservatively say 80 million Japanese subscribers since WWII.
NTT the "private company" will now default on that fixed asset.

Isn't this largest robbery in the history of man?

[Skankster]

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Taro>>

I agree 100%.

Highway robbery!!

Only time will tell if NTT can be crushed.

...but as far as your money for phone subscription rights... kiss it good by... cause nobody in apathetic Japan is willing to fight for it.

[Taro Toporific]

...Highway robbery!! ...

...but as far as your money for phone subscription rights... kiss it good by... cause nobody in apathetic Japan is willing to fight for it.

It's now official.
Starting January, NTT just stole 36,000 yen from tens of millions of us in Japan.


NTT to halve fixed-line phone subscription fees
[url=http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=3&id=316174]japantoday > technology
Thursday, October 21, 2004 at 03:12 JST (Kyodo News)
TOKYO &#8212]The two fixed-line regional telephone units of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp plan to cut subscription fees by half in January....
The planned reduction of the one-time 72,000 yen charge to obtain subscription rights to the phone service offered by NTT East Corp and NTT West Corp will be implemented ...

[Skankster]

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Are they going to get away with this???

The apathy of this country is absolutely pathetic.


And NTT is most cronyistic of the cronies. I still wonder how Japan made it to where they are with all the cronyistic practices here.

[Taro Toporific]

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Are they going to get away with this???

The apathy of this country is absolutely pathetic.

Hyphothetically if Ma Bell ripped off a $300 refundable deposit from ALL their existing customers, the phone company would have to use heavy armor and air support to perform routine service.


Ma Bell = old AT&T before the break-up, the company that NTT was modeled after

[kamome]

Basic newbie question, but I haven't thought about this in years: how do you sell off an NTT line to a private party?

[Mulboyne]

Basic newbie question, but I haven't thought about this in years: how do you sell off an NTT line to a private party?

From recent news, I would say this question is going the way of "How do I buy a Passenger Handling Charge Voucher at Narita?" or "Where can I find a copy of the Tokyo Weekender?"

Here's a link to NTT East Japan:

Changing the Name on the Subscription Rights

It sounds convoluted but it is actually very easy. As far as finding someone who wants to buy your line? That could be tougher. You could advertise in Metropolis/Tokyo Noticeboard/supermarket walls etc but a mate of mine did that a few months ago and had no takers.

[Big Booger]

Glad my job pays for the right hehehe...

[GomiGirl]

It is one of the reasons that I never bothered to have the phone connected at home. That and the fact that I am never there so I would just be using it as a damn expensive answering machine.

But now that I have a kitty cat, I have thought it would be good to call her up during the day to talk at her through the answering machine - but that is just plain silly.. isn't it?

[omae mona]

So what happens if I cancel my phone line in December and request a deposit refund, and then apply for a new line in january? I suppose my phone number will change... but isn't this a way to pocket 35000 yen? Or are the activation/cancellation charges going to wipe that out?

[Mulboyne]

So what happens if I cancel my phone line in December and request a deposit refund, and then apply for a new line in january? I suppose my phone number will change... but isn't this a way to pocket 35000 yen? Or are the activation/cancellation charges going to wipe that out?

You have never been entitled to a "refund" from NTT when you cancel the line. It has only ever been possible to sell (transfer) your subscription.

[Mulboyne]

Bloomberg: NTT, Japan Government to Be Sued by Resellers of Phone Lines

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. and the Japanese government will be sued by companies after a price cut reduced the value of telephone lines they acquired from the former monopoly. About 40 phone-line rental companies and individuals plan to file the suit in Tokyo and Osaka courts this morning, seeking 100 million yen in compensation, according to a copy of the complaint. More lawsuits may follow, according to Yoshitaro Nomura, the lawyer representing the group. NTT last March halved the prices of phone lines, which users must buy to gain fixed-line access, to 36,000 yen each. The former state-owned monopoly started selling the phone rights, considered tradable assets that can be used as collateral under the law, more than 50 years ago to fund the expansion of its national fixed-line network. "The rights have been fatally damaged by NTT and the Japanese government, which cut their value without reimbursement or compensation," said Nomura, who represents the Association Requesting Compensation on the Rights of Telecom Users...NTT has earned more than 4 trillion yen from the sale of 60 million rights, which were sold for as much as 80,000 yen each, Nomura said. Each right is now worth as little as 1,000 yen when bought in the secondhand market, he said...more...

[kamome]

This was in the top 3 of my biggest gripes about Japan. Buying a phone line for 50,000+ yen has to rank up there with paying reikin and obtaining a J-driver's license as one of the biggest rip-offs/J-government sanctioned scams of all time.

My list of hated J-sanctioned scams:

1) reikin (landlord bribe money)
2) NTT phone line for 50k+, even through resale
3) paying into the shakai hoken for years and getting only a portion back
4) getting a J-driver's license (I didn't even bother because of the hassle)
5) NHK fees (which I found out too late that I didn't have to pay)

Anyone else care to add to the list? Or rearrange the hatred hierarchy?

[FG Lurker]

My list of hated J-sanctioned scams:

1) reikin (landlord bribe money)

The trick with this one is to work the right side of the street! Paying sucks, getting kicks ass!

2) NTT phone line for 50k+, even through resale
3) paying into the shakai hoken for years and getting only a portion back

Yeah, both suck seriously, especially the pension ponzi scam.

4) getting a J-driver's license (I didn't even bother because of the hassle)

Ah, the joy of being Canadian! Half a day total time and only an eye test.

5) NHK fees (which I found out too late that I didn't have to pay)

Sorry Kamome, but man, you paid NHK?

Anyone else care to add to the list? Or rearrange the hatred hierarchy?

Hmm...

Internet access used to suck really royally here but now it is about the best in the world.

Long distance charges used to be absolutely insane too, but thanks to call-back (and now Skype) that problem is gone...

Keitai charges are still outrageous though, that needs to be fixed.

Road tolls are high. Speeding tickets are damn expensive.

Overall I don't have too many problems with life here I guess!

[Iraira]

Calling the US (sorry, I'm one of them `mericans) is what...8 yen a minute using an IP Phone. The echo reverb that sometimes accompanies the call is a hoot, but it beats the 200 yen a minute I was paying for keitai to landline.

[kamome]

Sorry Kamome, but man, you paid NHK?

I sure did, but that was before Taro's multiple posts on the subject on FG. I did not know that it was voluntary, and all I could think about was preventing the nasty, reeking-breath, oyaji NHK collector from ringing my bell every Sunday morning and waking me up. Looking back, I was basically paying a bribe for peace and quiet on Sunday mornings.

You're right that telecommunications and broadband access are much cheaper nowadays. I still can't believe how inexpensive and fast my cable modem was. The service was very good.