Better Mobile Internet Life in Japan
Having mobile internet connectivity was always something hot among tech geeks. What’s interesting though is that this luxury is gradually becoming a normal day to day lifestyle in urban Japan. Nowadays pretty much every major mobile carrier provides unlimited 3G Data SIM package for a competitive price. Pricing currently ranges between 2000 to 3000 JPY (Google Currency Conversion).
This movement in the mobile market is understandable since most modern lightweight laptops and netbooks sold in Japan has an internal 3G modem, which allows you to gain instant internet connectivity as long as there’s antenna coverage. Sony Vaio is a great example of this use-case. Needless to say, the iPad and Android is a contributing factor to the market shift as well.
The catch with these products is that you’re usually obliged to sign a contract for two years. This wouldn’t be a problem if you’re traveling to Japan and planning to stick around for that long but otherwise this can turn out to cost you unnecessary fees for cancellation.
Traveling to Japan? Read This
I’ve always been a fan of the prepaid model (as long as it’s not overpriced). So, last weekend I bought a 6 month package from b-mobile, which is a service that provides 3G internet connectivity (unlimited packets) for a finite period that you choose. The awesome thing about this service is that you don’t have to sign any contracts or register your personal information to the service provider (Japan Communications). All you need to do is prepay for a certain period and they’ll give you a SIM for it. No questions asked. Another good thing about b-mobile is that it runs on docomo’s FOMA network which is arguably the strongest mobile network in Japan.
For your interest I bought mine at Bic Camera in Shibuya and paid around 14,000 JPY for 6 months (works out to be around 2333 JPY per month). Their sales model is great for us consumers but the first impression I got was that this could be pretty dodgy if this product gets in the hands of folks with malicious intents.
Perfect with Android, Especially Nexus One
I decided to throw my new SIM into my HTC Magic (Dev Phone courtesy of Google) and setup tethering on it (both WiFi and USB Cable). Unfortunately the certain Android 2.1 kernel I was using wasn’t compatible with b-mobile so I had to go through several workarounds and ask my Android guru colleagues for help to get it working. The funny thing is that b-mobile will work out of the box with Nexus One running Froyo.
Despite the obstacles I’m happy with the outcome and I hope this blog entry would turn out to be helpful to those that are planning on traveling and staying in Japan for a while.
Great article!
Just adding some more bits:
B-mobile U300 prepaid unlimited packets data plans have bandwidth limits of 300kbps. Although this is sufficient for mobile devices, most web surfing and VOIP, it is not suitable for bandwidth heavy websites, watching videos on Youtube or downloading large files for example.
If someone wish for more comfortable web surfing experience with b-mobile I strongly recommend the usage of web acceleration services like Opera Turbo or b-mobile’s own web acceleration proxy. :)
Excellent. I have been looking for mobile 3G prepaid in Japan. Being a long term resident here I have an iPhone on Softbank but can’t (and don’t want to risk it) teether it to my computer. This option sounds great when I am out an about in other prefectures for a few days.
The Japanese website on bmobile shows how to accelerate the speeds with most browsers.
Hi,
What sort of internet services are there available for inaka areas and what would be recommended?
Hi, I will be visiting Japan for a couple weeks this may. I would love to have data on my iphone 4. So, I am planning to buy a 1 Month B-Mobile U300 micro SIM (from the b-mobile’s online store, will ask a japanese friend at work to do it.) and ship it to my hotel. My question is – Is the SIM ready to go or does it need any activation? I dont speak japanese and if the SIM needs activation through phone, I would need to prepare for that.
Thanks..
Hi,
I’ve just bought this package (6 months unlimited data),i’ll be living in tokyo for a few months.. And hey, I bought it right in the same shop as you did. Since my Japanese is quite poor, the shop assistant called the number to activate it and told me that i was done, and don’t need to call or do anything else.
However, while surfing the net, I found some discussions about activating it through a number for 10 days and then they would call me back, but as long as I could see the guy at the shop didn’t give any phone number or told me anything like that. I guess this procedure is for the one month b-microsim right? I fear I messed up with something and I need a confirmation :S