Japanese phone... in Japan!

[yamanote]

Well here I am in Japan, with my 940SH using a rental SoftBank USIM (data enabled). Gonna talk about using a JP phone in Japan!

[OSAIFU-KEITAI]

I tried setting up Mobile Suica by myself but it would error out at the 'Transfer to Area-B' app.

Took the phone to the nearest SoftBank store (Ikebukuro Sunshine City store, very helpful staff, has a girl who speaks Mandarin there too) and asked them to help me out. Took about half an hour (they had to find out my softbank.ne.jp email and input addresses and stuff like that) but eventually they completed the setup of Easy Mobile Suica (standard 'version' requires a yearly charge of 1000 yen). Incurred a data charge of 2000 yen in process (small charge for the excitement right?).

Worked exactly how I expected it to work- took the phone to the nearest Family Mart (store right in the lobby of my hotel, hehe) and asked them to 'charge' 1000 yen. Gave them 1000 yen, poked the 1000 option on the touch screen and scanned the phone. Beeped twice and voila- the app showed 1000yen available.

Went to the JR station, beeped it at the IC reader on the gate and passed through as if I were using the normal Suica card. Exited at Shinjuku station. Sat down and checked the log- showed a recharge of 1000yen, then a charge of 150 yen under that showing entry to the JR @ Ikebukuro Station and exit @ Shinjuku Station (obviously all that is in Japanese).

Bought a drink @ 7/11- works as expected. Works at drink machines with the IC reader (pretty rare actually compared to HK) too. No need to open the app to scan- just beep it and it'll work no matter what you're doing.

[IC READER USAGE]

Went to a few outlet malls and one of them (Lalaport Toyosu) had an interactive board showing ads and stuff like that. When there was an ad for a particular sports shop, scanning the phone on the IC reader under the screen 'sent' my phone a link. Incurred another data charge to access the website but it was for a 10% coupon for the store. Bought a few pieces of clothing and got back my money for the data charge and more

[QR READER USAGE]

Muji (chain store, has stores in a few Asian countries, sells household stuff and food) had a 10% off coupon, but you had to scan the QR code, access a link, enter your phone's email address and you'll be rewarded with a 10% off coupon. Did all that, incurred more data charges but got all that back with the savings. Oh yeah.

[1SEG MOBILE TV]

I'm pretty sure some of you have experienced this (I have too last year) but seriously- it's amazing. Despite what you might have read, you can receive a crystal clear signal even in a moving train or car. No stutters, nothing. Subtitles are a must for a learning-Japanese person though.

I'll update this thread later on as I use more features but here's the gist of what we're missing, using keitais outside Japan. Pictures may come later.

Cheers.

[NeuroticallyYou]

Sorry Yamanote , i couldn't ressist to make fun of our phones here in America haha, and no, iPhone is not the way to go ....on a side note it would be useful to know what we are missing , i can't wait until you update this thread!!.

post videos of 1Seg and when using the phone on FeliCa mode.
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American phone........in America

Well here I am in NY, with my SGH-E530 using a rental AT&T USIM (data enabled). Gonna talk about using a US phone in America!

[INTERNET]

I tried setting up Internet by myself but it didn't work.

Took the phone to the nearest AT&T store (new York City store, not so helpful staff, has a girl who speaks Spanish but for some reason she denied to speak in Spanish to me) and asked them to help me out. Took about an hour an a half (they had to find out my 4 years contract information in their system) but eventually they completed the setup for GPRS acces (sloooooow) and i don't know why since i wanted 3G. Incurred a data charge of 2000 dollars in process.

Worked exactly how I expected it to work-sloooooooooooow, took the phone to my house basement and i lost reception (and i don't know why as they always say they have excellent coverage), i have to stand on my house roof so i can check my email , mobile style.

[USAGE]

umm yeah , j can send txt message , wow they are so advance here in America

[QR CODE READER]

i saw some square with black and white pattern, nobody seems to care about that so i did the same.

[1SEG MOBILE TV]

WEEEEEE no TV on American phones!!! everybody seems to be busy with iPods and iPads.

Cheers.

[yamanote]

Sorry Yamanote , i couldn't ressist to make fun of our phones here in America haha, and no, iPhone is not the way to go ....on a side note it would be useful to know what we are missing , i can't wait until you update this thread!!.

post videos of 1Seg and when using the phone on FeliCa mode.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
American phone........in America

Well here I am in NY, with my SGH-E530 using a rental AT&T USIM (data enabled). Gonna talk about using a US phone in America!

[INTERNET]

I tried setting up Internet by myself but it didn't work.

Took the phone to the nearest AT&T store (new York City store, not so helpful staff, has a girl who speaks Spanish but for some reason she denied to speak in Spanish to me) and asked them to help me out. Took about an hour an a half (they had to find out my 4 years contract information in their system) but eventually they completed the setup for GPRS acces (sloooooow) and i don't know why since i wanted 3G. Incurred a data charge of 2000 dollars in process.

Worked exactly how I expected it to work-sloooooooooooow, took the phone to my house basement and i lost reception (and i don't know why as they always say they have excellent coverage), i have to stand on my house roof so i can check my email , mobile style.

[USAGE]

umm yeah , j can send txt message , wow they are so advance here in America

[QR CODE READER]

i saw some square with black and white pattern, nobody seems to care about that so i did the same.

[1SEG MOBILE TV]

WEEEEEE no TV on American phones!!! everybody seems to be busy with iPods and iPads.

Cheers.

LOL

Oh, so Muji's still doing that 10% off thing. I went to Kobe/Osaka last October and the expiration date I got on mine was Oct. 14 or something (roaming data on China Mobile costs less than data on a rental SoftBank USIM, oddly enough, so I was more... relaxed about going online- and as for e-mail, back then it'd give you a coupon for anyone's e-mail; I used a random one I plucked out of one of my used phones). Apparently I misread or the Kansai-region campaign didn't last as long.

They probably 'extend' the rebate period for another 2 weeks on the last day of the promotion Mine says 2010/3/9~4/12.

Now that you have keitai mail set up for Mixi.jp!

What is mixi? I've had mixi widgets on every one of my Mobile Widget enabled phones and have always wondered about what it is. Probably going to incur more data charges though

1Seg works great pretty much everywhere except Narita area. They probably block it out. **shrugs** just leave Narita lol.

Have you set the area to Kanto/Chiba/Chiba? I switched on my phone immediately after landing and I could receive 1seg signals even on the plane.

you get a email with rental sim? makes me wonder if you can keep it

Yes, but the counter staff don't tell you what it is. Go to Yodobashi/Bic Camera and pick up a random SoftBank phone. Find out the email address of it and use your own phone to email that phone. Check what email sent it and that's your softbank.ne.jp email.

No you can't keep it- it's locked to the USIM. You could probably figure out how to check the mail online but the next person who rents your USIM (and therefore the number+email associated with it) will be able to see any new emails sent to that address.

The USIM gets reused. Both of my rental USIMs have rubbed contacts. If you lose (or steal) the USIM there's a charge of 3000 yen.

is the browser still a sucky experience? Have fun with the bill!!!!!!!

Mobile sites are actually okay. Loads quickly, no need to scroll left and right. The direct browser 'emulates' (or at least that's what the useragent says) Mozilla which is why it sucks so bad- it's loading full sites.


Pictures will come soon in the Show off you keitais thread. Keep an eye on that thread~~~

[IonNuke]

Have you set the area to Kanto/Chiba/Chiba? I switched on my phone immediately after landing and I could receive 1seg signals even on the plane.

Yep. It's just probably vincinity of the airport. But once you leave and go somewhere else it's nice and fancy

then shortly later (an hour or so) you see the battery go down by one block and then it's like blah~~~

[yangj08]

Oh, so Muji's still doing that 10% off thing. I went to Kobe/Osaka last October and the expiration date I got on mine was Oct. 14 or something (roaming data on China Mobile costs less than data on a rental SoftBank USIM, oddly enough, so I was more... relaxed about going online- and as for e-mail, back then it'd give you a coupon for anyone's e-mail; I used a random one I plucked out of one of my used phones). Apparently I misread or the Kansai-region campaign didn't last as long.

[Island.Boy]

Now that you have keitai mail set up for Mixi.jp!

[IonNuke]

1Seg works great pretty much everywhere except Narita area. They probably block it out. **shrugs** just leave Narita lol.

[fireshark]

you get a email with rental sim? makes me wonder if you can keep it

[aw614]

someone that I talk to claims they stole one and it was roaming in the US...doing mm unlock with it before it was shut off...

[yangj08]

someone that I talk to claims they stole one and it was roaming in the US...doing mm unlock with it before it was shut off...

I think people do that to bring them into China too; I've seen a couple of listings on Blueshow (they have a little "secondhand phones and stuff" section for people to sell off their used phones, where you can find gems like a prototype 934SH) for "Softbank USIM, still valid! Enjoy the internet! Enjoy downloading games! Make back the purchase price by doing MM unlocks for other people!".

[stevetam]

is the browser still a sucky experience? Have fun with the bill!!!!!!!

[fireshark]

Hmm, then maybe I would get prepaid instead. No intl roaming, however, and I don't know how to forward all mail!

[yamanote]

Hmm, then maybe I would get prepaid instead. No intl roaming, however, and I don't know how to forward all mail!

And there's the 360 day expiry too. You'd have to go at least twice a year to keep that same number and email as you can't recharge overseas.

Heh I remember scanning the Muji QR code with my Euro 903 roaming on SoftBank in Japan late last year and I got all the websites in Japanese, everything came up. If I could've typed in Japanese too I probably could've gotten that 10% coupon, all without an actual SoftBank account.

You had to type in a valid xxx.ne.jp email to get to the 10% off page but maybe it was different last year (as yangj mentioned any email would work last year)?

[yangj08]

You had to type in a valid xxx.ne.jp email to get to the 10% off page but maybe it was different last year (as yangj mentioned any email would work last year)?

Well, not ANY e-mail. Apparently the @ezweb.ne.jp email I pulled off that old N902iS (the phonebook in it, not the owner info) still worked. Poor Ms. Tanaka is probably still being spammed by Muji.

[AL9999]

And there's the 360 day expiry too. You'd have to go at least twice a year to keep that same number and email as you can't recharge overseas.

If you've set up MySoftBank on your prepaid SoftBank account before you leave Japan, you can then recharge using a credit card from overseas.

You had to type in a valid xxx.ne.jp email to get to the 10% off page but maybe it was different last year (as yangj mentioned any email would work last year)?

Ah gotcha. To be quite honest, when I accessed the Muji keitai page from my roaming Euro 903 I was squealing from seeing the page load and the emoji come up as well. Even when I got back to Australia it still worked fine