Job Discussion Forums

[Joannda]

I will be going to Japan in 6 weeks, and will definitely be wanting to set up the internet in my apartment. I have a laptop (PC) which I will be bringing over with me. It is new, and runs on Windows XP, and has an internal modem. I will be living in Kanazawa, on the west coast of Japan, so a fairly big city. The girl whose appartment I will be taking over does not currently have internet (or phone I think) hooked up, so I'm not sure exactly what the story is with the lines in the appartment. I would most probably also want the ability to use a phone to ring overseas (NZ), preferably with a calling card (Brastel) as this appears to be the cheapest option for me, as far as I've been able to find out.

So, my question is, which internet provider do people recommend to me? I know this question has come up before, but I'm hoping for slightly more specific answers this time.

I would probably use the net quite a lot, so i'd prefer not to have dial up as I hear this can become quite costly due to double charging (phone as well as net). Yahoo BB seems to be a popular choice, although some of you have also mentioned Bricks I think it is?
Can those of you having used/using these services tell me how much you pay for the interent in total each month? And what the setup costs are? The lists of charges on various internet sites are a bit confusing, what with a million different things being listed independently...
Does it matter that I have an internal modem? Some posters have mentioned that you get a modem sent to you and that you rent these, do I need one?
I know YahooBB includes the option of a phone line, but using Brastel would be cheaper than the 28yen Yahoo charges. I know that using a headset through the internet would be even cheaper (ie. free) but I'd prefer to have the option of using an actual phone. So, what would be the cheapest but still reliable, way to have both the internet and a phone line at home?
What would be the easiest way to go about doing this? Any tips and comments would be welcomed!!

[Nismo]

Here is my experience.

First - your modem won't work in Japan, but that has nothing to do with broadband internet service. What you need is an ethernet card, and whether that's from New Zealand or Japan that doesn't matter, any card will do. An ethernet card is for broadband connections (the cord that fits in it is like a fatter phone cord).

Second - contact NTT and have them install a phone line for you. Make sure it isn't fiberoptic (I don't know how to say it in Japanese, it has the kanji for hikari in it though). If it is fiberoptic, you will have to use a fiberoptic specific service and it's just a pain. I paid 2500 Yen a month to rent the phone line, but you can also purchase a line for between 36,000 and 70,000 yen, depending on your location. (Oh, and before you try to contact NTT, make sure you have your Alien Registration Card! You won't get anywhere without one.)

Third - after your NTT line is installed and working, walk up to your local Yahoo! BB campaign booth, sign up, and walk away with your modem. Hook it up, and within a couple days the service will begin. Internet is extremely cheap in Japan. You will be getting a 50MBit connection for 5000 yen a month. (In America, a 3MBit connection costs the same per month).

About call charges, I am not sure what the cost is to NZ. I do know that within Japan the calls are 1 Yen per minute, calls to another Yahoo! BB user are free, and calls to America are also only 1 yen per minute. That is the cheapest price I have ever seen offered in Japan.

You can also sign up for Yahoo! BB's new broadband TV service for only 500 yen more per month, but I am not sure what channels they offer outside of the free 9-15 channels (also depending on your location).

!!IMPORTANT!!: When you are signing up for any service, make sure the name you fill on the application matches LETTER FOR LETTER the name on your Alien Registration Card and Passport. They will not accept your application if you write "Mike" instead of "Michael", or "Rob" instead of "Robert", or "Dan" instead of "Daniel", or "Joan" instead of "Joanna", etc.

[Glenski]

Fiber optic is "hikari fiber" in Japanese English.

You won't even need a phone (to call friends and family back home) if you use your computer and special programs with or without headphones and a web cam. Skype, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), and Microsoft all offer such things, and they cost you NOTHING other than your regular ISP charges.

[JimDunlop2]

I was the one who brought up Bricks Corporation on this forum in the past. Just do a "Search" on this forum using that as a keyword. The info I'm about to give, I've already purveyed to a number of people, so you will find the URL to the Bricks website there as well... (I really don't feel like re-posting or x-reffing the thread here -- I'm tired today).

Please note. Bricks corp. is NOT a provider. They have NOTHING to do with any ADSL Internet, except that they are an authorized agent for NTT. They will assist you in getting a phone line w/ FLETS ADSL set up to your home. The reason why I recommend going through them instead of NTT proper, is because they will do almost everything for you -- and in English too! It doesn't cost you any money because they are being paid by NTT.

What Bricks WILL do:
- get you an NTT phone line if you have all the prerequisites
- test your line for ADSL capability
- arrange for ADSL service through NTT
- arrange for ADSL modem delivery to you by post or courier
- provide service / answer questions in English
- get things set up in about a week if you have all the stuff they ask for

What Bricks WILL NOT do:
- provide ADSL or phone service
- provide technical support
- answer questions not related to the list of things they WILL do
- help you if you DON'T have your Alien Registration Card
- tell you how to get set up with Yahoo
- evaluate if your computer is ADSL-ready
- sign you up for a service provider (like Asahi) -- you must do that on your own by going to Asahi's website and signing up with them
- wash your dishes or clean the windows

YahooBB is fine, but unless something has changed since the last time I looked into it, they STILL do not provide ANY English services, save the ODD train-station lackey hawking bags with modems... Yes, there is some guy on the net that will set you up in English (like Bricks) but after that, you are on your own. In addition, even if you go with YahooBB, you still need an NTT phone line (type 1 or 2) to be set up at some juncture anyway.

If you get FLETS, then sign up with AsahiNet as your Internet Service Provider, you will have 100% English support from A to Z. If you have an issue, you call Asahi tech support (in English) and if they can't help they'll bump the issue up to the NTT tiers of support, and arrange for you to speak with an English speaker as well. The only thing you will not avoid, is that your bills, no matter who you decide to use, will be in Japanese.

Now to clarify the rest of your inquiries... Re. modems. If your laptop has a built in ADSL modem, it will do you no good. (Neither will a built-in dialup modem for that matter). Any service you subscribe to will have you rent or buy the box. Rent is very cheap, hence by far, the best way. Just make sure that you have EITHER a built-in ethernet card, or an external USB or PCMCIA-based ethernet adaptor.

No one can answer whether or not you can have ADSL in your apartment until you are actually there. You must supply the address to NTT and they will determine what's involved in providing phone/ADSL service. If a technician visit is not required (switch activation) and your address is within an approximate 5km from the DSLAM (your provider's server computers) then your line will qualify and it should just be a matter of paperwork.

Brastel's low prices are completely moot unless you have a residential land-based phone line. Although you can call from any payphone, cellular phone, etc, the prices rise exponentially if you do.

The cost difference between having and not having a dialtone and working land-based phone line is only about 800 yen a month. (See Bricks's website where it talks about costs differences between type 1 and 2 lines).

I don't think you will have any setup costs. As for monthly costs, I pay about the same as what I paid in Canada for having a phone line and ADSL Internet -- about $80CDN/mo.

A last option would be cable Internet. Your apt. is likely already wired for CATV, so it would be a matter of calling the cable company or speaking with your landlord/realty company. However, as an ex-ADSL tech at a Canadian telco, you know where my bias lies.

If you need any more info, please feel free to e-mail or PM me.

Cheers,

JD

P.S. As Nismo mentioned, you MUST have an Alien Card before you initiate any of the above.

[Joannda]

Hey!
Thanks for the replies I've had a look around on various sites to get a bit more info and stuff too, but it all helps, so keep it coming!

For those on YahooBB, do you get both ADSL and BBphone? This costs Y4130 a month, correct? And the there's the NTT line charge of about Y2500? is that right? So that would be a total monthly charge of Y6630?? That seems quite high? Or do you not get the fastest speek to keep prices down?

Any other suggestions would be much appreciated

[Nismo]

I got the fastest speed, because the difference between the costs is minimal, so you may as well get the best. The NTT phone charge is steep, but if you use BBPhone you get excellent rates on calls and it evens itself out. If you used an NTT line without BBPhone you would be paying MUCH more per minute for calls. If you have an ADSL line, you will need an NTT line regardless of what service you use. Yahoo! BB is by far the best service in Japan (heck, it's the best service world wide - they even offer the cheapest and most reliable internet in the United States on Yahoo! SBC DSL service!)

[Gordon]

[Nismo]

That sounds like the pits, Gordon.

They contacted me within 4 days of my initial sign-up. The hang up came from me not having a proper phone line. After NTT re-installed a new phone line (outside of an extension line the apartment offered), I was up in 2 days. Total time took me about 25 days - but that is in the Tokyo area. Smaller cities will probably take considerably longer.

[Gordon]

I guess those are sacrifices I have to make to live in *ahem* paradise

[JimDunlop2]

Nismo: We can tell where your bias is... Mine is with NTT... But without getting into a pi$$ing contest about whose ISP can beat up whose, I should point out to you that, the last time a Yahoo salesman tried to sell me on the service, I only had to ask him two questions: 1) if something goes wrong, can I call you guys in English? 2) (showing him a copy of my recent bill that I happened to have on me) -- can you show me where all these savings are? He couldn't. (The final price was very similar).

Also, at the time, they could not match my 24MBit connection.... I realize this has changed now, but for the price, I was getting the best price.

NTT isn't so expensive.... In addition, if you sign up for MyLine (agreement to use NTT as your long distance carrier) you get further discounts.

I admit it -- I'm biased because I worked for a telco, but I will always give the incumbant the first kick at the cat (so to speak) before going to other companies.

In Canada, the ILEC (Incumbant Local Exchange Carrier - eg. TELUS, Bell -- in the USA: Verizon) owns the loop, lnes, and all the equipment in the switch (the little shed with the phone company's logo located somewhere in your neighborhood). Many competitors come in (CLECs), and lease the equipment from the incumbant ILEC, including room in the switch for their own equipment. Ultimately, when things start to go bad and break down, the quickest path between the customer and the solution is when there are no middlemen arguing about whose responsibility it is to fix the problem and whose cost it is. Back home we had many people "stuck" because of inter-company squabbles that had nothing to do with them. If the problem was with leased equipment, everyone had to jump through all sorts of legal, bureaucratic, CRTC (Canadian version of the FCC) nonsense. Anyway, enough of my rant.... Fact is, I don't know how it works in Japan, but I like my connections as simple as possible. So, NTT would really have to cheese me off, or another company offer something dramatically superior before I'd switch.

P.S. As far as BBPhone goes, there are many companies that provide MUCH cheaper VoIP service. The only drawback is that if you want to use a regular phone instead of a headset, you must buy a special adapter, that can run you up to $80 or so. All you need is any kind of ADSL connection and a subscription with that company. X-ref to the thread someone asked recently about VoIP and the reponse I posted from Vonage -- a Canadian VoIP provider.

[Nismo]

[homersimpson]

NTT does indeed have benefits, one of which is English-language service and technical support. And, if you are one of us rare ones and owns a Mac, after you sign up for service you can call tech support and will be guided through the setup process in literally 4 minutes. Very nice!

[Mike L.]

NTT is a disgusting former monopoly that should be avoided at all costs.

Sign up with anyone but NTT!

[homersimpson]

[Mike L.]