Job Discussion Forums

[ellienihon]

I am in the states and have a cable modem. I love my fast connection, and would have a hard time counting my minutes with a phone connection, since all calls are charged in Japan. What options will I have in different locations in Japan, particularly non-phone options? Thanks all,
Ellie

[lajzar]

It depends on where you live. In the cities, you can generally get T1 broadband connections. Im semi-rural, but I can get the same. In the semi-rural town next to me, you are limited to adsl speed dialups. Out in the real countryside, I think you are limited to old-style modems.

[BenJ]

you dont pay per minute for broadband and the connection is very very quick by Australian standards (which isn't saying much).

[Gordon]

I live in the sticks (as much as you can in Japan) and I have Yahoo Broadband for about 4,500 yen/month. It's pretty fast and reliable.

[easyasabc]

[shmooj]

I concur - there are fast access connections in many places in Japan. However, before you get the wrong idea, I thought I should add my bit of experience. What most of the posters so far are not telling you is that...

a) you need to have your own phone number/line (not mobile) to have ADSL where you live. If you are setting up your own apartment you may not have a phone at all as new lines cost quite a bit to set up. If someone else owns the phone line which is highly likely if it is a provided apartment, they may not want to have ADSL set up on their line. It may be a shared apartment with only one phone and that would be complicated too.

b) to apply you have to
1) have a company serving your phone exchange. Some of these exchanges are full to capacity with ADSL in some cities. This happened to a guy here in our town which is hardly huge. Space may become vacant later though as it did here a year later.
2) apply for the service which involves
a) finding out who owns the line and using their exact name in application
b)filling in an application form which, if you don't know Japanese can be excruciating unless you happen to have a service offered in English (I don'T know of any though)
c) having a valid method of paying for it i.e. either a Japanese bank account already or a credit card they trust

I have set up/helped set up five of these accounts for myself and friends/colleagues. In all but one case, there was some kind of hassle involved somewhere along the line despite all these people having fulfilled all the requirements above.

Sure, fast access is there, but it might not be as easy as all that to get it set up.

[denise]

I live out in the countryside and I've got yahoo broadband. It's something like 3,500 per month.

I also had to deal with some of the hassles that shmooj mentioned. My house (provided by my school) did have a phone line set up, but it was in the school's name, not mine. More specifically, it was in the name of "the Entity" that takes care of the bureaucratic/business aspects of the school. I did not know the full, complete name of "the Entity" (which is literally what we all call it--kinda spooky, I think), so the name on my broadband contract did not match the name on my phone line. Oooops. I got it sorted out in a couple of weeks and was online within a month or so of my arrival here--pretty quick, compared to the 2+ months it took other people to get their contracts sorted out.

Now that the contract has been fixed, I am very happy with the service. And the dirt-cheap rates to call the States (don't know about other countries) are an added bonus.

d

[canuck]

If you have an internet connection, you can use this calling service...PC to PC with crystal clear sound. http://www.skype.com/

Their way to make money in the future is to start charging around $15 bucks a month to be able to call PC to phone anywhere in the world. I've tested it, and the sound is great, going PC to PC from Japan to Canada.

[shmooj]

In addition to what Canuck recommends I would also recommend
www.net2phone.com which we've used for years. Best rates I've found and very clear connection.

Also, Yahoo Broadband is very popular and, if you call someone else with a Yahoo BB connection, it is very cheap no matter where in Japan you call.

So Gordon, what's your number?

[Gordon]

Hey Shmooj,
Calls are free within Japan if both parties have Yahoo.

[sprite]

What about Wireless internet? One of my coworkers got a PCMCIA card from NTT DoCoMo which allows him wireless access, kind of like hooking up though a cell phone. I looked for the same kind of thing but I have a Mac and NTT doesn't support Macs. Anyone know another provider who does?

-Talia

[shmooj]

Yahoo BB is now wireless. I used their really easy online form to upgrade from to a wireless option. Within one week a guy came round, took my old modem and gave me a box with a new one.

I took out the modem. Stuck the leads in the obvious places, stuck the card in my (WinXP) computer and was browsing within three mins of opening the box.

It also works with the YahooBB wireless LAN at work too so don't even have to take the card out of my laptop.

Wireless will be pretty much everywhere within a few years in Japan I would think.

[Gordon]

Yahoo BB is wireless

Got to give them a call. Thanks Shmooj

[shmooj]

Gordon and anyone else wanting to see the options at Yahoo

visit this page
http://bb.softbankbb.co.jp/ybb/wireless/
and you'll see the deal for the wireless stuff that I have sitting here in our lounge

if you already have a YahooBB account you can upgrade online without calling anyone.

[lajzar]

Whats the range of those babies? I ask because my home is next door to my school, which would make it kind of fun to have net access at work. If it has the range.