Comments on: Cell phone plan for a family in Japan

By: CBP

CBP — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:58:12 +0000

I lived in Japan for a year and a half. Softbank worked just fine for me. The bill can add up if you regularly text or phone non-Softbank users, but I found the free phone I got to be perfect for me and easy to use. I also found that several Softbank stores had someone who spoke decent English. If your family has any problems with the phones, and you’re not available, they should be able to find a Softbank location where someone speaks English. Be sure to ask which of the free phones is the best. I was told not to get the one I liked, because the sound and overall quality wasn’t all that good. I ended up getting a flip-open white phone, and it did great. Good luck!

By: Haf

Haf — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:04:55 +0000

I must disagree concerning the statement about the worst cell phones in Japan.
I got a prepaid phone from Softbank (the cheapest, you get what you pay for) as I was only staying in Japan for five months and didn’t expect to make that many calls. The menu system of the phone was misleading, redundant and unnerving.
I missed the first four calls I got, some of which were urgent, I never was able to play recordings from the answering machines and received mails that were a bit longer were often cut, forcing me to ask the sender to send the last part again.
As you take a plan, I guess you’ll be able to get much better phones.

By: Mt.PEAR

Mt.PEAR — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:52:43 +0000

EDIT2 : Not only the prices but the number & type of option packs that you must contract seems to differ at each shops. And there also seems to be some paid option packs you have to subscribe. But because you will be able to cancel the subscriptions of O.P. from the next day or month, it seems that you only have to pay these fees for a short time.

By: Mt.PEAR

Mt.PEAR — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:06:10 +0000

EDIT: “W white” is included in the payment(1967 yen) in 1st month.

By: Mt.PEAR

Mt.PEAR — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:59:59 +0000

Though, because I’ve used mobile phones of AU(KDDI) until now, I haven’t known the full details of NTT & Softbank, looking on the Net, I found a bargain sale which is called “super bonus lump-sum payment (スーパーボーナス一括払い or スパボ一括)” of Softbank. The bargain should make it possible for you to get your mobile phone by only paying 7 yen (called “universal service fee”) per a month from 3rd month to 26th month (though you must pay 1967 yen in 1st and 988 yen in 2nd month) if[after] you will pay about 10 thousand yen to get a uncurrent model mobile phone ,about 3 thousand yen for the procedure fee, and 980 yen for “W white”(you can cancel the contract from 2nd month). And you must contract some option packs which are payment-free for some months(but you can also cancel the contract from the next day). In addition, the info site says you can cancel all the contract any time (no exit penalty) after you pay these fees. The prices will differ slightly at each shops.

The sales seems to be sometimes held in mass sales electronics stores(KOJIMA, SAKURAYA, YAMADA …etc) in TOKYO,SAITAMA,KANAGAWA…etc.

On the below site, you will be able to get the information.
yawarakaginkou.blog35.fc2.com (Japanese version only)