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Japanese cell phone service plans? 2007/11/11 12:36
im browsing around the softbank website and these service plans seem really confusing. stuff about a monthly charge and a charge per 30 seconds...so could someone explain it to me?
by Alex  

... 2008/1/15 11:52
The basics of it right now (for all three carriers) is that they offer 2 types of service for new customers. One that requires a 2 year contract where they will subsidize the phone, and one with no contract but you must pay the full price for the phone.

You are billed a basic monthly charge depending on what plan you are on. Then you are billed for your usage. Price per 30 seconds of usage is a common unit. For example, I pay 16 yen per 30 seconds of calling on my plan. The more expensive your monthly plan, the cheaper your usage rate.

In Japan you pay for every minute of usage and there are no free minutes or limits to go over like in other countries. Instead they often give you a credit (in my case 2000 yen per month) that is applied toward calls, email, etc.

Here's some more info on phones in Japan:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2223_top.html
by yllwsmrf rate this post as useful

a thought 2008/1/15 13:06
in the two months since i posted the question, i've been able to figure it out. im only going to be in japan for 6 months but i figure,if im not mistaken, that i could still save money by signing up for a 2 year plan and cancelling the the contract right before i leave. Even after paying the cancellation fee, i'd save money rather than paying for service without a contract.(im basing this off of docomo service plans)
by Alex rate this post as useful

... 2008/1/15 13:10
That can definitely be true. Your cancellation fee will typically be between 5000-20000 yen depending on how long you've had your contract. And whether or not you actually save money is also based on difference in the cost of your phone with a contract and without.
by yllwsmrf rate this post as useful

Costs 2008/1/15 13:22
let's see. say i spend 35000 on a phone and 57600 on 6 months of docomo type L service. Thats 92000. On the other hand, 35000 on a phone and 28800 for the same 6 months on a 2 year plan and 9975 to cancel that plan, thats 72975. A difference of 19025. What do you think?
by Alex rate this post as useful

... 2008/1/15 14:26
the logic sounds great (although your math is slightly off in both cases) ;)

let's see. say i spend 35000 on a phone and 57600 on 6 months of docomo type L service. Thats 92000. On the other hand, 35000 on a phone and 28800 for the same 6 months on a 2 year plan and 9975 to cancel that plan, thats 72975. A difference of 19025. What do you think?

I have a question though, in the case of the 2 year contract you shouldn't have to pay the same amount for the phone but a subsidized amount, and therefor save more money.

However the cost of the non-contract phone for 6 months of service seems too high. Almost 10000 yen per month. I'm not positive about docomos plans but that seem excessive for that type of plan considering the other carriers charge 1000-2500 for the same type of plan.

I also ran your situation (6 mo. with a desired phone in the 35000 yen range) through the services I was considering last week (au) and got that it would cost roughly 50000 yen for the 2 yr contract plan ((6 mo x 4000 per month inc. usage) + 6000 phone cost + 20000 cancellation fee) versus about 62000 yen on a non-contract plan ((6 mo. x 4500 yen per month inc. usage) + 35000 yen phone cost) [based on au simple plan and their contract S plan, using roughly 2000 yen of phone usage per month 300 yen email fee + 1000 yen data transfer]

Looks like you may be able to save even more money going with another carrier.
by yllwsmrf rate this post as useful

... 2008/1/17 03:50
I'm confused. I thought you only get into a 2-year contract when you get a 50% discount(hitoridemo/everybody discount). And i thought the cancellation fee was only 9975 for either one, rather thatn 20000 like you said.
by Alex rate this post as useful

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