Cell Phones

Okay, I'm moving to Japan in about a week and a half (to Tochigi-ken). Of course I've done a ton of research on what to expect (this site is a goldmine... but also from friends that have lived there) but my brain just can't seem to understand how the cell phone companies work there.

A friend of mine stated that text and email is free and that you pay for calls. And that most people just text/email messages to each other.

What is the best plan and company if I just want to text?

A friend of mine stated that text and email is free and that you pay for calls. And that most people just text/email messages to each other.

Text and email are not free but they are very cheap (just a few yen for each message). Calling can be quite expensive (30-40 yen per minute).

What is the best plan and company if I just want to text?

All the companies have similar rates. I'd choose based on coverage area and if there was a particular phone model I wanted as the phones are carrier specific.

Here's some more general info on phones in Japan:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2223_top.html

Non-email text messaging is seldom used in Japan. All carriers offer email and everyone uses it.

What is the best plan and company if I just want to text?

If you use email so often, Softbank 3G or Willcom is recommended as they offer flat-rate email plan.
But if you live in a rural area their coverage may not be very good.

Thank you guys for the tips! I'll look into what you've said.

I have a related question, so I thought I'd just post it in this thread instead of creating a new one.

I've heard that monthly cell phone bills are around 8000 yen on average, is it true across the nation? It seems very high, if sending an email cost 30-40 yen only.

Thanks in advance ! :)

I am with AU and pay 3,700 yen a month for a plan that includes almost unlimited emails, plus internet and a certain number of free hours (can't remember how many, but I very rarely go past it as I do a lot more emailing than talking on my phone).

Most people I know on docomo seem to pay about 8,000 yen a month- it seems to be the most expensive option.

Yeah, Sira's right.

I paid per phone for Docomo about 7500yen a month.

My wife and I chose Docomo over AU, SoftBank, ext. because:

1. We could afford it.
2. The Docomo phones seemed to us, to be cooler and a better quality.
3. The service was better than AU and Softbank.

What we realized later, was:

1.The only cool gizmos that we ever used was the camera, and we already had a good one. Also, most of the cool features from the base model needed add-on components to make them work.

2.We live in Yokohama and only when we go in rural areas are we taken advantage of Docomo's service.

3.All of the above reason did not make since to use Docomo, so we switched to AU, and are happy with what we get for the price. (Though, we charged from Docomo to do so)

Hope this helps.

I've heard that monthly cell phone bills are around 8000 yen on average, is it true across the nation?

It completely depends on your usage.
Under certain conditions it's possible to pay only 1000 yen per month plus airtime with any carrier (even DoCoMo).