I went back and asked another guy and he said, 2MB is usually around 1000 yen, I can download 2MB in like 30 seconds, that's a bit too expensive for my taste. I don't have Wi-fi at the place I live too, what a crappy router. Guessing I got to go hunt for a free wi-fi connection and steal it if I don't want huge charges, lol.

Last edited by raseru (2008 August 31, 4:05 am)

raseru wrote:

So I bought a Iphone with a 1 year contract with Softbank.

Your contract should be for two years not one, you should double check that.  If you managed to land a one year contract, my hat comes off to you.  According to Softbank's website the price for "packet full" starts at 12,250 packets for 1029 yen and caps at 71,250 packets for 5985 yen(take note its closer to 6000 than 5000).  You can use more than that but, you will never pay more than 5985 yen for your internet fees.  A packet is 128 bytes.  So that means as long as you never use more than about 1.5 megabytes you will be getting that low rate.  Of course this is next to impossible on the iPhone but its not all bad because you don't max out your packet fee till you get to the amazing 8.5 megabytes!  Basically the whole packet thing is just a way to obfuscate what you are really paying.  12,250 packets sounds better than 1.5 megabytes.  And the purpose of the whole "starts at 1029 yen and goes up to 5985 yen" allows them to put signs up in a big red font that say "IPHONE NOW ONLY 2334 YEN A MONTH!"

If you really want to see something funny, go to the My Softbank page from your phone. (mb.softbank.jp/iphone/index.html).  Click the first "オンライン料金案内" button,  click on "次へ", enter your pin in the tiny little box, then click the first link "確定前料金照会".  You can see your "real" packet use for the current month there. This is what you would be paying if you hadn't signed up for the "packet full" (ie before the discount is applied).  I apparently used 440,960 yen worth of packets over the course of August

If you are looking to keep under your 1.5 megs (better not check your mail very often), know that most connections are locked out of the box in Japan these days.  You will find the occasional free one though.  There are also a few premium wireless options available.  Depending on where you live any one of them could be worth considering.  I use the YahooBB Mobile Point service.  I use it more to extend battery life than save money though.  It is another 300 or so yen added to my monthly bill from YahooBB (my DSL provider) and I get wireless at just about every McDonalds in the country.  I also get a few JR stations (seemingly picked at random).  I hear that they offer the service to non YahooBB customers but I would assume the price is higher.  I also know that NTT offers a similar service with more JR stations, Tokyo Metro stations, and various coffee shops/hotels/etc.  I would bet that their service is more expensive though.  I am pretty sure you can also buy things like 1 day, 15 day, and one month access cards at Family Mart ticket kiosks for both services.

The only disadvantage to the Yahoo one I am using is that it is not seamless.  Even though my iPhone automatically acquires the network signal, the service requires you to log in via Safari before any data can be transmitted.  Not that big a deal really.

Last edited by dilandau23 (2008 August 31, 9:56 pm)