US Cell phones in Japan

[dakels]

Well I learned the hard way that my Verizon 8830 (CDMA, GSM) does not work in Tokyo, Japan. Can anyones suggest alternatives? Do any carriers here have phones which work in both US/Euro networks (CDMA, GSM) and Japan (FOMA?)? Do most people rent phones?

 

[isekii]

buy a prepaid phone when in japan ?

 

[AMDZen]

America is the only 1st world country that uses CDMA/TDMA. Just like with so many things we do, we just have to be different - metric system be damned.

The entire rest of the civilized world uses GSM. This is actually part of the reason I switched a few years back from Verizon to Cingular (at the time) because I knew I would be travelling and using it. If your just going there one time then yes, buy a prepaid phone. If its going to be a habit like for a job, you need to get a GSM phone and get it unlocked.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Yep....GSM is the key to global communicado.

I agree though with isekii....go with prepaid unless you're going to be glued to your phone for hours.

 

[dakels]

I was told (by verizon global support) GSM does not work in Japan and that they use a high speed data network called FOMA. We use a blackberry 8830 with GSM ready. A few months ago in London and Istanbul Turkey worked fine on GSM. There seems to be some very technical workarounds or caveats to CDMA working in Japan or not (different types of CDMA, phones working), hence why I ask.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: AMDZen
America is the only 1st world country that uses CDMA/TDMA. Just like with so many things we do, we just have to be different - metric system be damned.

The entire rest of the civilized world uses GSM. This is actually part of the reason I switched a few years back from Verizon to Cingular (at the time) because I knew I would be travelling and using it. If your just going there one time then yes, buy a prepaid phone. If its going to be a habit like for a job, you need to get a GSM phone and get it unlocked.

Canada, too. It's teh suck cuz I want my iPhone!!!!1111one. lolz.

 

[abaez]

I was planning on using my GSM phone in Japan, but yea, they don't use the regular GSM that every one else uses.

Basically, you just buy a prepaid phone and use that.

 

[ItsPat]

Yup...the only place my GSM cell phone didn't work in Asia was Japan.

 

[duragezic]

Well it seems like Japan is the problem then, not the US. It seems like GSM is more common in the US. Outside of Verizon, I think all of the other big companies are GSM, no?

I guess there are arguments for both, but I thought that CDMA was just as good of a technology as GSM?

Having the option of using either is fine. I won't be traveling outside the US for the near future, so CDMA is fine for me and works nationally as well as GSM.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: duragezic
Well it seems like Japan is the problem then, not the US. It seems like GSM is more common in the US. Outside of Verizon, I think all of the other big companies are GSM, no?

I guess there are arguments for both, but I thought that CDMA was just as good of a technology as GSM?

Having the option of using either is fine. I won't be traveling outside the US for the near future, so CDMA is fine for me and works nationally as well as GSM.

It's not really about one technology being superior. It's about interoperability, and as usual, the consumer loses.

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie

Originally posted by: AMDZen
America is the only 1st world country that uses CDMA/TDMA. Just like with so many things we do, we just have to be different - metric system be damned.

The entire rest of the civilized world uses GSM. This is actually part of the reason I switched a few years back from Verizon to Cingular (at the time) because I knew I would be travelling and using it. If your just going there one time then yes, buy a prepaid phone. If its going to be a habit like for a job, you need to get a GSM phone and get it unlocked.

Canada, too. It's teh suck cuz I want my iPhone!!!!1111one. lolz.

Yea Canada is both like the US, however I'm pretty sure Rogers is GSM and so you can get an iPhone, unlock it and use it on rogers. If you're knowledgeable

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: duragezic
Well it seems like Japan is the problem then, not the US. It seems like GSM is more common in the US. Outside of Verizon, I think all of the other big companies are GSM, no?

I guess there are arguments for both, but I thought that CDMA was just as good of a technology as GSM?

Having the option of using either is fine. I won't be traveling outside the US for the near future, so CDMA is fine for me and works nationally as well as GSM.

Also Sprint is CDMA, which means other smaller companies that lease like Qwest are CDMA. I'm pretty sure Cricket is CDMA as well. Don't know what Alltel is but it might be CDMA

EDIT: Yep, Alltel leases like Qwest and uses CDMA

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: AMDZen

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie

Originally posted by: AMDZen
America is the only 1st world country that uses CDMA/TDMA. Just like with so many things we do, we just have to be different - metric system be damned.

The entire rest of the civilized world uses GSM. This is actually part of the reason I switched a few years back from Verizon to Cingular (at the time) because I knew I would be travelling and using it. If your just going there one time then yes, buy a prepaid phone. If its going to be a habit like for a job, you need to get a GSM phone and get it unlocked.

Canada, too. It's teh suck cuz I want my iPhone!!!!1111one. lolz.

Yea Canada is both like the US, however I'm pretty sure Rogers is GSM and so you can get an iPhone, unlock it and use it on rogers. If you're knowledgeable

I wouldn't own an iPhone, or even a blackberry without significant compensation. It took 'absolutely necessary for work' to convince me to get a cellphone at all

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

GSM is awesome. In HK, Taiwan, and other Asian countries I swap out my SIM card. Too bad Japan doesn't use GSM. Same with Korea, but I know that with quad band GSM I can get around almost everywhere and my 2100 HSDPA can actually come into use =)

 

[AMDZen]

Interesting, I didn't know that Japan wasn't GSM.

 

[dakels]

Apparently they went to a 3G network called FOMA to accommodate the Japanese love for games and TV on their phones... or so I've been told. Even if they stepped up to a faster system, I'm surprised they don't have backward compatibility. I guess it's just in the self interest of Japanese telecom to make foreigners buy/rent FOMA phones at exorbitant prices (verizon's Japanese roaming partner charges $2.29/m, $.29/10kb). So... to load a 1MB file or web page would cost me $29 if the kb means bytes or $232 if the kb means bits... either way... rofl

 

[Toonces]

I picked up my phone here for a grand total of 1 yen... if you speak Japanese (or can get someone to speak on your behalf) try to make it into a DoCoMo/AU/SoftBank store and see what the reps. can do for you there.

I'll be in Tokyo this weekend too!

 

[dakels]

Originally posted by: toonces
I picked up my phone here for a grand total of 1 yen... if you speak Japanese (or can get someone to speak on your behalf) try to make it into a DoCoMo/AU/SoftBank store and see what the reps. can do for you there.

I'll be in Tokyo this weekend too!

1 cent?

Thanks, I'll try that next time (DoCoMo/AU/SoftBank store). It will be good for my GF to know when she goes there for 4 weeks in a few months.

 

[Evander]

You can't buy a prepaid phone as of 2006 with a tourist visa in Japan (supposedly they are used in many crimes). You can rent a phone at some places, I don't remember their homepages but in you may be able to arrange to pick up your phone at the airport or have it shipped to you in america if you give advanced notice

 

[Scouzer]

Originally posted by: dakels
Apparently they went to a 3G network called FOMA to accommodate the Japanese love for games and TV on their phones... or so I've been told. Even if they stepped up to a faster system, I'm surprised they don't have backward compatibility. I guess it's just in the self interest of Japanese telecom to make foreigners buy/rent FOMA phones at exorbitant prices (verizon's Japanese roaming partner charges $2.29/m, $.29/10kb). So... to load a 1MB file or web page would cost me $29 if the kb means bytes or $232 if the kb means bits... either way... rofl

That's about the same as the rates Canadians pay in Canada.

Some guy tethered his laptop to his cell phone and racked up $80,000 in data transfer bills in a single month.

Canadians pay $3100 per GB of transfer and 'unlimited' doesn't exist.

 

[dakels]

Originally posted by: Scouzer

Some guy tethered his laptop to his cell phone and racked up $80,000 in data transfer bills in a single month.

Canadians pay $3100 per GB of transfer and 'unlimited' doesn't exist.

Well, $3100 per GB isn't too bad relatively speaking (still, my monthly usage at that rate would be like $1000-1500/m lol). At the rate I mentioned before with Japan roaming from Verizon, it would be like $30,000 per GB... Brings me to the question, what are we paying for when we pay for telecom rates? Overhead (power, people, etc) + cost of infrastructure deployment. I bet the last one is the big one. I guess in a country as loosely populated as Canada but with such large area of coverage, infrastructure costs per capita must be super high. Whereas Japan otoh, high user %, very densely populated over a small area of deployment.

So I guess Canadians are not as cellular reliant as Americans. Not many blackberry/iphone sales there I assume. On the opposite end, Japan seems to be more "(un)wired" then everyone.

 

[jarfykk]

Originally posted by: dakels
Well I learned the hard way that my Verizon 8830 (CDMA, GSM) does not work in Tokyo, Japan. Can anyones suggest alternatives? Do any carriers here have phones which work in both US/Euro networks (CDMA, GSM) and Japan (FOMA?)? Do most people rent phones?

I do a fair number of trips there for 1-2 weeks, and have used http://www.softbank-rental.jp/ the last 2-3 times I went to Japan.

Picked up at the airport, worked just fine (they speak English at the coutner and at the support line). Not too expensive...I choose to use their phone and number (they can e-mail you the number in advance so you can give it to folks).

Wouldn't recommend them if you're staying for several months though.

 

[Koing]

There are different 'bands' of GSM.

Koing

 

[AndrewR]

When I lived in Japan, I bought (actually it was free) a "Global Passport" phone from Sanyo that worked everywhere. I used it in Japan (obviously), Korea, China, Europe, and in the States when I traveled. When I came back to the States, Verizon wouldn't let me use it on their network -- pricks. Now, I think with their policy change, I could probably use it, but I gave it away to some guy heading to India.

 

[CaffeineAndStuff]

A few AT&T phones work on the 3G networks in Japan.

"You'll need a device that operates on 3G technology at 2100 MHz to roam in Japan or South Korea.

AT&T now sells several 3G 2100HMz devices, like the NEW Blackjack? II, Treo 750, the AT&T 8525 and the Sierra PC card for travel worldwide, including Japan and South Korea, or you can rent a 3G 2100 MHZ phone from Cellhire at www.cellhire.com/att and just insert your SmartChip? into the phone.

With AT&T World Traveler, calling while in Japan is only $1.69/minute!"