(keitai-l) Re: Practicalities of choosing Japanese Keitai

From: Nik Frengle <eseller_at_eimode.com>
Date: 05/02/02
Message-ID: <000701c1f176$fe5e4370$7a7ba8c0@nikshome>
Corellia,
Firstly, I don't understand your differentiation between keitai and
PDC--PDC is the radio system on which most Japanese keitai work. There
are also networks using the W-CDMA and CDMA 2000 1x standards. Perhaps
you meant 'PHS'? This uses a micro-cell archictecture different from
keitai. You have to be much nearer an antennae to get a signal, and
there have to be many more antennaes. This tends to work better in large
cities such as Tokyo, where it is economical for PHS carriers to install
lots of antennaes.
What are the costs involved?
Basically two costs--the cost of the handset, and the cost of using the
handset. Handset costs for keitais and PHS phones alike range from 0 yen
to around 50,000 yen. On the low end, you may end up with a phone one
model back from the absolute newest, and you will more likely end up
with one on the au network, because they subsidize their handsets the
most. In the realm of keitai, any handset you get will nearly certainly
have web-enabled e-mail, and wireless web access. H', the leading PHS
carrier have their own wireless content system, and it is not possible
to look at outside sites using their handsets, at least not on the two
handsets of theirs that I have tried. I think mail works fine. 
The other cost, that of using the phone, depends on about a million
different options and choices. One important thing to note if you are
American is that in Japan, the receiver of calls on their
mobile/keitai/cell phone does not pay to receive calls. Standard fees,
some of which inlcude calling time, and some of which don't, range from
around 2,500 yen/mo. to around 6,000 yen/mo. There are actually more
expensive ones, but they generally include lots of extra calling time or
data packets. If you use your phone moderately often, count on probably
another 2-3,000 yen/mo. in calling charges, though lots of people spend
lots more than that. 
How does e-mail work?
Somewhat differently depending on which carrier you use. Basically,
though, all carriers have 'always on' connections, so when you receive
an e-mail, you are notified immediately. You are assigned an e-mail
address when you sign up, and that address points at your handset. You
can't use the mail client on the handset to check POP or IMAP mail
accounts that you may already have. There are web-based services on the
official menus that allow you to do this, but you lose the always on
functionality, and you must log in every time. To compose e-mails, you
make extensive use of your thumb, though I generally just do that on my
terminal at work. Many keitai users haven't seemed to figure out that
just because the person you are sending to is a keitai user doesn't mean
that you must send from a keitai: The e-mail is regular internet e-mail.
J-phone's 'Sha-mail' service allows you to attach pictures in PNG or
JPEG format and send those to friends. DoCoMo doesn't allow that, but
does allow you to send ringing tones, though only those in a special
'chaku-mail' format, because they don't allow binary attachments. I am
not sure about au and TuKa, which both use the 'ezMail' system. 
How does the cost in the pre-paid market compare to contracts?
I don't know. Pre-paid is quite minimal here, though I do have one
friend whose boyfriend was German and left her the pre-paid phone he had
bought here after he left. Seems like she went through cards pretty
often, and the only place she could buy new cards was from the TuKa
shop, which was pretty inconvenient, because there aren't many TuKa
shops in our area.
How do the different carrier's services compare?
Wow, big question! Wouldn't have any idea where to start with this one.
Well, IMHO they are quite similar. The voice quality is perhaps somewhat
better on au's CDMA network, and should be better on NTT DoCoMo's 800mHz
PDC network than on J-Phones 1.5GHz network, but isn't. They all have
internet e-mail and web access on just about all phones sold. The
handsets are somewhat better in terms of design and usability on NTT
DoCoMo, though that is a sweeping statement, and is not always true.
Nearly all, if not all, of NTT DoCoMo's current models are bilingual in
English. J-Phone has a few bilingual models, and I am not sure about
au/TuKa. I don't know of any bilingual PHS models.
Beyond coverage, what are the limitations of PDC vs Keitai?
Again, I am guessing that you mean 'PHS' rather than 'PDC'. The PHS
handsets tend to have fewer features, such as color screens, smaller
memories, ringing tones, etc. They do, however, support fast data rates,
so plugging one into a computer makes a lot more sense than with a
keitai. Cost is the other major factor, especially if using a PHS card
for data. You can get a package from H" for 4,000 yen/mo.(I think--I
can't remember the price right now, but believe it is about 4-5,000
yen/mo.) that allows unlimited web access at 32kbps. In fact, people
using PHS for voice communication are declining pretty steadily, while
those using it for data are increasing. 

Well, hope that helps a little.

Cheers,
Nik Frengle 


-----Original Message-----
From: keitai-l-bounce@appelsiini.net
[mailto:keitai-l-bounce@appelsiini.net] On Behalf Of Correllia Fuengabe
Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2002 5:15 PM
To: KEITAI-L@appelsiini.net
Subject: (keitai-l) Practicalities of choosing Japanese Keitai 


Dear Keitai List,

I am wondering is anyone on the list has good
references or resources on actually purchasing a
Keitai or PDC in Japan.

What are the costs involved?  
How does the email work?  
How does the cost in the pre-paid market compare to
contracts?
How do the different carrier's services compare?
Beyond coverage, what are the limitations of PDC vs
Keitai?

Thank you for your information!

Peace,
Correllia



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Received on Thu May 2 04:17:38 2002