On Wednesday, July 3, 2002, at 09:54 , Christopher Kobayashi wrote:
> Does anyone know which Japanese wireless service has roaming in the US?
> I remember a friend that used his phone in Hawaii, but I don't remember
> which carrier :(
DoCoMo (and probably J-Phone too) offer handset rental based roaming
services.
This works like this ... Before you leave Japan, you order the roaming
service and the network ships a foreign handset to you or arrange pick
up at the airport. When you use the foreign phone while abroad, all your
usage will be billed to your Japanese provider and they will eventually
put this usage on your phone bill in Japan. Also, incoming calls to your
Japanese mobile will be diverted/forwarded to your foreign phone while
you are abroad and the cost for the forwarding is also charged to your
Japanese phone bill.
DoCoMo (and if they do offer it, J-Phone, too) have to go through this
awkward process, because their networks are totally and utterly
incompatible with any other phone system known in the Universe outside
of Japan ;-)
KDDI are somewhat better off because they have CDMA One based network
(branded as "au"), which is the kind of CDMA used in the Americas
(IS-95) and in Korea, Hong Kong and parts of Australia. However, because
of the other Japanese networks which are not CDMA and in no way similar,
there are have been certain constraints under which KDDI had to
implement their CDMA network that made it impossible to just roam
seamlessly with a CDMA One mobile into Japan and vice versa. The
Japanese CDMA One had to conform to different frequency bands and some
other awkward stuff. As a result, if you want to take your KDDI au CDMA
phone out of Japan and use it in another country where CDMA service is
available, you can only do that with a special mobile phone that is
custom built to also function in foreign CDMA networks. There are two or
three mobiles that can be used for that purpose.
Basically, we are talking about two entirely different CDMA phones in
one. So, when you take the phone to the US, it switches the Japanese
phone inside off and the standard CDMA phone inside on. Likewise, when
you are in Japan, it switches the overseas phone off and the Japanese
phone on. It still looks as if it was just one phone, but inside it has
two different minds and hearts, only one set of which is active at a
time.
This is very different from GSM dual band or tri band phones, which only
have to adjust to different frequency bands or channels, the general
modus of operation still remains the same no matter which band they
operate in. The Japanese CDMA phones which can be used overseas in other
CDMA networks have to do a lot more tricks that just switching to a
different set of channels.
As a result of this, those phones are typically much more bulky than
those CDMA phones which do not require to perform another set of tricks.
Originally those phones did not have any internet features either. As a
result they have not been very popular at all. In autumn last year IIRC
KDDI launched a new roamable phone which does have internet capabilities
and it is also less bulky than its predecessor. However, even with that
phone, the internet features can only be used while in Japan. This is
because a) not all CDMA networks offer internet services and b) even if
they do, the way they have implemented the mobile internet service is
different from how KDDI has implemented it's mobile internet service.
Even if the mobile internet services were implemented in the same way
and compatible, then there would still be the challenge to charge for
internet services while roaming because the internet charging works
differently from the way phone calls are charged for. Not a problem that
cannot be solved, but still challenging. However, a service that cannot
(or not easily) be charged for is most often not offered at all until a
straightforward way to charge has been found and implemented.
Another challenge for roaming services to be implemented are roaming
agreements between operators. The mere fact that there are compatible
networks does not guarantee that there is roaming service. At present,
the way roaming works, the home operator is liable to pay the visited
operator all charges for any usage of their own subscribers while they
roam in the visited operator's network (and vice versa). Under this
regime, the visited operator will not be able to get any money from
roaming visitors unless the home operator agrees to collect the charges
from those roamers. Therefore a formal and legally binding agreement
between the two networks is necessary in order for roaming service to be
offered. This may seem like peanuts, but in reality, setting up and
maintaining roaming agreements has turned out to be one of the biggest
nightmares and cost factors for mobile phone networks.
At present, KDDI has roaming agreements with Australia, Hong Kong,
Korea, US, Canada and some networks in Mainland China. However,
sometimes this doesn't work both ways. For example, a KDDI subscriber
with a roaming capable mobile phone can roam in Australia, but a
subscriber on CDMA service in Australia - even if they did purchase and
connect a dual-mode CDMA phone - cannot roam in Japan. I checked that
October/November last year and I was told that there is no such intend
on the side of the Australians to offer roaming on CDMA, not now and not
in the future. Although they may still change their mind, this shows
that roaming agreements may be unilateral only or even if bilateral,
networks may choose not to offer the service anyway.
last but not least, there is no roaming (other than using handset rental
based roaming service) between Japan and GSM countries which mostly do
not have CDMA networks. Again, this is due to the incompatibility of the
phone systems and the way they are implemented.
If the Japanese would introduce GSM compatible SIM cards (as many CDMA
networks have done) then the issue of network/handset incompatibilities
would be no impediment to roaming. Provided that roaming agreements are
in place, you would then simply bring your SIM card and stick it into a
local mobile phone in the visited country and roam.
We did already have lengthy disucssions about SIM cards on this forum
before and the general consensus would appear to be that SIM cards add
little value to the Japanese who cherish other features more, such as
"ringing" in different colors depending on who is calling, a lightbulb
on the tip of the antenna whose color indicates who you are talking to,
a display at the back of the phone intended to show stuff -not to the
user- but instead to other people passing by on the street and other
such features.
I myself did not generally follow that evaluation as I belief that SIM
cards and widespread roaming capabilities once offered to the Japanese
on a large scale would be as popular as any other features, but then
again I am a very old fashioned kind of guy and I travel a lot.
In any event, there is some outlook to a future where 3G/2G dual mode
handsets will be available and then it would be possible to roam between
Japan and the rest of the world with such a dual mode handset, using the
3G mode in Japan and in some countries where 3G will be or may be
implemented and 2G in all other countries. But as things stand right
now, it looks as if that future will take much longer than even the most
pessimistic devil's advocates of yesterday told us, and the
circumstances get worse almost on a daily basis right now.
Therefore, let me explain how el-cheapo John Doe's DIY roaming works ...
Find a unified messaging service provider which will forward incoming
calls on a virtual phone number for a small fee or free of charge (paid
for by the caller through premium rates).
One such service is www,yac.com in the UK. They give you a number that
looks like a UK mobile phone number, ie. 07092 ..... which is in fact a
premium rate number. Callers to that number will be charged 35p per
minute and YAC get a share of that from BT. That share is sufficient to
pay for the forwarding of the incoming call to a number of countries.
The premium rate of 35p is about the same a caller would expect to pay
if they called you on a real UK mobile (sometimes even more than that).
Anyway, as you hit the ground in some other country, you get yourself a
rental mobile or better still a cheap prepaid mobile, or if in a GSM
country you simply get a prepaid SIM card and stick it into your GSM
mobile. Once you know what the number for your local prepaid phone is,
you call YAC's IVR (interactive voice response system) and change the
forwarding of incoming calls to the number you are on (could also be
your hotel direct dial number instead of a mobile). Now, you get all
your incoming calls free of charge and you are still on a local prepaid
which is typically 10-25% or what you would pay for roaming surcharges
if you did real roaming. You can also set your forwarding by logging
into YAC's website from the next internet cafe or wherever you may get
internet access.
YAC do forward to Japan and also to the US, so with one UK mobile look
alike phone number you could be set with affordable roaming look alike
service - in return for which you will have to arrange for the
forwarding yourself, not such a bad trade-off.
> Also, can you use other features while roaming ... Like email, site
> browsing?
> Out of curiosity ... Why does it work / not work.
see above.
regards
benjamin
Received on Wed Jul 3 07:13:18 2002