dcat
03-26-2007, 12:43 PM
I have written this for incoming foreign students in our university. As you may know, most newly arrived students do not have enough Japanese language skills to go around in their first months in Japan. I was given this responsibility to check and translate the most reasonable mobile phone plans for our students. I’m also posting this here for other incoming Filipino Students in Japan. By the way, congratulations to all of you!
入学おめでとうございます！
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You could buy a mobile phone in most electronic shops, department stores, and mobile phone shops. Some university Cooperatives also sells mobile phones, and they usually have campaigns at around April, so be sure to check them out. For those who have not yet reached the age of 20 you need a letter of Consent from your parents, so if your parents are living abroad you cannot buy a mobile phone.
AU Mobile Phones
Features:
You could connect even in remote areas (provinces). You could buy some AU mobile phones for just 1 Yen, and the unit has so much functionalities.
Fee (in case of Student Discount or 学割 or Gakuwari Plan)
Basic Fee
Plan 1. 1,827Yen – includes 2,100Yen worth of calls (you could freely use)
Plan 2. 3,675Yen – includes 4,725Yen worth of calls (you could freely use)
Call charges
Plan 1. Calling AU mobile phones and landlines – 5.25Yen per15 seconds
Calling mobile phones and PHS – 8.4Yen per 15 seconds
Plan 2. Calling AU mobile phones and landlines – 5.25Yen per 20seconds
Calling mobile phones and PHS – 8.4Yen per 20 seconds
E-Mails – 0.27Yen per 1 packet
Internet – 0.27Yen per 1 packet
A “packet” is a unit of measurement for digital data transmission, 1 packet is equal to 128 bytes. ;)
As an option, you could apply for Packet Discount Plan, in which you have to pay 1,050Yen per month, but you will get 10,000 packets for free usage, and if you use more than that, your exceeding packet usage will be charged only 0.1Yen per packet.
Important Documents to Prepare when Buying
1. Alien Registration Card and Student Card
2. Bank or Post Office Account number (bring your passbook), and your personal seal
Some banks such as Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Bank do not require personal seals, so you could just use your signature.
3. Money to buy the unit
In some shops and in certain seasons, sometimes you could use the Gaikokujin Touroku Genpyou Kisaijikou Shoumeisho （外国人登録原票記載事項証明 書） as a substitute for your Alien Card (or Gaikokujin Touroku Shoumeisho).
PHS – Willcom
Features:
In some mountains and provinces there are times where you cannot connect. It is difficult to connect while you are moving fast, such as in trains and in cars. The sound is good though when you are connected, and sending and receiving E-mails are free. Calling other PHS mobile phones is free. It emits small amount of electromagnetic waves (that’s a good thing). However, the unit itself is expensive, around \6,000.
Fee
Basic Fee 2,900Yen
Call Charges
Calling other PHS mobile phones – 0Yen
Calling other mobile phones companies – 13.125Yen per 30 seconds
Calling landline phones – 10.5Yen per 30 seconds
E-Mails – Free
Internet – 0.021Yen per packet
If you or your family owns 3 (three) units or more, the basic fee will become 2,200Yen.
If you pay 1,050Yen more per month as an option for Data Transmission, you will have 100,000 packets that you could freely use. If you use more than 100,000 packets, the applicable extra charge would be 0.0105Yen per packet. For those whose packet usage reached or exceed 360,000 packets, even if you send and receive millions and millions of packets more you will only be charged with a fixed 3,800Yen in that month (of course, this is only for packet charges, and it does not include your call charges).
As an option for calls, you could pay an extra 1,050Yen per month and have 48 minutes of free calls every month.
Important Documents to Prepare when Buying
1. Student Card and Health Insurance, or Alien Registration Card
If the place you live in and the address written are not the same, you must also bring with you a document or a receipt confirming your address, like public fee receipts.
2. Bank or Post Office Account number (bring your passbook), and your personal seal
Some banks such as Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Bank do not require personal seals, so you could just use your signature.
3. Money to buy the unit
In some shops and in certain seasons, sometimes you could use the Gaikokujin Touroku Genpyou Kisaijikou Shoumeisho as a substitute for your Alien Card (or Gaikokujin Touroku Shoumeisho).
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Hey, of course this is not very detailed, but I'm sure this would already suffice for our new students here in Japan. Anyway, I know some of you would resent the fact that I excluded Softbank and Docomo from the list. Excuse me for that, but this is what I think is the cheapest plan for students. If you know any other reasonable plans from other mobile companies such as Softbank and Docomo, please write them here so other students could choose from the given choices. Hope this helps though. :)
入学おめでとうございます！
---------------------------------------
You could buy a mobile phone in most electronic shops, department stores, and mobile phone shops. Some university Cooperatives also sells mobile phones, and they usually have campaigns at around April, so be sure to check them out. For those who have not yet reached the age of 20 you need a letter of Consent from your parents, so if your parents are living abroad you cannot buy a mobile phone.
AU Mobile Phones
Features:
You could connect even in remote areas (provinces). You could buy some AU mobile phones for just 1 Yen, and the unit has so much functionalities.
Fee (in case of Student Discount or 学割 or Gakuwari Plan)
Basic Fee
Plan 1. 1,827Yen – includes 2,100Yen worth of calls (you could freely use)
Plan 2. 3,675Yen – includes 4,725Yen worth of calls (you could freely use)
Call charges
Plan 1. Calling AU mobile phones and landlines – 5.25Yen per15 seconds
Calling mobile phones and PHS – 8.4Yen per 15 seconds
Plan 2. Calling AU mobile phones and landlines – 5.25Yen per 20seconds
Calling mobile phones and PHS – 8.4Yen per 20 seconds
E-Mails – 0.27Yen per 1 packet
Internet – 0.27Yen per 1 packet
A “packet” is a unit of measurement for digital data transmission, 1 packet is equal to 128 bytes. ;)
As an option, you could apply for Packet Discount Plan, in which you have to pay 1,050Yen per month, but you will get 10,000 packets for free usage, and if you use more than that, your exceeding packet usage will be charged only 0.1Yen per packet.
Important Documents to Prepare when Buying
1. Alien Registration Card and Student Card
2. Bank or Post Office Account number (bring your passbook), and your personal seal
Some banks such as Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Bank do not require personal seals, so you could just use your signature.
3. Money to buy the unit
In some shops and in certain seasons, sometimes you could use the Gaikokujin Touroku Genpyou Kisaijikou Shoumeisho （外国人登録原票記載事項証明 書） as a substitute for your Alien Card (or Gaikokujin Touroku Shoumeisho).
PHS – Willcom
Features:
In some mountains and provinces there are times where you cannot connect. It is difficult to connect while you are moving fast, such as in trains and in cars. The sound is good though when you are connected, and sending and receiving E-mails are free. Calling other PHS mobile phones is free. It emits small amount of electromagnetic waves (that’s a good thing). However, the unit itself is expensive, around \6,000.
Fee
Basic Fee 2,900Yen
Call Charges
Calling other PHS mobile phones – 0Yen
Calling other mobile phones companies – 13.125Yen per 30 seconds
Calling landline phones – 10.5Yen per 30 seconds
E-Mails – Free
Internet – 0.021Yen per packet
If you or your family owns 3 (three) units or more, the basic fee will become 2,200Yen.
If you pay 1,050Yen more per month as an option for Data Transmission, you will have 100,000 packets that you could freely use. If you use more than 100,000 packets, the applicable extra charge would be 0.0105Yen per packet. For those whose packet usage reached or exceed 360,000 packets, even if you send and receive millions and millions of packets more you will only be charged with a fixed 3,800Yen in that month (of course, this is only for packet charges, and it does not include your call charges).
As an option for calls, you could pay an extra 1,050Yen per month and have 48 minutes of free calls every month.
Important Documents to Prepare when Buying
1. Student Card and Health Insurance, or Alien Registration Card
If the place you live in and the address written are not the same, you must also bring with you a document or a receipt confirming your address, like public fee receipts.
2. Bank or Post Office Account number (bring your passbook), and your personal seal
Some banks such as Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Bank do not require personal seals, so you could just use your signature.
3. Money to buy the unit
In some shops and in certain seasons, sometimes you could use the Gaikokujin Touroku Genpyou Kisaijikou Shoumeisho as a substitute for your Alien Card (or Gaikokujin Touroku Shoumeisho).
----------------------------------------
Hey, of course this is not very detailed, but I'm sure this would already suffice for our new students here in Japan. Anyway, I know some of you would resent the fact that I excluded Softbank and Docomo from the list. Excuse me for that, but this is what I think is the cheapest plan for students. If you know any other reasonable plans from other mobile companies such as Softbank and Docomo, please write them here so other students could choose from the given choices. Hope this helps though. :)