how many different phone line do you have?
Anyone know anything about VONAGE WORLD MOBILE?

I have been hearing i will need 3 different lines. US line, DSN line and Japanese line..

We have 3 if you count the cell phone. We have Vonage world home not mobile, the DSN line and like I said the cell phone. The DSN was required for us to get when we arrived and then last year I got vonage because my calls home every month were getting higher and higher. I didn't get my vonage till I was here because it was just becoming popular when we 1st moved. But now that I have it I love it.

I have Vonage World (not mobile) and a cell phone (Softbank). I live offbase. I don't have a Japanese landline cuz I can call Japanese landlines for free from my Vonage phone. For incoming calls from Japan, everyone calls my cell.

You don't need three, it's just how connected you want to be. We only have the cell phone and call home with the Skype app on the iPhone.

If you're one of those people that talks constantly to your neighbours here, or the Mom-in-law calls every other day, then you may want to get a home phone and/or US number like Vonage.

We used our cell phones mostly...and used Skype on our computer for local calls (which cost money) and for calls to the U.S. (two cents per minute, unless the other person has Skype, in which case it's free).

We lived off base, so we could not have a DSN phone, and a Japanese land line just seemed expensive and pointless, since we had Skype and our cells.

I'm on base and only have Vonage (the cheaper plan - not the world plan) and our cell phones.

$25/month for Vonage World and a cell phone is all I use. There is really no reason other than the actual base to base function of DSN to get a base phone. Since I rarely have to call another base, simply using Atsugi's 0467-63 prefix for cell phone use makes it more convenient.

polixx, since you have Vonage World you can call Japan for free. So using your Vonage phone, dial the international number for Atsugi (011-81-xxxxx) and you can talk to them for no cost. Ditto for any other base in Japan. I do this & it works great.

If you call the base from your cell, there is a fee, at least there is for me on Softbank, so use your Vonage phone & save some money.

Does anybody know where can we go get an AU phone? We've only been here in Atsugi since wednesday and we're trying to find the right cell phone carrier. The lady at the NEX TALKED REALLY REALLY FAST! She was talking about since my husband is on sea duty his bill will be $25 and mine is $60 with the data plan for the iphone. Does that sound reasonable? We got vonage back in the states so that's what we're gonna use here to call back home. Our concern is the signal and a good plan for both of us. We hardly talk just text and use the internet (gps,gas price etc...etc...) Also we're planning on staying at the towers so a good signal is important. PLEASE PLEASE if you have any info on where to get an AU phone or any other info about soft bank i'd trully appreciate it.

Posted By mikyla on 05-20-2011 6:36 AM
Does anybody know where can we go get an AU phone? We've only been here in Atsugi since wednesday and we're trying to find the right cell phone carrier. The lady at the NEX TALKED REALLY REALLY FAST! She was talking about since my husband is on sea duty his bill will be $25 and mine is $60 with the data plan for the iphone. Does that sound reasonable? We got vonage back in the states so that's what we're gonna use here to call back home. Our concern is the signal and a good plan for both of us. We hardly talk just text and use the internet (gps,gas price etc...etc...) Also we're planning on staying at the towers so a good signal is important. PLEASE PLEASE if you have any info on where to get an AU phone or any other info about soft bank i'd trully appreciate it.







Hello, We have Softbank. My signal in the tower is OK as long as I am by a window with the blinds open. I don't know any info about AU. Our bill runs us about $200 a month but its our main phone. My husband and I both have Iphones and we have the double white family plan. Our daughter has the free Japanese phone also on our plan.  We went with the double white family plan because my husband is on shore duty. Are you on the facebook group? I am sure you would get info about AU faster on there.

Welcome to Atsugi.

Thanks Tiffany for the info. My husband reported to work the day after we got here so i want to get a cell really fast. Just want to ask does softbank charges certain sales tax for the cell phone bill? I guess the lady at the NEX was pretty reasonable then? I was tempted to get it yesterday since we're at the lodge and i feel helpless not being able to tell my husband that we'll be walking around or just eat out.

One good thing about iPhone is it has GPS which works really good in Japan. You can even enter the phone number of a business & it will give you directions there and show the company's website. My wife & I use this feature a lot. I don't know if AU has iPhone, but Softbank does. Softbank used to really suck in Yoko, but I heard they just added some cell towers so it seems to be a lot better now. Not sure about Au.

Posted By ThaiGuy on 05-20-2011 11:19 AM
One good thing about iPhone is it has GPS which works really good in Japan. You can even enter the phone number of a business & it will give you directions there and show the company's website. My wife & I use this feature a lot. I don't know if AU has iPhone, but Softbank does. Softbank used to really suck in Yoko, but I heard they just added some cell towers so it seems to be a lot better now. Not sure about Au.

What is the name of the GPS? Thanks.

Posted By mikyla on 05-20-2011 9:38 AM
Thanks Tiffany for the info. My husband reported to work the day after we got here so i want to get a cell really fast. Just want to ask does softbank charges certain sales tax for the cell phone bill? I guess the lady at the NEX was pretty reasonable then? I was tempted to get it yesterday since we're at the lodge and i feel helpless not being able to tell my husband that we'll be walking around or just eat out.

I know and understand how hard it is we got our about 5days after being here.

Posted By Tiffany on 05-21-2011 8:04 AM

Posted By ThaiGuy on 05-20-2011 11:19 AM
One good thing about iPhone is it has GPS which works really good in Japan. You can even enter the phone number of a business & it will give you directions there and show the company's website. My wife & I use this feature a lot. I don't know if AU has iPhone, but Softbank does. Softbank used to really suck in Yoko, but I heard they just added some cell towers so it seems to be a lot better now. Not sure about Au.

What is the name of the GPS? Thanks.

Tiffany, it's a built-in function, at least on the iPhone 3GS and later... just click on Maps.  It takes some getting used to, and street names are in Japanese but the directions (turn left/right, go 3.6 km, etc.) are all in English.

There are many ways to search for destinations. Typing in English sometimes works, or you can zoom in on the map and drop a "pin" then turn the pin into a bookmark. You can also enter the phone number of a business to get its location; this works about 1/2 the time. If we're planning a big trip & heading to a hotel, I can get the lat/long of the hotel from google maps, enter the lat/long on my iPhone, and it gives me the precise location of the hotel.

Here's how I navigate... Each time I make a turn, I click on the arrow to get the next turn direction.  It tells you how far to the next turn, and whether it's left or right.  I set the odometer in my car to zero.  So, between the odometer measuring the distance and my wife watching the moving dot on the iPhone, we can always figure out exactly when to turn.

I used to navigate myself, but it's horribly dangerous to do when you're driving. My wife has become very good at anticipating and telling me when my turn is near. She can even say "It's right after the Toyota dealer" or "Turn right at the 2nd light" (these are all shown on the map.)  It's the true test of a marriage partnership if you can do this as a team and not get impatient with one another.  :-)

Oh yeah that's the one we use but i thought there might be a better one. But i didnt know any the numbers.