I am a little slow today.....well, I searched the fourms for cell phone service, and I checked out the Soft bank website, and I am completly confused!!!!! Right now I have Sprint.  I am pretty sure that I can suspend my service with them once I get on my husband's orders. So anyway, Seems like everyone stationed in Japan uses Soft Bank. I didn't see exactly how their service works. I saw that you do have to present ID verification and all that jive. DO they do as the cell companies do in the States? DO they run credit checks and all that? I don't have a problem with that, we have good credit, but I'm just wondering how they do things in Japan. Also, do they charge deposits too? And if we get a Smart phone, do we do like in the States, where you need an extra data plan? What are the rates like for cell service and/or data plans? Thanks in advance!

Softbank is not the only carrier nor the best IMO. Thou I do use them but wish I did not. Softbank is just the only carrier that has an office on the bases.

Other carries are AU and NTT and they have Android smartphones as well. Not sure if anyone else has the Iphone outside of Softbank.

But yes if you get a smartphone you will have to carry a data package.

My Softbank plan normally cost me around 5000 yen a month for my Android. Part of that cost is the cost of my phone as I did an installment plan. To buy my phone upfront vs installment would have been around 500 bucks.

Voice Plan
1am to 9pm - Softbank to Softbank is free
9pm to 1AM - Calls will cost around 50 cents a minute

Calling any other carriers (AU/NTT) will cost around 50 cents a minute

My data plan is unlimited but tier pricing. 3 different tiers.

Under X bytes = X price
Over X bytes = Y Price
Over Y = Z price and the final tier

I have never gone over the first tier as it allows me 7 gigs of data. Not sure if the tier thing is offered all the time or was offered during a limited time.

I have had AU since... forever. (3 years this tour and most of my previous tour) To be honest I couldn't even tell you what plan I am on, it's been that long. I can tell you I've never had any issues with them. I know that when Softback was the only carrier for the iphone there were quite a few Japanese that got an iphone, but kept their regular cell because softbank apparently has issues with dropped calls.

AU recently started carrying the iphone 4s. I haven't made that switch yet, though this is the first time I've been tempted.

GM1 - the biggest different (and biggest stumbling block) is that Japanese carriers do not sell/provide (as far as I have found) blocks of Free minutes.

In the states, the big 3 usually advertise XXXX number of minutes that your plan comes with and you use those minutes during peak times.

In Japan, you get charged per minute for any call outside of your carrier.

Softbank has 2 plans: the White Plan (I think the per-minute rate is about $0.22 a min) and the Double White Plan ($0.11) a minutes. Sorry, I don't remember the monthly rate of the White or Double White plan - but the "Double White" plan is just that - double the price of the regular White plan - the difference being that the per minute charge is half of the White Plan.

If you get an Android, you can get unlmited data for around 30000Y (don't quote me). From what I understood, the iPhone has 2 different rate plans, the more expensive being "unlimited"

I was warned, however, the Unlimited, really doesn't mean Unlimited - you're given a pretty high bandwidth limit and if you pass that you'll get charged extra.

Hope tha helped a little bit.

I have softbank and my husband and I both have the iphone 4 and our bill is around $160 a month for both phones and there is not much variance month to month.. I the only thing about having a phone in japan is that you can call outside your carrier but you can not text outside your carrier.. that always bothered me! LOL I have has no problems with dropped calls or anything like that in march after the earthquake we still had use of our iphones except for calling out we had the internet service which was a life saver allowing us and others around us to notify worried families that we where all okay.. its a personal choice what phone you go with.. But good luck!!

You mean if you have Soft Bank and I have AU we can't text each other?

thanks so much everyone for clarifying...makes a lot morse sense now...

Posted By Groovie on 11-03-2011 8:15 PM
You mean if you have Soft Bank and I have AU we can't text each other?

Exactly.

You can text between Softbank and AU. I have AU and have texted multiple friends who have Softbank. That is how we converse, since minutes are expensive.  I think the texting between phones is new (July 2011 maybe).

Also, if you chose AU, you can get plans with minutes. I cannot remember the exact rates - but I think I pay Y1670 for 62 minutes a month. I also have rollover with my minutes. The Y1670 is in addition to a data plan, which is I think about Y5400 a month. My husband only has 25 minutes a month (but he is gone a lot, so the rollover helps) and I think it is about Y980/month. He does not have any extras - like texting, email, or internet. We have insurance for both phones and pay about $120/month total. There might be some discounts I am missing for having two phones. With AU, we can call each other for free, but all calls use minutes or cost. The per minute cost is reduced with each larger minute plan you get.

To answer some of your other questions - I don't think they did a credit check.  I don't remember giving them a SSN.  They did not charge a deposit for us.  I think we paid about Y2500 or 2900 as a start up fee for each phone. 

Not everyone has Softbank.  It seems to be about 50/50 from my experience, with some people having Docomo (the third carrier).   Softbank is the only one on base, but there are multiple stores and companies less than a 15 minute walk away.  I found the phones off base to be less expensive than on base.  The rate plans were the same.

Ok so now I am royally confused. I am thinking about getting an Iphone or a droid but do not want to go back to my 200 dollar phone bill . DH and I do not heavily use our phones but we would have four. Two smart and two regular. Almost all of our calling would be between the four numbers. We do check email and get on FB from our phones and check with the bank and use a few other apps. But in the many years we have been on Verizon we have never gone over our 700 min plan. So how does this work. What would plan would I use? Do they have family plans?

Why would you need four phones? The smart phones (Droid and iPhone) can make calls and do data plans. You would only need to get two smartphones, if you want that capability. With AU I have unlimited data. I can also use skype to call the US or another person in Japan who has Skype, without using any minutes. Most people text or skype because no one wants to use the minutes or pay for it. I don't think there are any 700 minute plans here. Just 62 minutes a month is $20 in addition to the data plan.

Softbank offers free calling to other softbank members, so calls between yourself and your husband would be free. AU has a family plan and all calls are free between those numbers. I believe Docomo also has a family plan and you can call between those numbers for free.

Stuck on Shore, I would need 2 phone with plans, for me and my DH. DS is 11, so I would rather give him a pre pay, so his phone is not an issue. Well, DH wants that iphone (much too complicated for me lol) and I want any kind of smart phone or droid. SO Let me ask you this, he needs to get a data plan for the iphone, and a minutes plan? And those minute plans and data plans all vary based on how much data you need? And can I text my american friends from my cell? and can you get skype of the smart phones as well?

I have a Softbank iPhone. The plan is kinda complicated, but yes -- you must get both voice & data plan. It comes to like $70/mo unlimited data. Someone posted elsewhere that it's not REALLY unlimited, but if that's true you'd probably need to be watching several feature-length movies or something to go over your limit. I've had iPhones for 2+ years, use them extensively, and never exceeded my data limit.

Here in Iwakuni, about 90% of military families have Softbank. You can argue that it's not the best service provider but the deal is that Softbank-to-Softbank calls are free (except at like 2 AM). Nobody wants to be on a different provider where your friends have to pay for each call; so we all just get SB to stay "in the loop" as it were. It sounds like in Yokosuka it's a bit more diversified. I'd have to guess that the vast majority have Softbank, but many use the other carriers as well so everyone is racking up minutes calling each other.

Until recently, you could not text between different carriers. Now you can. It's not free, probably a few pennies per text. But considering that kids text like 100 times a day (or more!) it can add up. Honey, if you're getting basic phones for your kids just make sure they can text. This is how kids communicate. They rarely use the phones for actual talking.

SB has a special right now for a free Android phone. Their iPhone 4s 16 GB is free. They sometimes have special deals for "all you can call" to the States for about 3000 yen. I think there is such a deal going on right now. These deals come & go. The free iPhone is NOT a special deal; it's their normal price.

I have Skype loaded on my iPhone. I don't do video chat, but I use it to call the States & around the world. Works great. It shares all the Skype contacts & billing plan on my Macbook. I use it on wifi but I'm pretty sure it works equally well on 3G so basically you can use it anywhere. You do NOT want to text to the States using your including texting plan. It might work; you will have to mortgage your child to pay the bill. Apple now has a built-in messaging app that you can message between iPhones/iPads/iPod touch worldwide for free. There are also add-on apps you can get for free global texting. My son recommneded Kik which I've never tried; I'm sure there are others out there.

For your family in particular, since the iPhone 4s is free there are advantages for both you & your husband to get one IF you end up using iCloud. You'd be able to sync calendars, notes, pix, etc. automatically between each other. Esp good if you also have a Mac at home. Plus the iPhone GPS is awesome; my wife wants an iPhone just for that. She's gotten pretty good at navigating with our iPhone GPS while I drive, and we both use it for train schedules. Regarding your kids, whatever you get make sure it has either unlimited or very high text quota per month. Kids can easily text thousands of times per month. Telling them not to is like telling them not to breath. This is the social life of teens; it's hugely important to them.

Oh my goodness!!! thanks soooo much for all the info! this is exactly what I needed to know! So I will make sure I never text to the States! lol! I kinda like having my little man around lol! Thats pretty coolthe new iphone is free! That would NEVER happen in the states! Well, DH will get his wish of a new iphone. If they are still offering the free droids next month, then I will get one. if not, Ill go ahead and get the iphone. Or maybe I can get one reasonably priced. $70 a month is a good price for us each...I just wanted to pay about what I will when we get back to the states and have a family Sprint plan which would be about $180 for me and DH...but that will be unlimited everything. I still think about $150-$160 would be good for us. I dont know why the Softbank website is so complicated!

You'll do fine. Once you get here, gather the information and take a few days to figure it all out. There are several phone dealers on Blue Street (right off base) and (IMO) they do a much better job of explaining things than the people working at the NEX. They are really nice and some will even serve you tea while they explain. Each store has different phone deals and you do not have to buy all of your phones at the same place in order to get a family deal. So you can shop around and then combine them at the main Softbank or AU storefront. But it is easier to just get them at one time.

Also, there has to be a way to text the states for free. I have a friend who is constantly texting and I know most is to her family in the states. The iPhone probably has an app for it. You just have to figure out which one.

If you have an Android phone (and possibly an iPhone though I don't know as much about them) you should be able to text with US cell phones for free from the Google Voice App over WiFi or 3G. Just make sure you're texting from the app and not from your phone's native texting program. Another great app is the GrooVe Ip app which lets you make free calls to US numbers using Google Voice over a data. But the actual Google Voice app won't work properly overseas for calls I think, because you can't forward to a foreign number. If you wanted your Google Voice number to ring your Japanese cell number your best bet would be to use Skype as an intermediary but in my opinion it's probably unnecessarily complicated. I actually plan to port our current phone numbers into Google Voice (which will cancel our US cell contract but we'll be month to month by then so no termination fee) and then get US sims for the times we're visiting back in the states. Be aware this untested though, I've done the research but we won't be over there for quite some time.

so in all actuality, having an iphone in Japan is basically the same price as having one in the states? Right now I pay about $150 USD/mo for 2 iphones each with its own data plan. Sounds like it'd be about the same there in Japan, is that right?

That is not true. My wife and kids have softbank and I have a NTT docomo phone and we can text each other. It just costs .50 per text

Our family has two Iphones and two regular phones. We have unlimited data on both iphones and the kids have been told NOT to call or text outside of facebook. We also have the double white plan on both smart phones. The price each month is 198 dollars. Also, you can now get a Magic Jack app free on your iphone so you can have a stateside number and call home for free (i mean other than your regular cell phone) there is also a free app (text free) that gives you a stateside number for texting.