Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Japan Earthquake: Internet works, cell phones do not

PracticalMac

PracticalMac

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jan 22, 2009
2,857
5,246
Houston, TX
This morning we tried to call some relatives and friends in Japan.

As expected, the cell system is overloaded and unusable (and best for emergency).

However using Yahoo Messenger and Skype we where able to contact one friend, AND also video conference!
They were surprised that in Japan they too could not call anyone, but could talk and see us in the US!

Hope this helps someone.
 
awmazz said:
Saw an ABC Australia journalist in Japan reporting that because the phones are down people are using Facebook to post their status and location to let their families and friends know how they are. I assume Facebook will make some mileage out of this.
Click to expand...

One of my friends has Facebook posts of one of the aftershocks where he and a bunch of others are standing out by the airplanes at Tokyo's airport. He said that luckily nobody at the International terminal in the airport seemed to be hurt, and that the duty free shops were pretty much toast. I assume he and the others are spending the night at the airport and not trying to head back to the city.
 
Who says social networks aren't completely useless? Once again they are shining through and helping to get the word out.
 
However, there's one problem: Facebook is not that useful in Japan.

Social networking in Japan is dominated by two locally-created services, Gree and Mixi, both of which are tied to cellphones that have Japanese telephone numbers. A lot of people found out people are okay through Gree and Mixi.
 
balsagoth007 said:
are cell phones not working across all the country ?
Click to expand...

I did say that.

Most of the system was overloaded with calls, every time we tried it was a pre-recorded "system busy" message (Tokyo area).

We had much better success at using Skype and Yahoo to talk to friends the traditional phones/cell phones.

Of course areas directly in tsunami area would have neither, because it was all simply destroyed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back