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3G iPhone in Japan?
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Reception in Japan -- worse or better?
What are your thoughts as to iPhone reception in japan?
I think the reception on my iPhone 3G is actually better than on my previous Docomo mobile. I live in a ground-floor aparto and when I was using the Docomo phone I had to stand next to the window for a one-two bar reception. Anywhere in the middle of the room and there was no reception. But now with Softbanks iPhone, I have at least one-two bars while away from the window which is great especially if I am sitting at my office desk.
Anyone else find their reception is better than their previous phone?
What are your thoughts as to iPhone reception in japan?
I think the reception on my iPhone 3G is actually better than on my previous Docomo mobile. I live in a ground-floor aparto and when I was using the Docomo phone I had to stand next to the window for a one-two bar reception. Anywhere in the middle of the room and there was no reception. But now with Softbanks iPhone, I have at least one-two bars while away from the window which is great especially if I am sitting at my office desk.
Anyone else find their reception is better than their previous phone?
Messaging problems
Anyone else having trouble sending SMS/e-mail to non-Softbank phones from your iPhone? I have no problem with other Softbank users, but any other and I keep getting an "error sending message" alert. Most confounding...
Anyone else having trouble sending SMS/e-mail to non-Softbank phones from your iPhone? I have no problem with other Softbank users, but any other and I keep getting an "error sending message" alert. Most confounding...
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No problems here, besides the fact that some AU phones can't display UTF-8 encoded mail (brilliant bit of programming there, eh?) and of course SMS doesn't work with other carriers (again, another brilliant choice by Japanese engineers/carriers) ... What kind of errors are you getting, exactly?
BiginJapan said:Anyone else having trouble sending SMS/e-mail to non-Softbank phones from your iPhone? I have no problem with other Softbank users, but any other and I keep getting an "error sending message" alert. Most confounding...
No problems here, besides the fact that some AU phones can't display UTF-8 encoded mail (brilliant bit of programming there, eh?) and of course SMS doesn't work with other carriers (again, another brilliant choice by Japanese engineers/carriers) ... What kind of errors are you getting, exactly?
"Of course"? I seemed to have no problem sending SMS to other carriers with my old 3G Vodafone handset... Mail won't seem to send even to regular @docomo.ne.jp addresses. The message just doesn't go out. Can't use the Softbank @i.softbank.jp address either -- I get a message saying "not a valid address" or "can't connect to imap.softbank.jp"
This is seriously pissing me off. The other features are great, but there's very little point in my having a cell phone if I can't use it for texting -- that's its main function for me.
I'm going to the Softbank shop today to have a little harangue. I might even activate my old phone on a new account just to have connectivity to all my colleagues and friends again!
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That's odd. In my six years here in Tokyo, I've never owned a phone that could send SMS to another carrier's handset. That was with J-Phone, Vodafone, DoCoMo and now Softbank. I wonder how you got yours to work ...
As for the Softbank email, you need to disable SSL for that account. The geniuses at Softbank didn't set up their servers to support the iPhone's default settings (SSL: On) ... Highly competent, indeed.
That's odd. In my six years here in Tokyo, I've never owned a phone that could send SMS to another carrier's handset. That was with J-Phone, Vodafone, DoCoMo and now Softbank. I wonder how you got yours to work ...
As for the Softbank email, you need to disable SSL for that account. The geniuses at Softbank didn't set up their servers to support the iPhone's default settings (SSL: On) ... Highly competent, indeed.
That's odd. In my six years here in Tokyo, I've never owned a phone that could send SMS to another carrier's handset. That was with J-Phone, Vodafone, DoCoMo and now Softbank. I wonder how you got yours to work ...
Dunno. Maybe it just SAID SMS under "message type", but was in fact sending them as email or MMS or something else? As far as I knew, though, what I was sending were SMSs...
As for the Softbank email, you need to disable SSL for that account. The geniuses at Softbank didn't set up their servers to support the iPhone's default settings (SSL: On) ... Highly competent, indeed.
Yeah, thanks. I remembered something about that earlier in the thread and tried that, but no luck. Finally, with a combination of deleting and re-inputting the account, and repeated on-offs of the airplane mode, it seems to be working. Still getting mail returned from other carriers' cell phones, though, from addresses I know to be correct... Softbank gave me a flyer telling me how to tell other carriers' users to adjust their settings in order to make sure they get mail from @i.softbank.jp addresses, but how am I supposed to tell them all if I CAN'T SEND THEM EMAIL?
What, I'm supposed to call them each up individually and explain it to them? ... OK, maybe I'll do that while I'm MANUALLY TRANSFERRING all my contacts from my old phone...(Just kidding on that last part -- I think I've got a workaround for that, but it involves using a Windoze computer, of all things...
)That said, I'm digging all the other features. Satellite Google maps in GPS still gives me a freaking involuntary chuckle every time. And the "push" contacts, calendars, mail... it's all good.
Well, a lot of people have anything not coming form ezweb.ne.jp etc blocked. (There are settings to block all "pasocon" emails, which the iphone is most likely sending.) the whole i.softbank.jp things is big FAIL in my opinion.Dunno. Maybe it just SAID SMS under "message type", but was in fact sending them as email or MMS or something else? As far as I knew, though, what I was sending were SMSs...
Yeah, thanks. I remembered something about that earlier in the thread and tried that, but no luck. Finally, with a combination of deleting and re-inputting the account, and repeated on-offs of the airplane mode, it seems to be working. Still getting mail returned from other carriers' cell phones, though, from addresses I know to be correct... Softbank gave me a flyer telling me how to tell other carriers' users to adjust their settings in order to make sure they get mail from @i.softbank.jp addresses, but how am I supposed to tell them all if I CAN'T SEND THEM EMAIL?
(Just kidding on that last part -- I think I've got a workaround for that, but it involves using a Windoze computer, of all things...
Also, lack of infrared on the iphone makes sending contacts back and forth a real chore..... apple seriously needs to localize thier products.
ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL.
Also, lack of infrared on the iphone makes sending contacts back and forth a real chore..... apple seriously needs to localize thier products.
ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL.
You know, I could never get the infrared on my Sharp Vodafone 3G to work properly, so I don't miss that in the slightest. Other things that people complain about that I don't care about:
- no Mobile Suica, keitai saifu, etc. I'm perfectly capable of talking on the phone and swiping my Suica with the the other hand.
- no 1-seg (seriously. Why on earth would I want to watch Japanese broadcast TV... on my phone? Does anyone actually do this? I think I've seen someone doing it exactly once, and they didn't seem to be especially enjoying the experience.)
- no front-mounted camera for video calling (again, I had this feature on my old phone and used it exactly once. I've never seen anyone else do it. Perhaps it's a do-it-in-private thing. But then, Skype, anyone?)
Things that I think ARE legitimate beefs:
-- the camera. No flash, no video capacity... and still only 2 MP. I mean, I knew this going in, but still.
-- no horizontal keyboard option except in Safari. I got big hands; this would be a plus. Hoping to see it in an update.
-- No cut and paste?! This is an oversight I can't even begin to comprehend. Update, Please!
-- No emoji. They're cutesy, they're dumb... and virtually everybody uses them. And are genuinely disappointed if you can't see the little buggers, which convey a little bit of much-needed emotional nuance to text messages. We're back to : )
-- the obvious irritation of having to go to obscure workarounds to migrate the data from my old phone. SoftBank should have had this covered, somehow. Hell, SoftBank should just HAVE a USB data-backup system that works for Mac. (On the bright side, it's actually a good chance to weed out a lot of those "Who is that?" numbers... and finally have it all in Address Book)
So far, I'm putting my overall satisfaction rating at about 75%.
Well, a lot of people have anything not coming form ezweb.ne.jp etc blocked. (There are settings to block all "pasocon" emails, which the iphone is most likely sending.) the whole i.softbank.jp things is big FAIL in my opinion.
Also, lack of infrared on the iphone makes sending contacts back and forth a real chore..... apple seriously needs to localize thier products.
ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL.
AMEN to that! i.softbank.jp is a huge FAIL. One is the SSL thing mentioned, doesn't bug me too much. The thing that does bug me is how the official iPhone provider can't even make our email addresses PUSH email as far as the iPhone goes (only fetch is an option). All we get is a popup from SoftBank with NO audible or vibration alert to go with it. So I have to wait until the iPhone checks the account and then gives me a ridiculously tiny beep and a millisecond of vibration to let me know. The latter is Apple's problem, I can't belive the lack of customizable alerts on this thing. I plan to jailbreak just to change the email alerts and shorten the time for SoftBank "fetch" mail to 3 minutes.
Yea I don't know why the couldn't have set up a server that converts the stupid softbank address to an ezweb one and at the same time covert the encoding to utf-7 or whatever b*sterised version of shift-jis xx248164738 those phones are most likely using....
Blah well maybe this is a good opportunity for some apps to take up the slack....
I agree that the iPhone is seriously lacking in customizability (the iWay or the highway, right?) but as pathetic as SoftBank's mail solution is, I don't see why it matters? Isn't the whole point of finally having a REAL email client on a keitai that we no longer HAVE to depend on the carrier for email? I use MobileMe, and it works great - push contacts/calendar/email. Screw SoftBank and their pathetic excuse for email.
How in the world did ya'll get caught slipping ?
Neighborhood Softbank stores are the best - not too many people seemed to remember that Omotesando was NOT the ONLY store
Break - Had one of my problems addressed by Softbank - reception .
My phone seems to work O.K. everywhere (except my apartment
Softbank gave me a lil pamphlet that describes an in-home antenna signal booster .
I called them 2 days ago and got an appomitment set up for next week .
Will report back as to whether it actually helps ...
Side note : I have not seen my phone hit full bars for reception one time ... is it even possible ?
Have any of you had reception concerns?
-T0ke
Got the antenna installed yesterday .
Was in the process of testing it and wouldn't you know it -> BAM -> first full blown thunder and lightning storm I have seen in my many moons in the land of the rising sun
Seriously ... the booster seems to work fairly well ... It looks like a little satelite type dish that they mounted on my balcony and ran a cable thru to a small unit that sits on my desk .
From 1 bar to avg. 3.5 - 4 !
I am excited .
Now I can make / receive calls while I am at home !
Wood or mansion style?
Wow, that does sound much better.
Any issues with the setup?
I agree, but for things like when you're trying to meet up with someone, it's nice to have that message alert come through instantly, instead of waiting for the every-15-minute check, or having to manually have it fetch...
I'm still having issues. Keitai mail addresses I used to use all the time are bouncing messages back saying "user unknown" -- even SoftBank addresses! I even talked a Docomo user through the "accept" setup given to me by SoftBank when I bought the iPhone, but still no dice.
I'm keen for this booster thing, now, though...
"Of course"? I seemed to have no problem sending SMS to other carriers with my old 3G Vodafone handset... Mail won't seem to send even to regular @docomo.ne.jp addresses. The message just doesn't go out. Can't use the Softbank @i.softbank.jp address either -- I get a message saying "not a valid address" or "can't connect to imap.softbank.jp"
This is seriously pissing me off. The other features are great, but there's very little point in my having a cell phone if I can't use it for texting -- that's its main function for me.
I'm going to the Softbank shop today to have a little harangue. I might even activate my old phone on a new account just to have connectivity to all my colleagues and friends again!
Maybe making phone calls. I know that Softbank told me when I bought the phone that it could only text other softbank phones and I actually have only had it successfully text other iPhones.
Yes, I too value the instant notifications. That's why I mentioned MobileMe - when I get new email, it is instantly pushed to the phone (well, usually within five seconds or so) along with a ringtone/vibrate notification. Not just that stupid "You have a mail" screen with no alerts whatsoever. I realize MobileMe isn't free, but you might want to give it a spin anyway to see what you think. And actually, I have a MobileMe family pack with two extra accounts - I'm sure we could work something out
Ha ha touché. I do in fact make phone calls, but for most purposes texting is more convenient. Also, maybe you missed my later post... MOST of these issues were resolved by repeatedly toggling airplane mode and deleting and re-adding the accounts. BTW by "texting" I am referring to everything under the umbrella of "携帯メール, including SMS, MMS (not available on iPhone...), and sending email via cell phone.
I've been able to SMS other Softbank non-i-phones consistently (and email them with hit-or-miss success). None of the people I regularly contact have iPhones yet. Nobody at SoftBank told me anything about not being able to message other carriers' phones, except for this flyer about getting everybody else to adjust their settings to "allow" receipt from i.softbank.jp addresses, and I can't find anything about it in the fine print -- just the part about not being able to use emoji and "deco-mail", which I already knew about.
Really? Five seconds? I thought Apple had admitted that the system was not in fact a true "push" and that it actually had to wait for the scheduled update check... which is currently at a minimum of 15 minutes.
I'm going to get MobileMe anyway, if just for the calendar/contact synching.
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That 15 minute delay is only on the Mac/PC - the iPhone gets stuff almost instantly. The longest I've had to wait (timing email sent to myself) is about 10-15 seconds. Email always arrives on my iPhone before Mail.app ...
BiginJapan said:
That 15 minute delay is only on the Mac/PC - the iPhone gets stuff almost instantly. The longest I've had to wait (timing email sent to myself) is about 10-15 seconds. Email always arrives on my iPhone before Mail.app ...
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Access the forums through the link on the mobile site (mobile.macrumors.com) ...
keirnna said:
Access the forums through the link on the mobile site (mobile.macrumors.com) ...