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3G iPhone in Japan?

macdigger said:
-snip-
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This is exactly why I don't plan on jailbreaking my iPhone. As much as I miss custom themes, I can't imagine being phone-less like that - not to mention that Apple has been known to refuse service on JB'd phones in the States.

Anyway, they told me the same thing when I tried to get my first iPhone replaced at the Genius Bar in Shibuya. My response was 'you have got to be ****ing joking' or something along those lines, at which point they arranged to have me pick up a replacement at the Omotesando Softbank shop. ;)
 
Why did you jailbrake?

macdigger said:
Just a word of warning.
I had my iPhone 3G with firmware 2.0 jailbroken by Pwnage tool.
... and now I have an iBrick here. :(

Anyways, I am now waiting for my replacement unit which comes .... well apple store didn't tell me when the bloody thing comes. "Can take up to 2 weeks" (two weeks!!) Oh well :((
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Sorry to hear of your experience.

As a curiosity, what was the main reason for jailbraking your phone?

Isn’t it always a risk to update to an official firmware unless you are absolutely sure it does no harm to your phone from waiting a while and checking upon other users’ (or experts’) comments?
 
mavis said:
This is exactly why I don't plan on jailbreaking my iPhone. As much as I miss custom themes, I can't imagine being phone-less like that - not to mention that Apple has been known to refuse service on JB'd phones in the States.

Anyway, they told me the same thing when I tried to get my first iPhone replaced at the Genius Bar in Shibuya. My response was 'you have got to be ****ing joking' or something along those lines, at which point they arranged to have me pick up a replacement at the Omotesando Softbank shop. ;)
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I don't care about all these half-assed themes, but I need a terminal (SSH) and some replacement for those nonexistent calls and messages notifications Apple decided to go with. I miss 90% of calls and messages, and I missed 2 extremely important emails this night (servers were down) because of the ****** "new email" message didn't wake me up. :(
 
tony-in-japan said:
Why don’t you wait until it is officially released in Singapore? I think I read somewhere that Singapore is one of the countries next on Apple’s release agenda.

As far as I know, you cannot buy the iPhone on its own. You need to get a contract with it through an official/authorized shop.
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Actually Singapore's SingTel will release the iPhone by end of Aug but problem is I'm on contract to another operator. Left 1.3 years. So if Japan's price is good and can get one without a contract, then I can consider.

Also provided the jap iPhone can be used in Singapore. So anyone else knows where to get a unlock iphone? Akihabara perhaps?
 
sushi said:
New Softbank iPhone 3G pricing plan.

Glad to see this. :)
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So now they changed it to be like the same as the "pake-hodai" plan that we now subscribe to for my oldest son's phone. So long as you don't use the data you will get charged the minimum of ¥1695 and no matter how much you use it will cap out at ¥5985.

This might be enough to get me to switch to the iPhone when my current handset contract runs out next year but I gotta say its much less urgent of a desire now that I have my Touch, especially if I am going to be limiting my 3G data which is the only thing I really envy on the iPhone.

As for getting unlocked iPhones check out Yahoo Auctions but be prepared to pay 170,000 yen to 210,000 yen. They're not worth half that price.
 
breadbox9 said:
looks nice to have some discount so fast.
but am I correct in my math?! 71250 packets are only 8.6 megs of data?
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I don't know the exact amounts but I do know you will be able to run over the minimum data level of this new plan with ease. This offer is only for those who want the iPhone as a cool handset but don't want to be saddled with 6000 yen a month mandatory for data. It's only advantageous for those who can limit themselves to near no data usage at all. If you can get by with wi-fi and just phone calls, pictures, etc and data in emergency situations only it may be for you.

Aside from that it will make no difference at all to current subscribers who use their data with free abandon and go over their max in a day.
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G (white): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5B108 Safari/525.20)

sushi said:
New Softbank iPhone 3G pricing plan.

Glad to see this. :)
Click to expand...

It looks nice on paper, but it won't help at all in practice. Last month (July 11-31) my data charges were $6,700 before adjustment. And since I was at home most of that time (summer vacation) I was connected to wifi more than 80% of the time. The new rate plan might help someone like my mother-in-law (Internet? What's that?) but for anyone that actually uses their phone on occasion, it won't do anything but shock them when they get that first bill. ;)
 
tony-in-japan said:
Sorry to hear of your experience.

As a curiosity, what was the main reason for jailbraking your phone?

Isn’t it always a risk to update to an official firmware unless you are absolutely sure it does no harm to your phone from waiting a while and checking upon other users’ (or experts’) comments?
Click to expand...

Main reasons for jailbreaking for me are the ability to run apps which just aren't available in AppStore, but were available on jailbroken devices from long ago - namely I need all kinds of terminal/ssh applications as I do system administration is a part of my job.

Also, I need better notifications. With jailbroken iPhone you can change hardcoded ringtones as you please. Also, there is an application called IntelliScreen ( http://intelliborn.com/ ) which provides somewhat better notifications (beeps every 5 minutes if you have a missed call/sms/email). Unfortunately, this functionality is not possible with AppStore applications currently (and wouldn't hold my breath for Apple to actually listen to users and work on better notifications in near-mid term future). I already missed emergency email by 40 minutes this night. Thank god somebody figured out my SMS number and SMSed me (SMS alerts are much louder). I was lucky the server which went down was not very important. If an online shop goes down for 40 minutes, this can be pretty bad...

So basically, just 2 reasons. I would really love to have un-jailbroken device and don't worry about breaking my baseband on update (like it happened this time), but unfortunately, this is not possible.

I managed to snatch a replacement iPhone 3G unit today at Softbank shop (so I'm on my THIRD iPhone already), and currently running un-jailbroken 2.0.1, but I will ultimately jailbreak it again as soon as 2.0.1 pwnage is out.
 
mavis said:
It looks nice on paper, but it won't help at all in practice. Last month (July 11-31) my data charges were $6,700 before adjustment. And since I was at home most of that time (summer vacation) I was connected to wifi more than 80% of the time. The new rate plan might help someone like my mother-in-law (Internet? What's that?) but for anyone that actually uses their phone on occasion, it won't do anything but shock them when they get that first bill. ;)
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I see your point.

But for those who access the Internet via WiFi on a regular basis, and only via 3G occasionally, this could be a good deal.

On the other hand, as you found out, if you access the Internet via 3G, then you are going to max out.

Depends on usage.
 
new rate plan clarification (thanks!)

sushi said:
I see your point.

But for those who access the Internet via WiFi on a regular basis, and only via 3G occasionally, this could be a good deal.

On the other hand, as you found out, if you access the Internet via 3G, then you are going to max out.

Depends on usage.
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I want to make sure I'm understanding this rate plan change so please bear with me. Here's how I understood it:

There is a new and VERY low packet ceiling. If I can somehow manage to stay under it, I only pay 1695 for the data. However, if I go over that, I pay the 1695 plus .084/packet until I hit 5985 in data charges after which data is unlimited and is basically what I am paying now.

Is this right? The data charge can't go over 5985 no matter how much I use right? I will try to keep it low but just want to make sure there's that 5985 limit with "unlimited" usage. Thank you!
 
crayonshin said:
I want to make sure I'm understanding this rate plan change so please bear with me. Here's how I understood it:

There is a new and VERY low packet ceiling. If I can somehow manage to stay under it, I only pay 1695 for the data. However, if I go over that, I pay the 1695 plus .084/packet until I hit 5985 in data charges after which data is unlimited and is basically what I am paying now.

Is this right? The data charge can't go over 5985 no matter how much I use right? I will try to keep it low but just want to make sure there's that 5985 limit with "unlimited" usage. Thank you!
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Exactly right, you will never be charged more than 5985 yen per month no matter how heavy your usage is and if you keep it next to nothing you will only pay 1695 yen.

But like I said before if you even play with the 3G data at all you're likely to exceed the 1695 yen ceiling. If you can do all wifi internet and then just use it solely as a phone/pda/ipod/camera you will be able to lower your monthly bill considerably.
 
SaSaSushi said:
Exactly right, you will never be charged more than 5985 yen per month no matter how heavy your usage is and if you keep it next to nothing you will only pay 1695 yen.
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Agree.

This is similar to au and docomo plans.

I am usually near a WiFi access point, so this would work well for me. And if I go over the packet allotment, I know that I will top out at the 5985 rate -- so there is a safety net.

SaSaSushi said:
But like I said before if you even play with the 3G data at all you're likely to exceed the 1695 yen ceiling. If you can do all wifi internet and then just use it solely as a phone/pda/ipod/camera you will be able to lower your monthly bill considerably.
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Yep, gives the users options.

Plus this is a great marketing change. Now those who use the iPhone can lure their friends into changing so they can get the free calling.
 
sushi said:
Now those who use the iPhone can lure their friends into changing so they can get the free calling.
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Yup, already working for me. Actually, most of my friends already use SoftBank but I'd like to see them get iPhones as it would make SMS a more practical means of keeping in touch. :)
 
On My Way.....

Now that SoftBank has introduced this new plan, I'm on my way to getting an iPhone... FINALLY ! YES !

I understand the limitations and dangers of this new plan. However, I have a somewhat stupid question..... When using the GPS (remembering that it is Assisted GPS), how much 3G will be used ? Also, when using "real" mail, does the iPhone access the 3G network anymore than any other 3G phone when using the cheesy keitai mail ?

Thanks,

Scott
 
I am a bit worried this new plan is somehow going to screw us. All I know is I am happy to pay 6,000 yen a month for unlimited data. I use the 3G data for 2-3 hours a day...
 
keirnna said:
I am a bit worried this new plan is somehow going to screw us. All I know is I am happy to pay 6,000 yen a month for unlimited data. I use the 3G data for 2-3 hours a day...
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How could it possibly "screw you" except if you are talking about the possibility of the network slowing down due to the mass influx of new users? If you're a heavy data user that is happy to pay 6000 yen/month for the privilege it should make no difference to you whatsoever.

As for those who are joining up as a result of the plan one would think they would be light data users attracted by the lower price plan.

Quoting a story from the Mainichi News:

Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said he decided on offering the lower fee after the company checked to make sure its networks can handle the anticipated surge in iPhone wireless use.
 
Softbank's New iPhone Data Plan...

...is a total scam! There's no way users could stay under the ¥5985 cap. It's just a marketing ploy to get new customers.

I've accepted the fact that I have to pay for data in Japan. Can't be helped. I just wish I could've downloaded the NetShare app before it was pulled down!! Did anyone grab this?? I'm unsure how SoftBank would react to usage. Or would they even know?
 
ajmiyazaki said:
...is a total scam! There's no way users could stay under the ¥5985 cap. It's just a marketing ploy to get new customers.
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I don't know about a "scam" but it's actually a ¥1695 cap. There is no need to keep usage under ¥5985 since that is the maximum you would pay no matter how much data you use.

-PLUS- I can assure you, I would most certainly stay below the ¥1695 ceiling if and when I get the iPhone because I would not use the data at all. I would only access the internet with wifi and use it as a phone/camera.

For anyone that intends to actually use 3G data I would tend to agree with you that it would be next to impossible to keep usage under the minimum. It's pretty much all or nothing as far as that's concerned.
 
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