iphone in japan with docomo

[AndyJapan]

Hi Aussiejapan,

I used a SIM-cutter.
http://www.cutmysim.com/
http://www.vintagecomp.com/shop/shopexd.asp?id=3066

Cutting the SIM-card was scary as it cuts through the contacts.

Does your SIM still work in another phone? If not, you might have killed your SIM-card. In such case, you need a replacement SIM-card from Docomo.

BTW, 3G data will not work with an unlocked iPhone on the Docomo network and there are rumors that it won't even work after Docomo will offer unlocked phones from April. I was hoping that they will open their network for other phones, but it looks like they are still forcing users to buy handsets from them.

Check this out:
http://softbanksucks.blogspot.com/2011/03/japanese-mobile-phone-sim-unlocking.html

I just cut my docomo sim down to put in my factory unlocked iPhone 4 and nothing! it stays the same saying no sim installed. I cut it down by using the templates you can download online, getting it nicely fitted and no reception! Any hints would be much appreciated!
Cheers!

 

[AndyJapan]

Sorry for the delay in responding to you.
Yes, I am still on WiMax in combination with Public WLAN (Mzone). Not really convenient, but better than paying horrendous fees to Docomo.

I was hoping that Docomo will allow Non-Docomo phones on their network from April, but there are rumors that this will not happen.
http://softbanksucks.blogspot.com/2011/03/japanese-mobile-phone-sim-unlocking.html

I don't quite understand Docomo's move to offer unlocked phones as no other Japanese provider will accept the usage of these phones on their network - as far as I know. Moreover, other providers won't unlock phones.
Therefore, I do not see the benefit for customers and Docomo. Why should one buy an unlocked phone (from Docomo) at a higher price that anyway cannot be used on the Softbank or KDDI network. In the latter case, the different frequencies will prevent the usage of standard 3G phones anyway.
Do I miss anyting?

Andy -
I was wondering if you've got any more updates on getting your iphone to work on Docomo. Still on WiMax without any data plan? I recently took the plunge to buy 2 legally unlocked IP4's from HK. Now trying to figure out how to best get them hooked up for me + wife. The other thread about April 2011 seemed to indicate only that Docomo would be considering allowing non-Docomo phones on their networks. Not that anything actually would compel them to do something at that time or are you one of the optimistic? (I can live with WiMax if for 5 months if they actually do something!! )

Thanks

 

[AndyJapan]

AFAIK, the MoperaU standard plan is needed if you want to sign up for the Public WLAN (Mzone) option. The WLAN options is 840Yen/month for Docomo users.

I do not use docomo.ne.jp mails and do not know whether you could receive these mails on your iPhone. Docomo won't help you as they treat the iPhone like a unsupported phone.　I've heard that you would have to install an application (not available for iPhone) for receiving docomo.ne.jp mails, but cannot confirm this.
Anyway, why do you want to use docomo mail. I would rather stay away from their mail service and would use a service that id independent from the phone provider.

hey everyone,
[...]
1. is there any benefit to getting mopera standard over mopera lite?
2. how are you getting docomo.ne.jp. mails on your iphone? or is this something you're forced to give up?

much appreciated, and happy new year!

 

[jdaniel]

I was reading up on ways people are switching between wi-fi and "cellular data network" in order to save money on their data charges at the end of the month. It seems that for most people in the States, they can simply turn off their 3G (using Boss Preferences) and then their iPhones will never use the "cellular data network" unless they switch it back on. I thought i'd give this a try today and i realized something i think is pretty important.

If you turn your 3G off, you will lose the ability to use the Docomo phone system ENTIRELY!!! Apparently the 3G system here is essential to using your iPhone, and turning it off will not be a solution for us to ensure that we don't use the Mopera system if we are not connected to a wi-fi network. (An obvious thing after you do this once, but important to share this i think.)

The iPhone is SUPPOSED to only use the "cellular data network" when a wi-fi network is unavailable for data transfers, but i'm not convinced it will really do this every time i'm in range of a wi-fi network that i can connect to. I say this because even with the latest Mzone service i've added to my Docomo plan, the connection is NOT instantaneous and i've found myself walking back and forth on the subway platform trying to find a sweet spot for it to actually get mail i know is waiting for me. If i hadn't found the sweet spot, i'm sure the mail would have already been pulled down and i would've been charged for the data packets. I've been SO very tempted to just give up and add my Mopera UserID/Password information to the "cell data network" setup box (under Settings-->General-->Network-->Cellular Data Network), but i'm still currently at "0 bytes" Sent/Received for the month, and I want to see what my phone bill is going to look like.

By the way, if you turn your EDGE off, you can still make calls, get online with wi-fi, etc. So you might want to do this just for sake of saving a little bit of battery power.

For those with iPhones on the Docomo network here in Japan, PLEASE please add your comments and experiences and advice to this forum! It is very difficult to find any real good information out there (i'm assuming because there are so few of us doing this), so it would be great if we could all pool our ideas to help each other out and promote better ways of doing things!

Please and Thanks!

davey

Ok i am guessing.. just guessing..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Mobile_Telecommunications_System

Apparently according to one poster in this thread.. Japan doesnt have GSM.. so if you turn off EDGE you are basically doing nothing.. because there is nothing to turn off LOL....it only has 3G which is UMTS... that might explain it? Here in Singapore they have both... so when you turn off 3G it falls back to EDGE, you get what I mean it goes from no data > edge > 3G.. if you use Auto3g or u do it manual in Sbsettings if you turn off 3G it will fall back to EDGE..but if you dont have edge as in your case.. then theres nothing to fall back on to.. so if you turn off EDGE its not doing anything to begin with

And gosh Japanese systems are sooooo horrendously complicated from what I read here.. and its only recently people have been able to roam in Japan because of the 'new' 3G network/UMTS.

 

[TheMacBookPro]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Correct, there is no 2G GSM at all in Japan.

Not sure where you got the idea that people have only recently been able to roam in Japan though. I've been roaming on Voda (now sb) and docomo since 04 with an assortment of 3G nokias and sonys.

 

[jdaniel]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Correct, there is no 2G GSM at all in Japan.

Not sure where you got the idea that people have only recently been able to roam in Japan though. I've been roaming on Voda (now sb) and docomo since 04 with an assortment of 3G nokias and sonys.

Coz I've never been able to roam LOL but that may be due to my carrier, but whenever I am the airport I get no signal weird... yes no idea why... I'll check next time I pass thru.

 

[nrt]

Thanks for your reply Andy! I was wondering what happened to you and this thread; I was also waiting for Docomo to lessen their restrictions on using overseas phones, but I have yet to see any positive announcements...

You're right about docomo.ne.jp mails not being supported; I managed to find out that docomo offers a i-mode webservice, which some apps develop an interface around (android has imoni, which is quite well done, and iOS had a terrible one that I don't remember the name of, and imoco, which i haven't tried yet). To be honest, it's just that I have a docomo mail address I've used for so long, and I wasn't ready to give it up yet.

As I'm using a softbank unlocked iphone 3GS, it's a bit more of a pain to get
that working so I ended up with an Huawei Ideos U8150 (an unlocked version of what e-mobile uses for their Pocket Wifi-S). It's a great little android device, and pretty cheap too (i picked it up for 16000 yen on Y-auctions).

AFAIK, the MoperaU standard plan is needed if you want to sign up for the Public WLAN (Mzone) option. The WLAN options is 840Yen/month for Docomo users.

I do not use docomo.ne.jp mails and do not know whether you could receive these mails on your iPhone. Docomo won't help you as they treat the iPhone like a unsupported phone.　I've heard that you would have to install an application (not available for iPhone) for receiving docomo.ne.jp mails, but cannot confirm this.
Anyway, why do you want to use docomo mail. I would rather stay away from their mail service and would use a service that id independent from the phone provider.

 

[david91]

Check this out if you want to know more about APN and VPN... http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-vpn-and-apn