Japanese Carrier DoCoMo to Gain iPhone This Fall

[japanime]

Docomo has sucked for years. They always had the worst coverage, and half a decade later, they finally appear to see the light.

Congrats on staying around this long.

Are you serious? Have you used an iPhone on Softbank or au/KDDI? There's no comparison — DoCoMo's network absolutely blows away the competition.

I've had Softbank for the past five years, simply because I wanted an iPhone. I can't wait to switch back to DoCoMo.

EDIT: I see you are located in the United States. Yes, I would imagine DoCoMo coverage is pretty spotty in your neck of the woods. ;-)

Softbank iPhone here in Japan already includes some of its bloatware preinstalled.

It does? Mine didn't. Nor did the four other iPhones I purchased for my company.

 

[Jjaro]

Docomo has sucked for years. They always had the worst coverage, and half a decade later, they finally appear to see the light.

Congrats on staying around this long.

Are you mad? Docomo is WAAAYYY better than SoftBank and AU (especially SoftBank! They are just awful!). You're obviously just trolling here.

 

[skipper113]

Like what?? I haven't seen any bloatware on my Softbank iPhone.

apps like Yahoo! / My softbank / Softbank official menu app.
These get added automatically when you setup an i.softbank account.

 

[MKINJPN]

Are you mad? Docomo is WAAAYYY better than SoftBank and AU (especially SoftBank! They are just awful!). You're obviously just trolling here.

Depends on where you are in Japan. Unless things have changed recently, AU reigned king in Okinawa and both Docomo and SoftBank weren't that great. AU was also the most reliable in the Tohoku region for a few months after the Tsunami. SoftBank now claims to be the best overall since the government granted SoftBank additional bandwidth. SoftBank has definitely been trying harder than anyone else. I remember seeing a news article claiming that SoftBank has significantly more cell towers than its competitors.

Docomo also had many well publicized server reliability issues in the past so Docomos dominance as the most reliable carrier is no longer true.

 

[japanime]

apps like Yahoo! / My softbank / Softbank official menu app.
These get added automatically when you setup an i.softbank account.

Nothing — NOTHING — gets "added automatically" to a stock iPhone. The only way an app gets installed is if the user (or somebody setting up the phone for him or her) adds that app from the app store.

If you had a Softbank employee set up your iPhone and add the i.softbank account, then that person must have added this mysterious "official menu app" of which you speak.

An i.softbank account is simply an email address. No special app is required. I set up my own i.softbank account, and was never even prompted to download anything. (I configured the account through the iPhone's native Mail app.)

I'm no fan of Softbank, but I'm also not going to perpetuate a rumor that Softbank installs bloatware on iPhones. It just isn't true.

It also seems that the crazy allegations that are being posted here (Softbank bloatware, DoCoMo sucks, etc.) are from newly registered Macrumors members. If I was a suspicious person, I'd suspect that the NTT and Softbank PR departments have their English-speaking employees working these forums...

 

[*tcg*]

I believe the alleged Softbank bloatware are actually webclips installed by the Softbank configuration profile needed to use their wifi hotspots. Since they can be easily deleted, it's not quite the same as other phones that come with carrier software that cannot be removed.

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[aussieinjapan]

Nothing — NOTHING — gets "added automatically" to a stock iPhone. The only way an app gets installed is if the user (or somebody setting up the phone for him or her) adds that app from the app store.

If you had a Softbank employee set up your iPhone and add the i.softbank account, then that person must have added this mysterious "official menu app" of which you speak.

An i.softbank account is simply an email address. No special app is required. I set up my own i.softbank account, and was never even prompted to download anything. (I configured the account through the iPhone's native Mail app.)

I'm no fan of Softbank, but I'm also not going to perpetuate a rumor that Softbank installs bloatware on iPhones. It just isn't true.

It also seems that the crazy allegations that are being posted here (Softbank bloatware, DoCoMo sucks, etc.) are from newly registered Macrumors members. If I was a suspicious person, I'd suspect that the NTT and Softbank PR departments have their English-speaking employees working these forums...

100% agree on this one ! both carriers have their good and bad points....Softbank doesnt put crapware on iphones and DoCoMo has an excellent network. While saying that, people here in Japan say that softbanks network isnt very good (Ive had no problems) - their prices are pretty good compared to DoCoMos.

 

[*tcg*]

Softbank has a reputation for a poor network but they've been making real gains the last few years. They even offered free home antenna service to help persuade people not to jump ship. Their main problem now is that their bandwidth hasn't been keeping up with their gains in popularity. I use my phone as a radio for my car and had almost no dropouts back when the 3GS first came here, but now I'm getting several dropouts on every trip.

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[PracticalMac]

NTT DOCOMO will probably spam imessages to D/L their apps, like ATT, and it is a good thing.

 

[Jjaro]

Depends on where you are in Japan. Unless things have changed recently, AU reigned king in Okinawa and both Docomo and SoftBank weren't that great. AU was also the most reliable in the Tohoku region for a few months after the Tsunami. SoftBank now claims to be the best overall since the government granted SoftBank additional bandwidth. SoftBank has definitely been trying harder than anyone else. I remember seeing a news article claiming that SoftBank has significantly more cell towers than its competitors.

Docomo also had many well publicized server reliability issues in the past so Docomos dominance as the most reliable carrier is no longer true.

Well, I'm likely gonna switch again anyway. I live in Yokosuka, and Softbank's coverage there is garbage dude.

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Nothing — NOTHING — gets "added automatically" to a stock iPhone. The only way an app gets installed is if the user (or somebody setting up the phone for him or her) adds that app from the app store.

If you had a Softbank employee set up your iPhone and add the i.softbank account, then that person must have added this mysterious "official menu app" of which you speak.

An i.softbank account is simply an email address. No special app is required. I set up my own i.softbank account, and was never even prompted to download anything. (I configured the account through the iPhone's native Mail app.)

I'm no fan of Softbank, but I'm also not going to perpetuate a rumor that Softbank installs bloatware on iPhones. It just isn't true.

It also seems that the crazy allegations that are being posted here (Softbank bloatware, DoCoMo sucks, etc.) are from newly registered Macrumors members. If I was a suspicious person, I'd suspect that the NTT and Softbank PR departments have their English-speaking employees working these forums...

And, as you pointed out, one guy doesn't even live here in Japan! Lol, people are just trying to troll I think.

 

[yukster]

apps like Yahoo! / My softbank / Softbank official menu app.
These get added automatically when you setup an i.softbank account.

As others have stated, these things are never preinstalled on a Softbank iPhone. There is a profile that you can install that adds the i.softbank.jp IMAP email account, as well as Softbank's free WiFi account, but that does not install those apps.

If you have those apps on your iPhone, you can delete them, just like any other app.