I word... Geography.
Here in Japan, your phone will work anywhere in the country (provided it is in range). Unlike the US, your can use your phone in your local area, or if you are on business in some other part of Japan, your phone and phone number will continue to operate normally. I am originally from the US and found it annoying that I could not use my cell phone outside of my home-area. Sure I could use it in a roam mode and pay excessive fees, there are few agreements between the different carriers in the US that allow use of you phone from coast to coast. I am sure that I am not fully aware if that service is available at this time, but the price premium that you would pay for using that service would tend to restrict it's viability to only business users.
I recently changed from NTT Docomo's i-mode phone to J-Phone's phone. It has web access, email, games, lots of features. i-mode was OK, NTT just doesn't have very competitive pricing for their service. J-Phone offers more options and plans to save money (while increasing their market share).
Anyway, time to check the surf report on the phone...
4,000 yen a month in Shizuoka. When I lived in the city I couldn't get cable service, I moved out to Inaka and I get 350K cable service 24/7. The install was expensive though... 80,000 ouch. Are you sure there isn't any cable service in your area? Which prefecture?
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I word... Geography. Here in Japan, your phone will work anywhere in the country (provided it is in range). Unlike the US, your can use your phone in your local area, or if you are on business in some other part of Japan, your phone and phone number will continue to operate normally. I am originally from the US and found it annoying that I could not use my cell phone outside of my home-area. Sure I could use it in a roam mode and pay excessive fees, there are few agreements between the different carriers in the US that allow use of you phone from coast to coast. I am sure that I am not fully aware if that service is available at this time, but the price premium that you would pay for using that service would tend to restrict it's viability to only business users. I recently changed from NTT Docomo's i-mode phone to J-Phone's phone. It has web access, email, games, lots of features. i-mode was OK, NTT just doesn't have very competitive pricing for their service. J-Phone offers more options and plans to save money (while increasing their market share). Anyway, time to check the surf report on the phone...
4,000 yen a month in Shizuoka. When I lived in the city I couldn't get cable service, I moved out to Inaka and I get 350K cable service 24/7. The install was expensive though... 80,000 ouch. Are you sure there isn't any cable service in your area? Which prefecture?