pWei

Would these devices work out in more rural areas? Not expecting WiMAX to do that, but perhaps HSPA coverage is better?

KPT

Mods, can we please have a sticky thread for other users that are looking for this content, with experiences and updates? I feel like we've been asking this question a million times, and every so often a new choice comes about (e.g. b-mobile, or that Softbank started capping the costs for data usage a year ago, etc.)

RJ77

Thanks to the OP for sharing. Based on the strength of this thread, I rented from Rentafone, a mobile phone and a mifi/pocket wifi. Set myself up for call forwarding service from my home country that would be activated with a simple SMS using the rented mobile once in Japan. Panicked a little when I realised that the rented mobile phone could not send out SMS to overseas for some reasons. After a few calls, my call forwarder managed to sort it out for me. it was smooth sailing from then on.

The phone and the mifi worked well. I like the slim Samsung phone as I tend to place it in my pocket, and wouldnt cause a bulge. It's a simple phone that served its purpose. I rented the 3G Mifi instead of the Wimax knowing that I'll be travelling to some really rural industrial areas where a Wimax might be useless. The speed of the 3G was acceptable (advertised as only 300kbs/s) certainly not able to hold a Skype conversation but normal browsing and downloading emails on my phone were fine, not lightning fast but bearable. Worked well everywhere including the trains.

Hope this would be helpful. For rates just check out their website.

travln

Traveling to Japan in 2 weeks. We'll be driving around the Japan Alps and want Mifi with the best coverage (google maps and restaurant ratings are mainly what we want access to). I can't tell what rentaphone's coverage on their Docomo device is (not the WiMax as there is limited coverage outside of metropolitan areas) compared to globaladvancedcomm's 42mbps device, which has a coverage area map on emobile's site.

My priorities are, 1) coverage in rural areas and 2) given 1, speed. Any recommendations? It seems like globaladvancedcomm's 42mbps is the way to go but I am not sure. Advice would be greatly appreciated.

joejones

An acquaintance of mine, a Bangladeshi guy who has lived in Tokyo for years, runs a company which mainly sets up phone and internet connections for South Asians.

Today he announced that his company is starting a pocket wifi rental operation, and will offer 42 mbps pocket wifi devices for 4,500 yen per month, with no data caps or residency documentation required. There is a 10,000 yen deposit which is refunded when you return the device.

I haven't asked about details but I guess he is just getting a bunch of these things on contract and charging the slimmest markup he can justify...

His company's office is near Shinjuku. The service is not listed on the company website (which I admit looks sketchy as heck), but you can send a message if you are interested. Here is the link:
http://www.jbnetjp.com/contactus.php

NickP 1K

Go with the DoCoMo device; worked for me in odd places (even on secondary islands in Okinawa) ; The E-Mobile device has good coverage in larger cities but it is not as thorough as DoCoMo's

DoCoMo's coverage: http://maps.mobileworldlive.com/netw...=4222&cid=3027

E-Mobile http://emobile.jp/area/area.html [click on the region you want to see detail on]

travln

went with the 42mbps from global advanced for 18 days, cost 10,300JPY. worked like a charm. no coverage on mountaintops but every town (even the tiny ones) had some coverage. between the GPS in the android and the mifi, it was the easiest trip to drive to date! they mailed it to our hotel and we mailed it back on the way out of town. loved having it just in tokyo too - we had many a good meal thanks to having it with us.

http://www.globaladvancedcomm.com/pocketwifi.html

okurisama

Went with Rentafone Japan's UQ WiMax offering. In central Nagoya, getting a paltry 0.5Mbps (max) regardless of location (wandered the city yesterday to no avail), with huge latency. My sister-in-law lives here and has a KDDI wimax device that uses the same network and gets the same painfully slow downstream speeds.

Moral -- rethink WiMax if you're going to be in a densely populated area; it looks like they're having severe network saturation problems.

O Sora

Mine has WiMAX/3G/Auto mode switcher and I am satisfied with the speed. I can enjoy HD video on youtube when I stay at hotels in Japan. Did you set it to WiMAX mode?

brian02114

Based on this thread, I rented a 3g mifi from Rentafone Japan for 5900 yen for a weeklong trip through Osaka and Hokkaido. Justin at Rentafone quickly helped resolve a small hiccup in hotel delivery (postal service doesn't deliver on Sundays) by express shipping it to my next hotel.

The mifi worked reasonably well, giving anywhere between 100-300kbps just about everywhere I went in Osaka and Sapporo, and some really out of the way places near Otaru, Yoichi and Niseko. Good signal on the lifts and mountain at Niseko. I got perhaps 3 hours per charge, and I had about 1-3 devices connected to it.

Email, web browsing, github, and ssh worked well enough, but voip was obviously out of the question. It was good enough to get work done and remain in touch with another team in North America.

I would rent from them again, with the only caveat being that I would check to ensure that the device would be delivered on the date specified. Customer service was quick and responsive.

onebagtraveller

Repeat customer with Global Advanced...every time picked up at NRT post office and sent back via city mail box and no issues.

Had to reboot device once (as in turn off and turn back on) but otherwise flawless.

Was mainly in Tokyo and internet speed no issue for all applications including VOIP.

NickP 1K

Global Advanced Comm now provides an LTE capable device when ordering the higher end hotspot

http://www.globaladvancedcomm.com/pocketwifi.html

Basically this device:
http://emobile.jp/products/gl04p/

LTE coverage is good in Tokyo area, E-Mobile though has sub par coverage in repeater locations (e.g. underground/basement areas of buildings). Even though E-Mobile is basically now owned by Softbank their is no coverage fallback to Softbank yet.

mangoMan

I'm using this device right now in my room at the Tokyo Hilton. Getting 2Mbps download and, oddly enough, 3Mbps upload, according to www.speedtest.net

NickP 1K

Yeah, it's throttled; upstream was poor on the 3G device ; but downstream seems about the same. Ping times are better on LTE though.

Chubob

Just giving something back to the FT community after reading through and doing my own research.

not quite MiFi but if you just want internet on your smart phone or have a compatible phone that allows tethering then this might be of interest.

14 Days Prepaid 1Gb allowance 14Mbps Down / 5.7Mbps Up. No voice but can do VOIP
14 Days Prepaid Unlimited 300kbps Down/Up. No voice and restricted VOIP

¥3,980 for either (+¥210 for airport pickup)

http://www.bmobile.ne.jp/english/index.html

Will be trying it out in April on my iPhone. I'll report back after my trip