JAPAN
| Useful things to know: |
| Prefix: |
+81 |
 |
| Money: |
1 Japanese Yen = 0.006381 Euro |
| Electricity: |
120V - 50-60Hz |
| Time Zone: |
GMT+10 |
3G Operators
| NTT DoCoMo, Inc |
 |
Prepaid Card Name: |
- |
| Activation Fee/Credit included: |
- |
| Card Validity after activation: |
- |
| Net Frequency: |
W-CDMA 2100 |
| Logo, Net Code: |
NTT DoCoMo, 440 10 |
| Coverage Map: |
GSM-World |
| Prepaid offer: |
- |
| Last update: |
14/02/08 |
| SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp. |
 |
Prepaid Card Name: |
SoftBank 3G Prepaid Service |
| Activation Fee/Credit included: |
Only phone kits |
| Card Validity after activation: |
??? |
| Net Frequency: |
W-CDMA 2100 |
| Logo, Net Code: |
Softbank, Vodafone JP, 440 20 |
| Coverage Map: |
GSM-World |
| Prepaid offer: |
click here |
| Last update: |
14/02/08 |
PDC, CDMA2000 1x Ev Do and W-CDMA
Japan as always been quite isolated talking about mobile phone technology. Their extensive 2G networks are in the PDC standard,
which is not used outside Japan, while they have a CDMA (upgraded to CDMA 2000 1x Ev Do) network as well (KDDI) which could
be good for some foreigners coming from Korea or America, but not for the big GSM public. In the last years NTT DoCoMo and
Softbank (formerny Vodafone) are building their new W-CDMA 2100 networks, which have a good coverage in bigger towns, but still lack behind the
2G networks throughout the country (and inside buildings and metros).
In Japan prepaid services are really not widespread and it's not possible for foreigners to buy any prepaid card. Softbank just started the first 3G Prepaid
offer on February 4th 2008, but still it's not clear if they very hard laws still apply for registration, making it almost impossible for visitors to use this service.
So the best way to use a dual-mode GSM/UMTS phone in Japan is with an international card with
coverage in Japan, such as United Mobile +423, ICQsim, Travelsim, all with free incoming calls and cheap outgoing calls as well.
