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Should I stick with SoftBank?

Lars Lust

Lars Lust

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The time has come to upgrade my phone - probably to an iPhone X. This is the opportunity to also change carrier. I have always been with SoftBank. Any reason to consider switching to AU or Docomo?
 
DoCoMo has better coverage over Japan, but usually more expense of the 3... AU is usually the cheaper of the 3 but I've heard some issues with coverage. Guess it depends on your needs for reliable service and if you travel frequently. I travel all over Asia with trips to USA and my DoCoMo bill gets up to 80,000JPY - 100,000JPY on occasion...
 
Lars Lust said:
Any reason to consider switching to AU or Docomo?
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Because Softbank is always trying to come up with new and innovative ways to screw their customers, the latest being their new 4 year contracts that you can only get out of early by turning in your handset if you wish to avoid exorbitant cancellation fees.
 
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I'm far from the most well-versed person when it comes to phone plans but I just bumped my Softbank account up from 10gb a month to the new 50gb plan and it ended up lowering my monthly payment (even with the 500 JPY tethering option). They've also got a program where you can use phone calls and data from your normal plan for no additional charge in the US, although I haven't used it myself to report on how useful it is.

I used Docomo for a while and found it overpriced and didn't particularly like the customer service. Also checked out AU a few years back but for the amount of data I use it wouldn't have changed the price in any meaningful way and I've heard their service is spottier. I'm sure there are probably better options out there if you really research things but I've been relatively happy with Softbank.
 
Softbank 50gb plan, bill went down as well.
7k month? Was 10k. (Been with Softbank since Vodafone days...)

No complaints.

FWIW, I carry a DoCoMo phone too and I rarely have unequal coverage between the two. 10 years ago, it was a different situation.
 
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BB0523 said:
DoCoMo has better coverage over Japan, but usually more expense of the 3... AU is usually the cheaper of the 3 but I've heard some issues with coverage. Guess it depends on your needs for reliable service and if you travel frequently. I travel all over Asia with trips to USA and my DoCoMo bill gets up to 80,000JPY - 100,000JPY on occasion...
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AU has always been solid for me. Coverage in places that people with softbank dont have it and super fast internet.
 
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It is now only MVNOs for me. I get a phone number/connection and 10G for 3k per month. Phone not included though.

Nowadays you can even select which network you want to use though I use NTT myself.
 
I had soft bank and switched to Rakuten I got 30GB and phone and text service it only runs me about 8,500 yen a month I guess it's where I live cause softbank service is so horrible and at night it slows down like crazy
 
User#8628 said:
AU has always been solid for me. Coverage in places that people with softbank dont have it and super fast internet.
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I have been all over Japan and Tokyo with SoftBank phones - never had any coverage issues. What kinds of places do you mean?
 
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MossBoss said:
I have been all over Japan and Tokyo with SoftBank phones - never had any coverage issues. What kinds of places do you mean?
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I found a place Softbank doesn't have coverage.... in some toilet at B3F of some office building I was in recently. DoCoMo phone was also useless. :)
 
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MossBoss said:
I have been all over Japan and Tokyo with SoftBank phones - never had any coverage issues. What kinds of places do you mean?
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Softbank shows full bars everywhere, but that doesn't mean you get a good connection. When I was with them I knew a 300 meter strip in a toll way that always got my call cut as well as a few corner rooms in different buildings where my phone never rang. Very convenient if you didn't want to talk with anyone, but less so if you were waiting for a call.
 
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MikeH said:
Softbank shows full bars everywhere, but that doesn't mean you get a good connection. When I was with them I knew a 300 meter strip in a toll way that always got my call cut as well as a few corner rooms in different buildings where my phone never rang. Very convenient if you didn't want to talk with anyone, but less so if you were waiting for a call.
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I have never had any issues with coverage after using Softbank for 15 years. I guess someone pulled the plug out of the SoftBank infrastructure the day you didn't get your calls.

To base which provider you use based on hearsay about 'coverage' on an a mongerer's Internet forum is just riduculous.

The big three are basically the same. I'm sure the Au and DoCo guys pull the plug out from the infrastructure as often as the SoftBank guys......
 
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TAG Manager said:
I found a place Softbank doesn't have coverage.... in some toilet at B3F of some office building I was in recently. DoCoMo phone was also useless. :)
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MikeH said:
Softbank shows full bars everywhere, but that doesn't mean you get a good connection. When I was with them I knew a 300 meter strip in a toll way that always got my call cut as well as a few corner rooms in different buildings where my phone never rang. Very convenient if you didn't want to talk with anyone, but less so if you were waiting for a call.
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There are a bunch of love hotel rooms where you dont have connection with softbank i think.
 
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MossBoss said:
I have never had any issues with coverage after using Softbank for 15 years. I guess someone pulled the plug out of the SoftBank infrastructure the day you didn't get your calls.
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I used them around 10 years. All those places I didn't get coverage despite the phone showing full bars were repeatable over a course of several months so guess it was not a simple one time issue. Though now one of those places is out of coverage with Docomo too so maybe they are not so different.
 
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MossBoss said:
I have been all over Japan and Tokyo with SoftBank phones - never had any coverage issues. What kinds of places do you mean?
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I never had issues with Softbank in urban areas. Rural areas were somewhat hit or miss. Docomo has better coverage in the boonies.
 
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User#8628 said:
There are a bunch of love hotel rooms where you dont have connection with softbank i think.
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I am sure some rival love hotels have poor DoCoMo coverage....

A more legitimate reason for avoiding Softbank is the use of those stupid talking dogs in their advertising. I think 'high society' people in Japan generally people look down on Softbank users because they are seen as less intelligent than 'normal' people as they duped by those pathetic dogs. A large percentage of Softbank users actually believe those talking dogs are real. They are sort of people who like 'Mickey Mouse'. Talking vermin? What's that all about?
 
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I have been using a MNVO specifically UMobile for about two years now and I pay around 4,000 Yen a month on average for unlimited LTE plan. Voice and SMS are additional but I don’t make that many calls and send much SMS messages. I know there are cheaper plans nowadays depending on your needs.
 
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Technically Docomo should be the best since they offer service over 5 different bands and cover wider spectrum including the lower frequencies (highest wavelength) which provides for better coverage inside buildings, mountainous areas. I personally use Docomo because I can share the data plan across the family without having to pay separately for each device. Currently have 12 devices within the family on same data plan with ability to set limits for each device.
 
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IMHO I would actually suggest dropping the big 3 and if you can just buy an unlocked iPhone X and go with an MVNO.

If you like Softbank's coverage there's Y!Mobile

Most other MVNOs use DoCoMo. I'm on the old freetel service which just got bought by Rakuten , it uses DoCoMo's service and it bad. Speeds and coverage is about the same to me. The great thing about my plan is the monthly price is dependent on my data usage for the month with a maximum of 5000 yen for 30GB. Generally my bill is about 1700 yen for 3GB. Sadly rakuten doesn't offer this anymore I think but even the traditional bucket plans are way cheaper.

If you want to be on AU's service it would be UQ Mobile.
 
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Qong02 said:
If you want to be on AU's service it would be UQ Mobile.
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IIJ also introduced AU networks last year. So now you can choose between Docomo and AU with them.
 
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