Cellphones in Japan

[keatonatron]

chikara wrote:

keatonatron wrote:
And all Docomo phones now come standard with web browsing, video confrencing, and a 300-hour standby battery life.

I don't see that coming to the States in 2 years

My understanding is that the technology used in mobile (cell) phones in Japan is unique to Japan. My GSM phone which works in quite a number of countries, including the USA, is useless in Japan. I had to hire one to use while I was there.

That's true. They use a different frequency here than anywhere else, which I think gives them more bandwidth than other countries. You can now get broadband internet over a cell phone connection!

[Apollo]

uhhhh those strings arent necessarily just in japan...they are in the U.S. too...in fact my sister has some on her fone, some with little stars and stuff, sometimes they r loops that u use to hold ur fone with? idk if im on the same track...but hope i helped!

[Infidel]

The US millitary has restricted access to most of the radio bands available in the US compared to other countries, for various reasons. The technology isn't necessaraly different, but the bandwith available and frequency range is.

[mewarmo990]

I knew that (my friend has a feature-packed Japanese phone); I stand corrected. A minimum of two years before ours.

I really wanted to get a DoCoMo and use it stateside, but it's incompatible with the local providers here. The website says you can use those "international roaming" features, but I refuse to pay 60000 yen per minute. As if consumer products in Japan weren't 高い enough already.

[Mike Cash]

chikara wrote:

keatonatron wrote:
And all Docomo phones now come standard with web browsing, video confrencing, and a 300-hour standby battery life.

I don't see that coming to the States in 2 years

My understanding is that the technology used in mobile (cell) phones in Japan is unique to Japan. My GSM phone which works in quite a number of countries, including the USA, is useless in Japan. I had to hire one to use while I was there.

The times they are a-changing. Vodafone is making the switch.

[Chris Hart]

mewarmo990 wrote:
I knew that (my friend has a feature-packed Japanese phone); I stand corrected. A minimum of two years before ours.

I really wanted to get a DoCoMo and use it stateside, but it's incompatible with the local providers here. The website says you can use those "international roaming" features, but I refuse to pay 60000 yen per minute. As if consumer products in Japan weren't 高い enough already.

If it works on our towers (you can get a roaming signal), and isn't locked into a provider, you should be able to place an american sim in it. If it works on our towers, and is locked to a provider, you can probably find hacks to unlock it, and place an american sim in it. Unfortunately, you will need to have a GSM provider. The provider will probably require you to purchase one of their phones, simply choose the cheapest one they have.

[keatonatron]

Mike Cash wrote:
The times they are a-changing. Vodafone is making the switch.

Probably because it's a foreign company.

Chris Hart wrote:
If it works on our towers, and is locked to a provider, you can probably find hacks to unlock it, and place an american sim in it.

That's the thing, they don't take sim cards.

The only phones that even have the capability to receive American signals would be the global passport ones (like AU has), but in order to hack one of those you'd really have to crack it open, solder some stuff, then hook some leads up to a computer and physically hack into it. Anyone who wants to go through that much trouble would probably just move to Japan.

[Chris Hart]

keatonatron wrote:

Mike Cash wrote:
The times they are a-changing. Vodafone is making the switch.

Probably because it's a foreign company.

Chris Hart wrote:
If it works on our towers, and is locked to a provider, you can probably find hacks to unlock it, and place an american sim in it.

That's the thing, they don't take sim cards.

The only phones that even have the capability to receive American signals would be the global passport ones (like AU has), but in order to hack one of those you'd really have to crack it open, solder some stuff, then hook some leads up to a computer and physically hack into it. Anyone who wants to go through that much trouble would probably just move to Japan.

On some of the message boards I am on (I rarely post on those), there are people who would do that just to make it work. The first one that comes to mind is hackaday.com, followed by makezine.com. A post of that nature on either board would likely be followed up with an article on slashdot, and possibly theregister.

edit: Forgot to make links