Iphone 6 in Japan - AU

Getting a contract with au,KDDI in Japan, I researched and learned about phone contact here in Japan  . I would like to share the information I have learned with whoever coming over to Japan. Like I mentioned previous post, I used the rental phone at au last year and actually thought about getting retal phone for the period time being in Japan since my experience of using rental filp phone wasn't that bad. the only problem using rental phone is probably that I don't get a data on the phone so I can reduce the texting and phone when I make a phone call or send a text to the other phone company holder such as Softbank and Docomo. It usually charged 43 yen (appox 43 cent) per minute when making a phone call is pretty ridiculous so getting a smart phone is actually reduces the phone bill (set a side the price for the phone). I found it is possible to navigate with the cordination of the location through either google navigation app or any navigation app that is available on the phone with the data that is provided by the phone company. the only problem would be that it is pretty hard to find the exact place and the naviation application might give a person the wrong place or a long list of the places in Japanses. so It is pretty important to know the exact cordination or the address (in japanese) before putting down the store name in English. Getting a smart phone with data makes life in overseas easy even in Misawa pretty small town in Japan.

Not like phone contract in the states, the phone contract in Japan is pretty simple. no matter what contract a person gets, the prices is pretty much set for $70 - $ 80 range. there is no such unlimited text, but there is unlimited phone call and data is pretty much unlimited in any options in the case of the contact at au. au advertised the price of the iphone becomes 0 yen when a person gets the 2-year contract with them. that was true about the 0 yen for a phone. the way at au on base povides little different option that is not like what is provided off base since people on base come and go often. au provides the option to pay the price for the phone 100% at one time and get the discounted price for the contract. without paying the price for the phone 100% upfront, a person end up payng double for the monthly fee. we choose to pay upfront since the yen conversion rate is okay right at the moment and we didn't want to think a lot about paying the price for the phone over time. the discount for the monthly fee is given only for 2 years so after 2 years of the contract, the monthly fee becomes double (about $70) then what a person has to pay after the phone price for 2 years. ($ 44 - iphone 6, 64G). the monthly contract is provided as 2 different ways, 1. 7gb data (LTE) and pay for the phone calls, and text that is made to different phone company or land line 2. chose the data that how much a person likes to have fast data and unlimited phone call to any phone companies or land line. I chose 2gb data and unlimited phone call since the price for making phoe call is pretty expensive here. WIFI is available at most of the areas on base so I thought that is a better contract for me. It is not like the data is limited to 2gb but the speed gets slower after 2 gb of usage. I don't play online games or watch videos when I am outside, therefore the 2gb speedy data and unlimited slow data is no big deal. when you getting a same contract what I have got, make sure to mention their campaign on new iphone. au is giving 1gb on the top of the data plan that a person has so i am actually receiving 3gb (2gb paid, 1gb for free) under the plan which helps to experience better internet service just in case.

I am not sure about Softbank. what I have heard about softbank is the receiption rate is pretty bad. the only good thing about softbank is a person can use unlocked phone which can be taken into any country and use most out of it. the phone that comes with softbank is not unlocked phone so it can't be use anywhere but Japan but there is a way to unlock the Softbank phone with somekind of special code that is sold in Ebay. Docomo provides the option that a person unloock the phone after the contract is over with few thousands yen. 

yen rate is depreciated with the Japanses government's new ecomony boost plan next year. the yen conversion rate is 112yen per 1 dollar which saved us almost $100 overall purchase of the Iphone. even though the currency rate helped us, I am pretty disapointed about how simplified the phone plan so the customers always loose this phone contract with the big company. I hope condition gets better for future so the Japanses phone company don't charge the customers so much and let us use unlocked phone from the states freely.