Pocket Wifi Help (Suita, Osaka area)

[shikama]

I've been searching the last few weeks for a good pocket wifi to use in the area around Osaka University. And I've done a few searches here but nothing really concrete came up (most people posted were living in the cities).

I've checked with Softbank, eMobile, and WiMAX, the last one is the most promising because it's the cheapest. I'm only going to be in Japan for 1 year.

So my question is, which has the best coverage? It's hard to even try these things out because they all want you to sign a contract before leaving the store...with WiMAX having the shortest term (1 year). I've been in and out of SoftBank a few times, but because of my short length of stay, they're asking me to pay upfront for the Pocket Wifi (33,600 Yen)..which is a bit of a hefty sum. WiMAX currently has a deal that basically gives you the device for free. My friend has a phone from AU that also works as a mobile router for WiMAX's internet, and her reception where we live sucks when she tries to use the WiMAX, but I think that it also depends on the device, maybe her antenna sucks?

Anyone around the Osaka area uses pocket wifi and can give me some advice would be greatly appreciated . I've also heard that some WiMAX resellers don't have contracts? Are there any of those around Osaka as well?

[jron]

hhmmm...
I am curious about these devices in the Kansai as well as Tokyo area..
Free wifi does not seem to readily available in many places (hotel lobbies, *some* McD's, FEW coffee shops).
So I will have to get something when I move to Japan next year (or go insane).. :-P
I also earn my living on the net, so ready access from anywhere is essential to me.
Osaka seems better than Tokyo on free wifi access, but still... If you are not in a big city you are basically SCREWED.. :-P

[shikama]

yeah, well I just signed up for a 15 day trial of the UROAD 7000SS, but it's a really old model so I'm not sure if it'll give me a "good sense" of the service quality. i'll let you know how it goes lol.

no one around here uses pocket wifi? .

[pjb]

Sorry to disappoint, but these wi-fi devices are a pile of cr@p. I test drove a selection of them in Nipponbashi; the experience left me considering dial-up...

[shikama]

Just an update: my trial UROAD7000SS came in today - and so far I'm loving it. It's definitely not a replacement for my in-room connection (at least not this model, I will find out once I get the newer ones). But for all intends and purposes, it does everything fine. I live near Minami-Senri station in Suita, Osaka if that helps anyone.

I will take it around this weekend hopefully to see how it does outside. But it's working really great right now for a model that's over a year old (i'm expecting the new ones to have better antennas).

[dwane]

Well I'm interested in this device ,I checked the soft banks pocket wiffi but like you said it's a 2year contract but UROAD 7000SS on is 1year which sounds a better deal.
Where can I purchase this divice ?where in Osaka is tge shop?
I have no internet connection for my laptop so this may be the answer
Cheers

[rudebwoy]

Hi, I'm moving to Osaka in July and will be there for a few years, what were your impressions in the end of the WiMax UROAD pocket wifi? I'm trying to decide between just regular cable internet to my place or getting one of these. I figure for the extra money the portability is worth it especially if I can get decent speeds. The UROAD 8000 seems to say as much as 40Mbs download. So I'm curious whether you guys would recommend it or not. Thanks in advance.

[evilone]

I've been using the UQ wimax pocket router through GOL (UQ service resold by them) since they introduced it a few months back.

Reception is decent most places except in the subway (underground JR is OK, subway is not).

Not sure if I would use it as primary internet connection, but I did fall back on it when I was running into online-game problems with ports getting blocked by Asahi Net. Works well for my tablet as well as internet-path for a smart phone that's got a voice/text-only roaming sim in it.

[rudebwoy]

I've been using the UQ wimax pocket router through GOL (UQ service resold by them) since they introduced it a few months back.

Reception is decent most places except in the subway (underground JR is OK, subway is not).

Not sure if I would use it as primary internet connection, but I did fall back on it when I was running into online-game problems with ports getting blocked by Asahi Net. Works well for my tablet as well as internet-path for a smart phone that's got a voice/text-only roaming sim in it.

Thanks! May I ask how you pay per month and what are your download/up speeds? Also, why wouldn't you use it as your primary connection?

[evilone]

Thanks! May I ask how you pay per month and what are your download/up speeds? Also, why wouldn't you use it as your primary connection?

I think its about 3800/mo, but 100/mo kickback in rakuten points. Router and 1st two months were free, and a ~20,000 android tablet was thrown in.

Wouldn't use it as primary internet because I'm not comfortable with all my traffic going over wifi.

Speed is fast enough, never bothered to check it.

[rudebwoy]

That's way cheap.
I'm ok with using just wifi, I just like to download the occasional ahem completely legal ahem movie so don't want to sacrifice speed.
Thanks for taking the time to answer, very appreciated!

[HarderFasterBaby]

I'm using the 8000 model and it doesn't like mountainous areas or rooms where you'll have a lot of concrete blocking the signal. But on the whole it works really well and is better than the 7000ss model I had previously (I got a free upgrade). I'm using it right now at work and also use it for my ipad and skype calls. I got it from Jcom and it's about 3600 a month with the first two months free and no cancellation fee if you keep it for a year and only a 2000yen sign up fee. So much better than softbank's total rip off prices. In say that, I reckon once 4G becomes the norm then we are going to see blazing speeds for these little pocket devices.

[holic]

I'm using the GL01P through eMobile. This System, as advertised, once drops off the LTE network (only in the city, but apparently expanding) connects automatically to a 3G network thus I'm able to be on wi-fi even in the regional areas perhaps similar to the Softbank 3G (ie. not everywhere, but does OK). I don't notice the speed difference that much between LTE and 3G, except when I only have limited reception and then it's quite slow.

One factor I wasn't aware of before signing up to eMobile at under \4000/mth, was that in comparison to the old 3G model I used to have (D25HW) I am unable to use a torrent client. It seems there's something different about the connecting that doesn't allow it (I'm unsure of the technical details). Hoping to find the work-around for this issue.

It seems some are against these pocket wifi devices altogether - I guess some just like the premium internet speeds.

[rudebwoy]

I'm using the GL01P through eMobile. This System, as advertised, once drops off the LTE network (only in the city, but apparently expanding) connects automatically to a 3G network thus I'm able to be on wi-fi even in the regional areas perhaps similar to the Softbank 3G (ie. not everywhere, but does OK). I don't notice the speed difference that much between LTE and 3G, except when I only have limited reception and then it's quite slow.

One factor I wasn't aware of before signing up to eMobile at under \4000/mth, was that in comparison to the old 3G model I used to have (D25HW) I am unable to use a torrent client. It seems there's something different about the connecting that doesn't allow it (I'm unsure of the technical details). Hoping to find the work-around for this issue.

It seems some are against these pocket wifi devices altogether - I guess some just like the premium internet speeds.

I went to Bic Camera today and they recommended the GL01P from eMobile as the best one. The sales rep said that you have a limit of 360 MB download per day and that after that it starts to throttle your download speed until it resets for the next day at 2am. I don't do a lot of torrents but maybe once or twice a month I do go and get a bunch of stuff from torrent sites so this is kind of a no go. Not to mention me sharing things via dropBox and such. I'm thinking I'm just going to sign up for the regular wired internet service from Docomo, I'll be getting an iPhone 5 when they come out so it's not so important to have the pocket wifi, it's just that I figured the price was about the same, the contract was shorter and the speeds seem pretty good. Oh well. It's nice to see this area flourish, soon enough the wired internet days will be over.