ダニエルの冒険

I’ve been researching getting a mobile phone recently and it’s proving quite a difficult thing to do. Here’s the information I have so far… There are 3 operators in this country: au (by KDDI), Softbank (what was Vodafone), and NTT DoCoMo. Today I spoke with the former two. au were very helpful and explained everything quite well. I can get a handset for the 3 months for €200, or if I can get an old handset from someone else, it’s €100. Those include the contract buy-out fee, as I won’t be around to fulfil it. The handsets are generally “free” but you pay for them in your bill over 2 years, so if you leave the contract before those 2 years are up, you need to pay that fee. The lady in the Softbank shop explained that to me, and showed me a list of phones I could buy up-front, starting at about 26500 yen (about €165).

Softbank also offers pre-paid phones, which is great except that they’re no-where to be found. I was told they’re being sold in smaller retailers such as 7-11 but when I went into one and asked, the pointed at a shelf with one half empty and the other with a few various DVDs with bikini-clad models on the front and explained that they didn’t have any handsets left.

Anyway, even if I could find a phone I couldn’t buy it until I get my alien registration. That’s what I’m going to go get started right now. First I need to walk up to the Seiyu shopping centre and get a couple of photos of me taken in a machine, then I take that and my passport, hope on the train, and go to the city hall. I hear it takes about 2 weeks to complete.

じゃあ、頑張って来ます。