internet choices in Japan

<BR>I am so ... not a techie...<BR><BR>Hopefully CYT will be along soon!<BR>She knows everything about modern Tokyo!<BR>Japan Traveller knows lots about phones...<BR><BR>I have Dion ADSL (KDDI) I'm happy with them.<BR>THere has n't ever been a problem.<BR>Depending on provider you can sometimes get a discount if your <BR>keitai and internet provider are the same.<BR>I have no idea about 050 nos.<BR>I have a feeling you might get a better response on gaijinpot / japantoday forums.<BR><BR>

i've been using yahoo BB.

quite happy with it although it was a NIGHTMARE getting it setup.

the advice on this site helped me through some rough patches: http://www.bbapply.com/

thanks for your replies. Tokyo girl, I will check out other forums you mentioned. metro, I am currently waiting for YahooBB to reply and tell me if service is available in my area. However, I notice that it's even more money than I pay for hikari right now.

any other ADSL recommendations, stories happy or unhappy, please share.

050 is a number prefix allocated by broadband providers for certain IP phone using VOIP. If you get 050 number as well as your usual geographical number, it has the advantage of allowing callers to phone you on 050 more cheaply (sometimes free).

HikariBB has come down massively in price, as many buildings such as apartment blocks and mansions now have fibre optic link to the telephone exchange, whilst internal wiring is still by copper wire (twisted pair). For new connections and renewals, fibre optic (VDSL etc) has now overtaken ADSL in NTT East area.
Make sure you get a discounted deal (usually in the form of cashback after 6 months or a year), which cuts your monthly subscription to less than 1000 yen (for the first 12 months). I don't think there is a great deal of technical differences between ADSL providers - just sign up with the one that offers the best combination of cost and service provided.
I've just helped someone to sign up with Biglobe (owned by NEC). I also think Nifty is good for customer service.

I used to have Yahoo BB with the 050 number and I don't recommend them.

The quality of the phone line was so bad that whenever I called someone they could barely hear me, rendering the phone useless. This is no exaggeration - the reception was bad 100% of the time.
I went through the trouble shooting list (which I had to get translated because it wasn't provided in English) and did everything right; which alone was ridiculous, something like: "Keep the phone at least 2 metres from the modem...keep both the phone and modem at least 2 metres from your microwave oven....keep the computer 2 metres from the modem and phone" and so on. I think they just should shorten the instructions to: "Put your phone on the roof and hop on one foot with your thumb in your ear when making a call and you'll be fine."

The English help was just about non-existent. For one week straight I was having problems and kept trying to get help with the English-help number they gave me, and only non-English speaking Japanese people answered, one person told me to get a Japanese person to ring back, another person told me that nobody speaks English there. At that time I gave up, but then a couple of months later I did manage to fluke it and an english speaking person answered the phone.

The fact that they don't have an official website in English should have been a warning for me.

I am now with Asahi net and whenever I ring their English helpline, a guy who speaks fluent English answers the phone! But I must admit, I only needed to ring it during the application process so I can't really say whether that type of help will continue. But their English webpage is really good!

I've heard a lot of complaints about YBB not just from foreigners,<BR>about their customer service. I meant to write that in my reply<BR>before.<BR>