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Mister Roboto posted:What are your personal must-do things in Tokyo, Hiroshima, Osaka? I don't know about must-do, but when I was in Osaka, I got the "Unlimited Pass" which is a combo bus/subway pass and free or discounted admission to a lot of sightseeing places. It was pretty fun! I also really enjoyed this little mom-and-pop okonomiyaki shop around the corner from the J-Hoppers hostel near Fukushima Station. As far as Tokyo goes, there's always going up in a tall thing to take photographs (SkyTree, Tokyo Tower, Metropolitan Government Towers; pick two and you'll be fine). I'd really recommend going to Harajuku. Spend some time in Yoyogi Park, visit the Meiji shrine, and then walk down Takeshita-dori for the contrasting experience, if you feel like it. Tokyo has tons of really great restaurants; it's hard to go wrong there. I second what effervescible said about the fish market, for sure. I found this guide to be moderately interesting and useful, and this is a food-related travel memoir a friend of mine wrote, and which I enjoyed reading. Addendum: If you like Ghibli films, you should probably go visit the Ghibli Museum. (Or if you can't, there's a nice Ghibli shop in the complex around the SkyTree.) And I would be happy to dig up some of the restaurants I went to from my Foursquare history, if you want; but I think in general anyone else will be able to give as useful recommendations as I can. inklesspen fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Aug 14, 2013 |
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Aug 13, 2013 23:51
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Thanks for all the replies!inklesspen posted:And I would be happy to dig up some of the restaurants I went to from my Foursquare history, if you want; but I think in general anyone else will be able to give as useful recommendations as I can. Sure, I'd be happy to read those, please.
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Aug 14, 2013 00:49
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dazjw posted:docomo will unlock old docomo smartphones, 3kyen (I'm not sure of the exact conditions, I think it needs to be out of contract) I think it's OK to do it with a phone that's on contract (might be mistaken), but I believe it voids your warranty or something like that. I'd heard about the 3k unlock thing and asked about it when I was getting my phone (figured it'd be useful if I went to Thailand or something) but when they mentioned the catch I just figured I'd do it when I left Japan. I'll be back in the US for 4 months or so at the end of next year and I reckon I'll just get a prepaid SIM with one of those dodgy companies. Nice to be able to skimp on a data plan since free wifi is comparatively ubiquitous.
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Aug 14, 2013 01:07
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Mister Roboto posted:Thanks for all the replies! Okay, with the caveat that this is just a list of some of the places i went, here goes:
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Aug 14, 2013 04:51
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effervescible posted:If you like sushi, get up early and go get breakfast at the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo. It was the freshest, best sushi I've ever had. I'm going to go against the grain here and point out that tabelog rated all of the sushi places in neighboring Ginza higher than the ones within the immediate area of Tsukiji. Regardless of where you go, lunch options will be cheaper at the proper restaurants. Also from what I could tell, it doesn't seem like you can watch the fish auctions anymore unless you want to line up at 4am. They only let you browse the outer market... which is still pretty great. CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Aug 14, 2013 |
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Aug 14, 2013 06:32
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CrazyLittle posted:I'm going to go against the grain here and point out that tabelog rated all of the sushi places in neighboring Ginza higher than the ones within the immediate area of Tsukiji. Regardless of where you go, lunch options will be cheaper at the proper restaurants. Yeah, unless you get there at something like 4, you're not getting into the tuna auctions. Recently went with my husband's family, thinking it would be fine if we rocked up on the first train to Tsukiji. It was fine 5 years ago, but we had missed the boat by a long way this time. They open the inner market mid-morning, after the tuna auctions are all finished, so you can still go and look at the cool stuff on sale. I went to the auctions before it was so hard to get in, it was cool, but not worth staying in line for hours for.
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Aug 14, 2013 08:01
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Takeshita dori is basically an open air market of lovely postmodern clothing and ironic slogans and whatnot, it's not even particularly Japanese, you can find the same thing in Camden or in Amsterdam or wherever. Skip it unless you really enjoy :iamafag: -type shirts with Darth Vader on them. I guess if you go on a sunday you can see weirdly dressed people nearby at the bridge, but you can see those just about everywhere sporadically. The other reason to go to Harajuku is Meiji Jingu of course, that's worth a visit.
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Aug 14, 2013 08:28
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5 hours til I leave. Thanks again for all the info. I owe all of you thanks. If anyone in Tokyo wants a free lunch and has a few hours to spare, my and my wife could use a guide for an afternoon just to get the feel for the land so we don't dive into the deep end without learning the basics of swimming first.
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Aug 14, 2013 11:13
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I wandered into Pork Bar in Asakusa on New Year's Eve last year and had a wonderful time. The best thing to do in Tokyo is just to wander around, and if you see a small place that looks interesting, go inside. The smaller the better. The worst thing that happens is you spend a half hour bored and you go out and find a new interesting small place.
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Aug 17, 2013 06:01
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Nice Davis posted:I wandered into Pork Bar in Asakusa on New Year's Eve last year and had a wonderful time. The best thing to do in Tokyo is just to wander around, and if you see a small place that looks interesting, go inside. The smaller the better. The worst thing that happens is you spend a half hour bored and you go out and find a new interesting small place. http://www.ramenadventures.com/2013/07/oppai-ramen-in-meguro.html Here's another interesting little place.
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Aug 17, 2013 11:06
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Nice Davis posted:I wandered into Pork Bar in Asakusa on New Year's Eve last year and had a wonderful time. The best thing to do in Tokyo is just to wander around, and if you see a small place that looks interesting, go inside. The smaller the better. The worst thing that happens is you spend a half hour bored and you go out and find a new interesting small place. I agree. Mr. Roboto needs to just chill a bit and roll with being in Japan. In this heat running around in a panic looking for wifi and trying to pack in as many tourist spots as possible is just gonna kill you.
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Aug 18, 2013 02:45
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I'll have a couple days to kill over the Sept 21-23 weekend in between a week-long conference in Kyoto and a visit with some collaborators in Tokyo . Any suggestions on a little weekend (one, possibly two-night) jaunt? I was thinking something like Takayama, which I hear is very pleasant, although it looks like it's a little more out of the way than I thought (still a 5-some hour journey into Tokyo. I travelled around Japan a bit a few years ago when my girlfriend was doing JET and I was doing research at Keio in Tokyo for a couple months during summer, but the bulk of our travel was up north in Tohoku. Any Fall festivals going on that weekend (it's a holiday, right?) that would be interesting to visit? (note: I speak effectively no Japanese). I could also just spend more time wandering around Tokyo, I suppose. On a related note, I will have lots of free evenings to kill in Kyoto. My current plan was to play "find the vegetarian food" scavenger hunt based on things I read on the internet, which worked pretty well last time I was there although I had my girlfriend there to navigate most food situations. If you have any specific suggestions on food/drink there, let me know! I get my meals reimbursed, evidently, so maybe I should just shojin ryori it up every night.
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Aug 20, 2013 06:43
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marmot25 posted:I'll have a couple days to kill over the Sept 21-23 weekend in between a week-long conference in Kyoto and a visit with some collaborators in Tokyo . Any suggestions on a little weekend (one, possibly two-night) jaunt? I was thinking something like Takayama, which I hear is very pleasant, although it looks like it's a little more out of the way than I thought (still a 5-some hour journey into Tokyo. I travelled around Japan a bit a few years ago when my girlfriend was doing JET and I was doing research at Keio in Tokyo for a couple months during summer, but the bulk of our travel was up north in Tohoku. Any Fall festivals going on that weekend (it's a holiday, right?) that would be interesting to visit? (note: I speak effectively no Japanese). I could also just spend more time wandering around Tokyo, I suppose. Takayama is pretty nice, I liked it when I visited years ago. If you're looking for a Tokyo island getaway, I went to Hachijojima in July and it was pretty neat... there's a ferry that runs overnight but cost-wise it doesn't make a ton of sense vs flying on ANA. If the summer pricing is any indication, you're looking at probably 24,000 return or so, assuming you book ahead (definitely want to get a jump on that if it's a holiday weekend). The ability to rent/drive a car or scooter is pretty important though; it'll probably still be pretty warm in September and while there are bicycles for rent it's quite hilly and spread-out. In addition to the natural stuff, there's some sweet abandoned stuff you can poke around in; we found a six story hotel that had been left to run wild for the last 20 years, as well as a scruffy golf course, and another hotel that looked trickier to get into. 2 days is enough to see pretty much all the highlights with a car. I stayed at a hostel called Hotchy Joe's that was only ¥2,000/night and run by the laid-back owner of the dive shop (aren't they all?) next door.
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Aug 20, 2013 07:10
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marmot25 posted:I'll have a couple days to kill over the Sept 21-23 weekend in between a week-long conference in Kyoto and a visit with some collaborators in Tokyo . Any suggestions on a little weekend (one, possibly two-night) jaunt? I was thinking something like Takayama, which I hear is very pleasant, although it looks like it's a little more out of the way than I thought (still a 5-some hour journey into Tokyo. I travelled around Japan a bit a few years ago when my girlfriend was doing JET and I was doing research at Keio in Tokyo for a couple months during summer, but the bulk of our travel was up north in Tohoku. Any Fall festivals going on that weekend (it's a holiday, right?) that would be interesting to visit? (note: I speak effectively no Japanese). I could also just spend more time wandering around Tokyo, I suppose. This is bit of an odd question, but does the conference happen to be for JSAP?
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Aug 20, 2013 13:12
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Mopp posted:This is bit of an odd question, but does the conference happen to be for JSAP? Yep, that's the one. There's a small subset of symposia jointly hosted by the Materials Research Society and JSAP that I'll be presenting in. You going as well?
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Aug 20, 2013 15:41
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Neat, can I ask what you'll be presenting?
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Aug 20, 2013 22:47
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marmot25 posted:Yep, that's the one. There's a small subset of symposia jointly hosted by the Materials Research Society and JSAP that I'll be presenting in. You going as well? Wow the engineers in my company go to JSAP from time to time, they love being in Japan and seeing Japanese Engineering 
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Aug 21, 2013 02:42
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totalnewbie posted:Neat, can I ask what you'll be presenting? Sure--this is probably the most off-topic post this thread has ever seen, so I'll keep it short! (Also I guess I shouldn't post my exact talk, so I'll pm you the details just in case you're super curious). I'm finishing up my PhD work on transparent conductors, so I'm giving a talk in the oxide materials section. For those not in the know, most optical devices (like the screen you're reading this post on) require a layer of something that both conducts electricity and lets visible light pass through. This is a really tricky combination to pull off and very few known materials exhibit this (and only a couple are actually good enough to work reliably.) For things like solar cells they'd be great top contacts (lets light in, conducts current away), and there's a growing interest in using them in a new class of displays (SHARP's IGZO displays should be on the market soon if they're not already, and in this case it's being used as the backside thin film transistor layer in place of amorphous Si). Another area where they'd have a big impact is in smart windows, which can even control how much heat is transmitted through a window, increasing building heating/cooling efficiency by lot. They're great for a PhD project because the only way of getting them to work at all is to play some extreme tricks with physics.
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Aug 21, 2013 03:06
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marmot25 posted:SHARP's IGZO displays should be on the market soon if they're not already They are, my next phone may or may not be the SHL22. Currently the highest-rated smartphone, for battery life, in Japan -- lots of reviewers saying lasts twice as long as their last phone. In fact IGZO might go down as the technology that single-handedly saved the company. zmcnulty fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 03:23
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zmcnulty posted:lots of reviewers saying lasts twice as long as their last phone I wouldn't be surprised, even without the screen. It has what, a 3000 mAh battery? The S2 has a 1580 mAh battery or something and the S3 has better life with a 2000ish mAh battery, as you'd expect. The iPhone 5 has a puny 1400ish mAh battery IIRC.
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Aug 21, 2013 03:43
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marmot25 posted:Yep, that's the one. There's a small subset of symposia jointly hosted by the Materials Research Society and JSAP that I'll be presenting in. You going as well? Cool, what's the chance. I'll be doing a presentation at one of the English sessions about (non-display) implementations of IGZO transistors (you can do some really cool circuit designs with the stuff). The week after is basically rinse and repeat with SSDM. Mopp fucked around with this message at 10:55 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 10:49
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So I just finished booking flights and hotels for my January trip and all I have left to do now is get some early dining bookings out of the way, mostly for budget purposes but also so I can daydream about delicious food for the next few months. I got a great tip on Tokyo Fish Bank from this thread last January, in fact that dinner ended up being one of the highlights of my trip, it was seriously just ridiculously good, so I'm definitely locking that in again. This time though I'd really like to spend a bit more time and money on fine dining and I'd especially like to try at least one michelin star restaurant since it's something I've been wanting to do my whole life. Can I get any hot tips on personal fave michelin guide joints in Tokyo? I'm mostly interested in Japanese cuisine but also really enjoy French/Japanese fusion, not so much purely French and definitely not Italian. I'm a pretty easy sell on good seafood, especially good tuna. Budget is anywhere up to ~18k yen per head, though cheaper is always welcome. Browsing through the guide itself has left me with a huge list of bookmarks but a lot of the more intriguing listings are hard to find info on, so I'd rather get a personal reccommendation here since you guys are yet to let me down.
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Aug 21, 2013 13:05
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Mopp posted:Cool, what's the chance. I'll be doing a presentation at one of the English sessions about (non-display) implementations of IGZO transistors (you can do some really cool circuit designs with the stuff). The week after is basically rinse and repeat with SSDM. Huh, small world! Send me a message sa.marmot at gmail and we can meet up.
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Aug 21, 2013 18:43
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Great OP, some really useful information. My wife and I are thinking about going to Japan in March/April next year. We're hoping to go for 7-8 days or so and my initial thoughts synch up with what was recommended in the OP, namely Tokyo then Kyoto/Nara (fly into Narita, out of Kansai). A couple of things: Our budget is probably about €2000 per person all in, ie flights from Europe, accomodation, spending money. Is that realistic? I'm not a fussy eater but I just don't like seafood, never have. How will I fare in Japan? Any dishes with chicken, pork, or beef people can recommend? Is it possible to do a day trip to Hakone, or does it require an overnight?
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Aug 23, 2013 09:27
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adamarama posted:Great OP, some really useful information. My wife and I are thinking about going to Japan in March/April next year. We're hoping to go for 7-8 days or so and my initial thoughts synch up with what was recommended in the OP, namely Tokyo then Kyoto/Nara (fly into Narita, out of Kansai). A couple of things: That should be more than enough money unless you plan on doing tons of shopping. Look into a one week rail pass. Hakone doesn't require an overnight stay, but it's a nice place to find a ryokan and stay overnight. I'm in the same boat as you food-wise and it's pretty easy to find dishes that have meat unless you go out for sushi or something. Even then, you can still find things like tamagoyaki (sweet rolled egg) or inarizushi (sushi rice in a pouch of fried tofu). That having been said, I'd just try a couple of small things, even if just a bite or two of your wife's stuff. I could have sworn I hated fish, but some fish is palatable or even good -- especially with a nice miso glaze. At the least, you can shut up people who'll rag on you for going to Japan and not eating any seafood.
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Aug 23, 2013 09:42
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adamarama posted:Great OP, some really useful information. My wife and I are thinking about going to Japan in March/April next year. We're hoping to go for 7-8 days or so and my initial thoughts synch up with what was recommended in the OP, namely Tokyo then Kyoto/Nara (fly into Narita, out of Kansai). A couple of things: I'm not sure what flights from Europe are, but booking flights and hotel (22 days) for me + my partner a few days ago came out to just over 3000 AUSD, which works out ot about €2000, so it sounds like you might be on the money. Obviously after that your budget really just effects how much shopping etc you're going to do, but you can absolutely feed yourself very well for very little and see plenty of cool things without spending a whole lot at all. As for what to eat - curry is cheap, tasty, available everywhere and you'll probably love it. Ramen is obviously another staple many dishes use a pork broth, but it also comes in a tonne of other flavors. If it's going to be warmer when you go I highly reccommend Somen - very thin wheat flour noodles served cool in a bowl on their own, accompanied by a smaller bowl of broth. The idea is you dip the noodles into the broth and eat it like that, probably my all time favorite Japanese summer meal but I guess it's good whenever. Also no matter how much you hate seafood you should definitely use a Japan trip as an excuse to try as much of it as you can, it's a whole 'nother ball park of seafood.
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Aug 23, 2013 09:49
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I don't think €2000 is very realistic. Price out the plane tickets and see what you have left. €100 per person per day is pushing it, in my opinion. Even a cheap place to stay is what, €25 per night per person? So you're down to €75 for all meals and spending money. Japan, especially Tokyo, isn't SE Asia. Adds up really quickly here, especially depending on what you want to see/do. Hakone daytrip is certainly possible, but I guess I'd just ask why? Most people go for the ryokans, so if you're not staying, why even go? Kamakura or Nikko makes a better daytrip in my opinion. There are plenty of options even if you don't like seafood but are fine with everything else. Subway, McDonalds, Burger King, KFC. Just kidding. Try yakitori, tonkatsu, yakiniku, shougayaki, Japanese curry, most noodle dishes (ramen, udon, soba etc). Any given izakaya will have a crapload of options that don't involve seafood. edit: Do the calculations on the Rail Pass before you buy one. A lot of places in Tokyo are reached only by subway (or a LOT of walking to/from JR I guess), the subway where you can't use the Rail Pass anyway. If all you're doing on the Shinkansen is Tokyo->Kyoto, it might not be worth it. Especially considering that you can take a bus to Kyoto for like JPY 4000 per person. zmcnulty fucked around with this message at 10:05 on Aug 23, 2013 |
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Aug 23, 2013 10:00
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marmot25 posted:On a related note, I will have lots of free evenings to kill in Kyoto. My current plan was to play "find the vegetarian food" scavenger hunt based on things I read on the internet, which worked pretty well last time I was there although I had my girlfriend there to navigate most food situations. If you have any specific suggestions on food/drink there, let me know! I get my meals reimbursed, evidently, so maybe I should just shojin ryori it up every night. For veg food in Kyoto I recommend Proverbs 15:17, a vegan place near Hyakumanben. Their soymilk ramen is amazing. Another good place is Mumokuteki which is a Macrobiotic place on Teramachi between Sanjo and Shijo (look for a clothing store called Highlanders, its on the 2nd floor). Some of the stuff at Mumokuteki has fish broth, but they have a lot that is completely vegetarian and they can point it out to you if you ask.
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Aug 23, 2013 12:02
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Thanks guys, that's all really helpful. I'm not sure of exact dates yet, but return flights seems to be around €750 that time of year. So it look like we'll have about €175 a day each for accomodation/food. I'll look into a ryokan in Hakone; it's something I'd love to do but I'm just not sure we'd have time for an overnight. Plans are still vague but I'm thinking 4 nights in Tokyo and 3 nights in Kyoto (incl. a day trip to Nara). Apart from my dislike of seafood, both of us are big into food, so I had a quick look at the Michelin Guide for Tokyo. Anyone got experience of Michelin star restaurants in Tokyo? The choice is bewildering but, trying to stay away from seafood heavy places, some of the izakayas and teppanyakis drew my eye. Can't seem to find their websites though: Azabu Rokkaku, Ukai-tei Ginza, Ukai-tei Omotesando, Yorozuya Okagesan, Toriki, Torishiki. Would it be daunting to enter a restaurant like this with no Japanese?
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Aug 23, 2013 12:15
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teddust posted:For veg food in Kyoto I recommend Proverbs 15:17, a vegan place near Hyakumanben. Their soymilk ramen is amazing. Another good place is Mumokuteki which is a Macrobiotic place on Teramachi between Sanjo and Shijo (look for a clothing store called Highlanders, its on the 2nd floor). Some of the stuff at Mumokuteki has fish broth, but they have a lot that is completely vegetarian and they can point it out to you if you ask. Awesome--I will definitely check these out. When I'm abroad I don't tend to be very strict about things like fish broth--I just tend to avoid chunks of meat/fish--but thanks for noting that. I'm really looking forward to exploring all week!
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Aug 23, 2013 17:49
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2000 euros for a week is more than enough if you do some homework. A flight should be no more than 900 euros per person (probably slightly less in spring) so that leaves you about 1100 for 7 days. Accommodation shouldn't cost you more than 50 euros per night and probably less as long as you stay in hostels or minshukus (it might be difficult to book the really cheap minshukus as most of them have Japanese websites, but at least you can probably find some). I don't know if your flight becomes more expensive if you leave from a different city than the one you arrived at since that turns it into two one-ways so be careful with that. Consider taking night buses instead of the shinkansen since it nets you a place to sleep along with a ride for much less money. I love seafood and can't fathom how anyone could not love the stuff on offer in Tokyo. At least give it a shot to make sure you're not a potential convert. If you really don't like it you should probably try things like mushroom and vegetable tempura (i love shiitake and maitake tempura), tonkotsu, korokke and oden with daikon and pork. Are you cool with things like intestines and organs? Those are great too. Another great option for you would be yakiniku (korean barbeque) and bibimbap and stuff. Shibawanko fucked around with this message at 17:02 on Aug 26, 2013 |
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Aug 26, 2013 16:56
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Haha, sorry, I completely missed the EUR 2000 "per person" part. Thought it was EUR 2000 for the both of you. Please disregard my earlier post.
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Aug 27, 2013 00:56
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Sorry to dredge up visitor phone chat, but since I have a Verizon iPhone 5 that should be a-ok unlocked for international SIMs is there any reason I shouldn't just get this nano SIM from bmobile? I wasn't sure if this was one of the dodgy ones being discussed. I'll be in the country for 10 days and a gig of just data seems fine for me. I'd rather not rent a whole phone or lug around another device.
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Aug 27, 2013 01:51
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marmot25 posted:Sorry to dredge up visitor phone chat, but since I have a Verizon iPhone 5 that should be a-ok unlocked for international SIMs is there any reason I shouldn't just get this nano SIM from bmobile? I wasn't sure if this was one of the dodgy ones being discussed. I'll be in the country for 10 days and a gig of just data seems fine for me. I'd rather not rent a whole phone or lug around another device. Does verizon actually use a SIM card? If not I wonder how it will even work, will it revert back to Verizon automatically when you remove the b-mobile card? I don't even know for sure that it's compatible although it seems like it should be; as I said the use of SIM cards for CDMA is very new.
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Aug 27, 2013 02:07
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mystes posted:Until now it hasn't been possible to use SIM cards with CDMA, so all the discussion about b-mobile was about GSM 3g service. As a result, this particular card may perform differently than the others and probably nobody here has tried it yet. Oh, that side of it is fine: the Verizon iPhone 5 can take international GSM SIMs and play well with LTE anywhere (except, ironically, in the US on AT&T). I was mostly curious if b-mobile was the way to go, or whether Softbank's SIM rental was actually somehow better (even though it's way more expensive).
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Aug 27, 2013 02:21
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marmot25 posted:Oh, that side of it is fine: the Verizon iPhone 5 can take international GSM SIMs and play well with LTE anywhere (except, ironically, in the US on AT&T). I was mostly curious if b-mobile was the way to go, or whether Softbank's SIM rental was actually somehow better (even though it's way more expensive). mystes fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Aug 27, 2013 |
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Aug 27, 2013 02:26
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marmot25 posted:Sorry to dredge up visitor phone chat, but since I have a Verizon iPhone 5 that should be a-ok unlocked for international SIMs is there any reason I shouldn't just get this nano SIM from bmobile? I wasn't sure if this was one of the dodgy ones being discussed. I'll be in the country for 10 days and a gig of just data seems fine for me. I'd rather not rent a whole phone or lug around another device. If you are at all comfortable with using Japanese, the recently launched rakuten mobile BB (a Docomo MNVO) is LTE/FOMA and excellent. A tiny bit pricey but significantly better in terms of throttling compared to b-mobile, whereby even on limited data plans I'd struggle to push more than 250kbit/s. They have a 2gb plan that would be perfect. adamarama posted:Apart from my dislike of seafood, both of us are big into food, so I had a quick look at the Michelin Guide for Tokyo. Anyone got experience of Michelin star restaurants in Tokyo? The choice is bewildering but, trying to stay away from seafood heavy places, some of the izakayas and teppanyakis drew my eye. Can't seem to find their websites though: Azabu Rokkaku, Ukai-tei Ginza, Ukai-tei Omotesando, Yorozuya Okagesan, Toriki, Torishiki. Would it be daunting to enter a restaurant like this with no Japanese? Torishiki is excellent if you can get a reservation. They should be fine by now with English-speaking customers; in any case it's an omakase place so you don't order yourself anyway, just tell them when to stop. Dmoz fucked around with this message at 02:53 on Aug 27, 2013 |
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Aug 27, 2013 02:48
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Dmoz posted:If you are at all comfortable with using Japanese, the recently launched rakuten mobile BB (a Docomo MNVO) is LTE/FOMA and excellent. A tiny bit pricey but significantly better in terms of throttling compared to b-mobile, whereby even on limited data plans I'd struggle to push more than 250kbit/s. They have a 2gb plan that would be perfect.
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Aug 27, 2013 02:56
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mystes posted:Some people have had issues with it being really slow, but I don't know if that applies to the plans that are a for a fixed amount of data usage. I had a good experience with b-mobile but I possible had some sort of special iphone 4-only card that for some reason may have had less throttling. But wasn't the card you linked CDMA (it said the phone had to support certain W-CDMA frequencies) or is that just the LTE part and the normal service is GSM? I guess I don't really know how all this magical 4g stuff works. I won't pretend to know everything about this, but WCDMA is actually what GSM carriers moved to for 3G (and is only similar to CDMA in name). UTMS = WCDMA I didn't notice that fine print, however, so I guessing this is going to work at 3G speeds, which is fine. e: Dmoz posted:If you are at all comfortable with using Japanese, the recently launched rakuten mobile BB (a Docomo MNVO) is LTE/FOMA and excellent. A tiny bit pricey but significantly better in terms of throttling compared to b-mobile, whereby even on limited data plans I'd struggle to push more than 250kbit/s. They have a 2gb plan that would be perfect. Thanks, but I think I'll be stuck with English-only (unless there's a site entirely in katakana, in which case I can read it!  )
marmot25 fucked around with this message at 03:02 on Aug 27, 2013 |
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Aug 27, 2013 02:58
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marmot25 posted:I won't pretend to know everything about this, but WCDMA is actually what GSM carriers moved to for 3G (and is only similar to CDMA in name). UTMS = WCDMA I didn't notice that fine print, however, so I guessing this is going to work at 3G speeds, which is fine. mystes fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Aug 27, 2013 |
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Aug 27, 2013 03:02
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