Currently my communications costs in Kanagawa are running about 8,500
yen/month. This includes regular phone service, an ISP, a linked ADSL
service, and a mobile phone, but it still seems somewhat expensive. There
are various 'extended' options including cable television and fiber optic
services and various wireless networks. Just the small bit of information
that has actually been translated into English is already pretty
overwhelming, and none of my Japanese friends and coworkers have been able
to provide 'definitive' clarification--even the ones that are working in
related areas. I feel like I've already been deluged with data, but I'm not
finding much in the way of useful information, and it's quite difficult to
even formulate the query in a encompassing way.
The simple summary of goals is that I'd like to minimize my costs while
maintaining "sufficient" service, but that notion of "sufficient" is
difficult... Last year I was hoping to consolidate everything on a wireless
network, but the wireless network I'm using now is so slow that it can
barely handle streaming audio, and the faster networks are priced by the bit
at apparently prohibitive rates. (Well, if I want to watch Jon Stewart
videos...) Yahoo BB looked interesting, but like my current ADSL and mobile
phone providers, English support is an afterthought. I can get by on
Japanese, but it's enough of a nuisance that I've been uninterested in Yahoo
BB so far... E-Access is supposed to have an interesting wireless offering,
but it's still unclear just what that will be and when.
Received on Sun Apr 16 06:04:16 2006