Re: [tlug] Best communications-enabled, efficient visit

[Curt Sampson <cjs@example.com>]

On 2016-06-16 18:30 +0900 (Thu), Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:

> Curt Sampson writes:
> 
>  > I find that the primary advantage of Android, besides being a little bit
>  > cheaper for what you get, is that it's effectively a sort of terminal
>  > in to the Google cloud, as opposed to a stand-alone device.
> 
> Of course, if you're already in the iCloud, the same applies to
> iPhone.

Yeah, I reckon the Apple Cloud might store a lot, too. But if you want
the true test, find a close friend who wants to convince you to use his
system, and ask him to factory reset and restore his phone in front of
you. (This is never trivial, so it should be a close friend.)

>  > Starbucks, too. (Remember, you need to pre-register for it here.)
> 
> Pre-?  IIRC, I just registered and logged on in the first 60 seconds
> of my first session, although unlike many airports' WiFi they wanted
> an email address (I've never gotten any spam though).

I just used my Google account authentication, which is pretty darn
convenient (and comes with free 2-step auth as well). But at the time,
I do seem to recall that I couldn't do it *at* Starbucks, I had to
register elsewhere first. Anyway, caveat emptor.

On 2016-06-16 16:54 +0800 (Thu), Raymond Wan wrote:

> As it turns out, many people I know visiting Japan from here (Hong
> Kong) tend to buy a SIM card for use in Japan.  Seems cheaper, though
> I haven't tried myself.  Not sure if this option is available to you
> where you are coming from.

There are a lot of "data-only" SIM-cards available in Japan. And you
can do PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network, i.e., "normal" phone
calls) on them with Skype, Google, NTT's 050-Plus service, etc. I'm not
sure how much I would rely on them as compared to the standard telephone
network, but it's something to consider.

> I guess you can register yourself first before you go:
> http://starbucks.wi2.co.jp/sp/sma_index_en.html.  Just don't pick a
> password that you use elsewhere (standard advice, I guess)

Again. Authenticate with your Google/Gmail account. Much, much more secure.

On 2016-06-16 17:28 +0900 (Thu), Joe Larabell wrote:

> BTW, many smartphones have the FeliCA chip built-in but I think they're
> limited to carrier-based phones and setting all that up for a short visit
> doesn't seem like much of a win to me.

The FeliCA chip is just the same, but the main issue with the ones in
the phones is that you can't insert your phone in the card slot of a
station charging machine; typically you charge them over the Internet
via a credit card.

My strong advice on this is, even if you have a phone with the chip,
don't bother: just buy a card. I'm on about my third phone with the
chip, but I've not used my phone for this since the mid-oughts.

On 2016-06-16 19:55 +0900 (Thu), Benjamin Kowarsch wrote:

> An unlocked phone will always cost significantly more than a locked one.

No, not in my experience. It will sometimes, depending on the carrier
(Softbank is particularly bad in this regard), but DoCoMo, for example,
will (last I checked) unlock any phone you've owned for a year or more,
contract or not, for ¥2000. Several phones/tablets I'd bought fairly
cheaply (three as-fast-or-faster tablets much more cheaply than my
current DoCoMo tablet) off of amazon.co.jp didn't even come in locked
versions.

> ...it is actually more practical to have two phones, one for each
> country.

Well, if you're doing real "phone" stuff with it, yeah, that's a
reasonable approach. (When I used to visit the U.S., I'd just buy a
new "burner" every time, and deal with WiFi for my data on my real
smartphone. Probably this makes me a terrorist suspect now.)

But if you're doing just data (and IP-phone is data), not such a big
deal. So much hinges on what level of reliability you need with your
PSTN access.

cjs
-- 
Curt Sampson         <cjs@example.com>         +81 90 7737 2974

To iterate is human, to recurse divine.
    - L Peter Deutsch