Cell Phones: Japan vs. the United States

Stirland writes "Cell phones/Connectivity: Japan and the United States: Worlds Apart on Wireless. Interesting analysis of the economic and cultural reasons for why the Japanese kick Americans' butts when it comes to wireless cell phone technology and usage."

Land line costs are insane in Japan

[case_igl]

My aunt lived in Japan for two years. From what she said, and this article mentions, is that getting a land line phone is very expensive.

The article quotes $700, but if I recall my aunt mentioned it was more than that. Additionally, the waiting list to get a telephone was months and months long.

So, to me, it's no surprise that Japanese are using cell phones for both voice and data more than US counterparts. A big chunk of people there simply can't even make a call from home. So they are used to using their cell phones more than your average American.

I think geography has something to do with it as well. Japan has a much higher population density than the US, so it's easier for the providers. You don't need to erect as many towers to cover the same number of people.
Installing and upgrading cell towers to support higher speed data services costs a fortune, so I'm not surprised it's not happening faster in the US. You'd need thousands of towers in Japan, compared to tens of thousands here.

Case

Behind?

[huckda]

No, we are not "behind" in technology, we are RESTRICTED...

FACT...anyone can go to Japan/Europe/etc. and purchase any of the equipment, but good luck getting the FCC permission to implement it, even for a local market.

The United States is not behind in technology, be 'merely'(I say tongue in cheek) restricted in the area of what technology they are ALLOWED to use.

--Huck

Re:Not only the japanese

[throwaway18]

Indeed, until it broke reccently I could happily read slashdot on the bus to work on the half-vga screen on my my nokia 9110. I used the built in browser for that as the charges go from E0.03/min to E0.40/min at 8am. Off peak I telnet (with s/key one time passwords) to my home PC and use lynx, IRC from the pub etc. I not sure wether to get it repaired to to pay less for a second hand one off ebay with no guarantee. I can't manage without an electronic organiser/nagging device to tell me I should have bee somewhere five minutes ago but I'm not going to carry one and a phone.

When I was in the states last year I was amazed to find I could not buy a pay-as-you-talk mobile for less than USD200. I wanted one to use for ten days then bin when I left. Here they are E45 from newsagents. Amazingly in the USA you have to pay
for incoming calls to mobiles!! The mobiles have normal numbers mixed in with landlines so you don't know if you a phoning one or not.

Re:There's a reason for all of this...

[Simon Peters]

Too true on the Australia part.. If there isn't anyone, you _might_ get CDMA coverage, otherwise it's a Satellite phone for you.

However, even in/near smaller remote towns you can be pretty certain of getting Telstra coverage, though Optus is a different matter :-(

The phones there are at about the same level as they are here in the UK, ie. pretty good. Just don't go on Optus if you're leaving the big cities!

Useful Feature: Home alarm - cell phone link

[ashitaka]

This article [japantoday.com] talks about a new system that calls/emails your cell phone when there is a break-in, fire or other emergency in your home. Selecting the link displays webcam images of inside your house.

Sure, with a lot of hacking you could set up a similar system here but nobody's put together the full package yet. (AFAIK)

Re:Sum it up

[erikdalen]

5. US has FAR higher ratio of PC owners than Japan. So many features like email/messaging are done from PC.

I don't think this matters much. Finland and Sweden have a higher ratio of PC owners than US and both those countries have far more cell phone owners than US (and Japan).

/Erik