That’s ‘mineo‘.
The 1GB per month limit is quite strict, but for me, who only uses about 2GB even with fairly heavy usage, it’s the perfect service.
Below, I’ll compare my current plan (left) with the costs if I switch to an MVNO and carry both a feature phone and a smartphone.
This assumes I’ll reuse a feature phone I used in the past.
| Current | MVNO Plan | Initially | Subsequently | ||
| Service Item | Amount (JPY) | Breakdown (JPY) | Service Item | Amount (JPY) | Amount (JPY) |
| Total | 9.083 | 5772 | 2517 | ||
| Basic Monthly Fee | 934 | Basic Monthly Fee | |||
| LTE Plan | 1,868 | Plan SS Simple | 934 | 934 | |
| Daredemo Wari + Kazoku Wari | -934 | Daredemo Wari + Kazoku Wari | |||
| Option Usage Fees | 6,380 | Option Usage Fees | |||
| LTE NET | 300 | EZ WIN Course | 300 | 300 | |
| Anshin Keitai Support Plus | 380 | (Abolished) | |||
| LTE Flat | 5,700 | (Abolished) | |||
| Tethering Option | 500 | (Abolished) | |||
| Option Usage Fee Discount Amount | -500 | (Abolished) | |||
| Call Charges / LTE Plan | Call Charges | ||||
| Free Calls | |||||
| Total Bill Discount | -1,890 | Abolished due to model change | |||
| Maitsuki Wari (Monthly Discount) / Incl. Tax | -1,890 | ||||
| au Kantan Kessai Usage Fee | 401 | NAVITIME Individual Contract | 300 | 300 | |
| au Smart Pass / Incl. Tax | 401 | ||||
| Device Purchase Cost | 3,255 | 9 months remaining | 3255 | ||
| Installment Payment | 3,255 | ||||
| Universal Service Fee | 3 | Universal Service Fee | 3 | 3 | |
| mineo Usage Fee | 980 | 980 |
So, while my current basic monthly fees alone are about 9,100 JPY, even if I switch now while I still have outstanding device payments, it would be 5,772 JPY, saving me about 3,500 JPY!
What’s more, since I’ll be able to choose a feature phone plan, it even comes with 1,000 JPY worth of free calls.
Once I pay off the remaining balance, my monthly payment for the smartphone is likely to be around 2,500 JPY.
However, there are some important points to note when using mineo, which I’ll summarize below.
- Data communication is only available on 4G LTE lines, so areas where only 3G is available will be out of range. Also, a 4G LTE compatible device is mandatory.
- au Smart Pass will naturally become unusable (ATOK, Virus Buster, NAVITIME, etc.), so individual purchases on Google Play, etc., will be required for each. I plan to transition to ATOK for about 1,800 JPY, a similar free software for Virus Buster, and NAVITIME for 300 JPY/month.
- To change from my current smartphone to a feature phone, an administrative fee of 3,000 JPY is required. This includes SIM card size change and unlocking the feature phone’s SIM lock. (I confirmed this at an au shop.)
- It seems simple plans are now available even for brought-in feature phones. (I couldn’t find much information on this online, so I confirmed it at an au shop.)
- An administrative fee of 3,000 JPY is also required when starting mineo. There’s also a minimum usage period of 12 months. (If you apply by June 2nd, the basic monthly fee will be free for 6 months, so I’m overlooking this part for now.)
Japanese mobile carriers, for which I had to pay quite high amounts every month.
I hope the appearance of such a disruptive service provider changes the environment surrounding mobile carriers in the future.
I truly wish that not just Docomo, SoftBank, and au, but many other providers would compete on communication fees.