EMOBILE Wireless Internet Review

Japan is one of the largest and fastest providers of broadband internet in the world. While there are many ways to get connected, one of the most convenient ways, and sometimes only option, is through wireless. If you have need or interest in unlimited wireless broadband internet in Hokkaido or the rest of Japan, you should check out my review of EMOBILE’s service after the break.

Although Internet access varies from school to school, you may have noticed that your surfing privileges are limited. Maybe a website is blocked due to being a message board or your e-mail doesn’t work correctly due to a proxy. Perhaps the connection it just really, really slow. Some of you might not have internet at all. This experience has you wanting freedom, speed, and convenience to surf the web. Fear not, there is a way around it, but it’ll cost you around 5,000 yen a month, plus around 6,000 yen for the card (with two year contract). This is through a cellular business called EMOBILE.

Coverage

Before making this decision, you might want to check if your area is part of the 88% of Japan covered under EMOBILE’s network. Go to http://emobile.jp/area/areamap.html?1 to see the coverage in Hokkaido. It would be pointless to get this card if it doesn’t work in your area.

Purchasing the Card and Service

You have different wireless hardware options to choose from: USB, ExpressCard/34 and PC Card Standard Type II card. All three are compatible with Macs and PCs. PCs should be using Windows XP, 2000 or Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit). Of course, Apple computers with OSX 10.4+ are supported as well. I can also confirm that the D03HW ExpressCard/34 and the software works with Windows 7 as of Release Candidate 1, and should work when Windows 7 launches later this year.

Something for everyone.

You sign up for the service much like a cell phone, and like a cell phone you are expected to sign a contract. Be sure to bring your hanko and also your name and address written in kanji. There are different wireless plans, but it’s prudent to get the unlimited wireless for around 5,000 yen with two year contract. Although there are plans where you start with 1,000 yen and it caps at 5,000 yen. You can pay by convenience store, credit card or by automatic bank withdraw. I would recommend bank withdraw due to its convenience. Be sure to bring your bank book with you if you want to go this route. Here is a link to their data plan; http://emobile.jp/charge/dataplan.html (in Japanese).

If you forgo the contract, you have to pay around 30,000 for the card and, of course, the monthly service at around 6,000 (yes, a more expensive monthly service fee). So basically it’s better to have the two year contract. If you have to leave after a year, you just pay around 24,000 in fees to get out of the contract. The longer you stick with the contract, the smaller your cancel fee is. See http://emobile.jp/popup/kaijo.html for more information (in Japanese).

Review Hardware

For this review, I’ll be using the EMOBILE D03HW DATA CARD ExpressCard/34 using a Windows notebook PC. Here are the specs of the hardware the tests are preformed on.

The D03HW ExpressCard

What's in the box?! What's in the box?!

The card comes in a rather handsome box, which contains an instruction booklet (in Japanese) that you won’t need. It also comes with a CD-ROM; another thing you don’t need, as the information on it is in Japanese too. If you’re lucky, they might give you a box of tissue too.

Insert this end first.

The card is fairly simplistic and the only movable part is the antenna the moves up to get better reception. The card is a standard 34 ExpressCard that will work with notebooks that have an ExpressCard 54 or 34 slot. Most notebooks that are three years or newer have this slot, but be sure to check your notebook documentation. The slot looks similar to the old PCMCIA standard slot that is used in older notebooks, but the two are very different technologies. Make sure you know the difference.

Leave this alone.

The card is basically a 3G cell phone, but for data only. It even has a SIM chip on the bottom that is used for your account. As you can see from the box picture from before, it’s also comes with a protective case shell for traveling, as you are not supposed to leave it in the ExpressCard slot while your computer is in your bag. This could damage the card.

Installation and Software

Installation is easy, and you can even do it in English. The card has built in software that you can switch between English and Japanese. How every considerate of them!

First you boot your computer and then insert the card. The card acts like a CD-ROM and will auto start the installation. If it doesn’t auto start (because you may have autorun disabled on your computer) just go to the “CD-ROM” drive labeled “EMOBILE_UTILITY” and double-click on the “AutoRun.exe” application. Just double-clicking on the EMOBILE “CD-ROM” drive may start the installation as well.

Yes, it says CD Drive; I didn't Photoshop it.

The installation will start and you need to select “English” or “Japanese”. Follow the prompts and you will then have to restart. If you restart and your computer fails to boot, take out the card and press “ctrl+alt+del”. Once you see that Windows is loading, you can stick the card back in.

Once you’re logged in and at the desktop the EMOBILE HW Utility should start automatically and search for the card. Once it finds the card it will give a “reception bar” reading that is like that of a cell phone in the bottom left hand corner of the utility. The button to connect will now be available as well. Press “Connect” and it should dial and connect you to the internet. No special settings or other input are necessary. You should now be able to browse the internet.

Despite running on Vista, the software interface is made up to look like Windows XP.

Connection and Using the Software

The D03HW uses High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) that is a 3G (third generation) mobile telephony communications protocol. It is rated for 7.2 Mbit/s download and 384kbps upload speed (most other types of data card models can do the same). This is actually faster than some broadband companies that serve the USA. Real world performance peaks over 4.2 Mbit/s or 500 KB/s download 400 kbit/s 50 KB/s upload on websites that serve files that fast. This is from inside a school building on the 2nd floor that is just barely inside the coverage area. This speed is plenty fast for browsing, VOIP (voice over IP), downloading small to medium files under 100MB and watching YouTube.

I wouldn’t recommend it for gaming because your ping may suffer and certainly not for heavy downloading. If you are in a spotty area and your reception bar indicator is low, downloads may be slower as well. However, this doesn’t happen often if you are within the serviceable area. Of course, the service also works outside of Hokkaido without any extra charge. I used my card in Nagoya without any problems at all.

You can keep track of how long you were on at anytime using the “Connection History” tab. Stay out of the “Profile Management” under the “Options” button though; you don’t want to make changes that will make your card inoperable. If you want to change languages back and forth between Japanese and English, you just click “Tools” and then “Language”. I don’t recommend messing with any other settings though.

Troubleshooting and English Support

The main problem I’ve run into is the fact that if I leave the card in its slot and do a cold boot (boot from a complete shutdown) the computer will not boot to windows. I believe because the computer tries to boot from the card but doesn’t get anywhere. To get around this problem, just take out the card (ctrl+alt+del if you left card in there), turn on the computer and don’t insert it until windows is starting up. This problem may be isolated to the HP Pavilion dv5, but if you have the same problem, you know why, and how to fix it. A reboot from the OS – like for updates – while the card is in doesn’t seem to cause any problems. I don’t know if this affects OSX on Apple computers and like any PC your mileage may vary.

Incidentally, if you are connected to the internet for more than six hours, the ISP server will disconnect you. You can just re-dial to re-connect though. This isn’t really a problem, as I doubt most will be connected that long. I found this out by accident myself.

Unlike some Japanese companies, EMOBILE doesn’t have an English page to shop, compare plans and etc. as of this writing. You won’t really need to use their website though. You will have to contact their home office in Tokyo for disconnection or support though.

Conclusion

Having used a cellular type internet connection before in Japan in 2002, I expected the performance to be a little slow using a similar technology. However, I was quite surprised by its 3G speed and have to say that it is worth every penny I’ve paid for. Not only can I surf the internet unhindered, but also a good speed that doesn’t keep me waiting. This allows me to do the online work I need to do, as well as search the internet for teaching ideas freely and all without taking over the computer other teachers need to use.

If you have a notebook computer and are within EMOBILE’s coverage and are looking for a mobile internet solution outside of your cell phone’s inadequate browser, you should give EMOBILE’s wireless solution a hard look.

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