View source for Internet Access

There are a few internet service provider (ISP) options available to you.

==Yahoo BB==
[http://bbpromo.yahoo.co.jp/promotion/adsl/index.html Yahoo BB] is the most widespread ISP and there's a very useful service called [http://www.bbapply.com BBApply] which helps English-speakers (and JETs in particular) get signed up with the service.  It is especially useful for people from the US as calling the US from a house/apartment with YahooBB only about ¥2.5 per minute.
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|'''Cons'''
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*Cheap landline
*Good international rates
*Easy to turn into a network or use with wireless
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*Dodgy English service
*May have to deal wth NTT
*Not available in all areas
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Friendly site for Gaijin: http://www.eikaiwa.net/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi

==Local cable company==
[http://www.pref.mie.jp/network/gyousei/catv/catv.htm List of regional providers]
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*Flexble bandwidth pricing plans
*Available wherever there is cable TV
*Don't need a landline.
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*Dodgy English service
*May be hard to get setup
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==ISDN/ADSL==
[http://www.ntt-west.co.jp/flets/spot/ NTT Flets]<br />[http://www.ocn.ne.jp/english/ OCN]<br />[http://asahi-net.jp/en/ Asahi net]
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*Great if you already have a landline
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*Not available in all areas
*Need a landline
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==Fiber Optics==
Welcome to the future! How does 100Mbps sound? Pretty good? Well that's the ''lowest speed offered.'' Japan's national fiber network is run and maintain by NTT West (NTT西日本) and NTT East (NTT東日本). Since Mie falls under NTT West's service area, that's who you'll be dealing with. The service you'll be buying is called Flets Hikari Next (フレッツ光ネクスト), and is build on NTT's next generation fiber network.

===Service Area===
Here is a list of areas that NTT West offers their Flets Hikari Next service in, as of October, 2010:

Tsu-shi, Yokaichi-chi, Suzuka-shi, Nabari-shi, Kuwana-shi, Ise-shi, Iga-shi, Kameyama-shi, Matsusaka-shi, Miegunkawagoe-chou, Komono-chou, and Touin-chou.

It's a pretty comprehensive list, but whether youre city/town is on the list or not, there is no actuall way to be sure it is avaliable to you without [https://flets-w.com/order2/index_tougou.php?err_msg=&area_code=&city_code=&r_code=&NEXT=&HIKARI=1&BFLETS=&ADSL=&ISDN=&prov=&MAN=&level=&etc_flg=&MAN=&flg= directly asking], you're probably going to want to get a coworker to help. In most cases though, whether or not they service you isn't the [http://www.miejets.org/gb/index.php?title=Internet_Access#The_Mansion_Issue real problem].

===Services and Prices===
NTT West only offers 3 different courses of service (Regular, High Speed, and Express) in  3 different categories (Family Home, Mansion, and Office). There aren't any JETs that I know of who live in an office, so let's just ignore that one.

If you live in a family home (i.e. not an apartment), then you are going to have to pay initial contruction and equipment fees which are quite expensive - around ￥30,000 - ￥40,000, depending on the package you get. If you live in a mansion, and haven't run into any [http://www.miejets.org/gb/index.php?title=Internet_Access#The_Mansion_Issue problems], then not only can you take about ￥30,000 off of the initial cost, but you'll also enjoy around ￥1,000 less in operating costs per month (although you likely won't have a choice in course).

====Courses====
* Family(Mansion) Type - 100Mbps - ￥4970(￥3240-￥4210)
* Family(Mansion) High Speed Type - 200Mbps - ￥4970(￥3240-￥4210)
* Family(Mansion) Express Type - 1Gbps(!!!) - ￥6680(￥4950-￥6120)

Obviously, if you have a choice, there is no reason to get the normal type (aside from slightly lower setup costs), and obviously, if you have a brain and choice, there is no good reason not to get the Express type. 1Gbps? Do you have any idea how fast that is?

Unfortunaly, most of us live in mansions, which could be an issue...
===The Mansion Issue===
If you live in a mansion, and your landlord hasn't already had Hikari installed, I'm sorry, but you're pretty much out of luck. That's kind of just the way it is. In order to have a new fiber instilation in a mansion type building, NTT West (and East, for that matter) requires there to be a certain number of "anticipated requests", of which affect that price range you see in the course listing above, and without they won't install anything. Unless you can convince your landlord and 8 - 16 other people to switch to fiber, you're not getting it unless you move.


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*Speeds ranging from "great" to "unbelievable"
*Reasonable monthly fees
*Again, speeds up to 1Gbps
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*High start up costs
*Very well might be impossible for you to get
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==Wireless service==
Wireless services can be split into 3 basic categories: Wireless Data, Mobile Broadband, and Advanced Mobile Broadband/WiMAX. 
===Wireless Data===
Wireless Data services (such as those offered by [http://www.willcom-inc.com Willcom]) are prohibitively expensive and prohibitively slow. As 3G mobile broadband networks have become nearly ubiquitous, there is very little reason to even consider this an option.
===Mobile Broadband===
While 3G mobile broadband service can be had from any of the major cellphone providers (and as such, deals can be added onto existing data plans for your phone, if and you have one), the largest and most well established networks for wireless data are run by [http://www.emobile.jp emobile] and [http://www.mb.softbank.jp softbank] (they share networks). Speeds are promised around 7.2 down and 5.2 up, but what you actually get is closer to 3.0 down and .3 up.

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*Service in almost all areas
*Great for laptops
*Able to use immediately after signing up
*Priced similarly or less than home internet
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*Slow
*Requires lengthy contract
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===Advanced Mobile Broadband/WiMAX===
In recent years, several carriers have begun to roll out their advanced mobile broadband networks. These networks show huge increases in speeds, with comparitively little increase in cost. [http://www.emobile.jp Emobile] offers a 21Mbps service for only ~￥1,000 more than their 7.2Mbps service. Then there is WiMax, an advanced mobile broadband network run by [http://www.uqwimax.jp/ UQWiMAX], for competitive prices (~￥4,500 a month) they offer promised speeds of up to 40Mbps. With these speeds and prices, Advanced Mobile Broadband could very well be an alternitive to more traditional home internet solutions. The only problem is in avaliability, unless you are in the city, chances are you won't be able to get it.

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*Fantastic speeds
*Great for laptops
*Able to use immediately after signing up
*Priced similarly or less than home internet
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*Not that widely avaliable yet
*Requires lengthy contract
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