Japanese Phones in Uk.

[Moogledkupo]

Well I have a couple of Japanese phones at home from my family in Japan because they are dirt cheap there. Is there anyway to use them in the Uk?

[sleepyhead]

Google up "hypersim".

Also, I think they do not work on 3G outside of Japan. Obviously there will be no 1-Seg. You will need a second phone to perform "CPR".

All info I got from my friend who has a keitai and has been using it.

[Bunjiweb]

Do also remember that some networks in other countries use completely different frequencies to networks in the UK..... Hope i'm not being too obvious!

[mufa]

theres loads of softwares available on the internet that helps you unlock phones.. look them up

[Blastuk]

You might find that some features won't work even if you get the phone working in the UK, I think mms/sms is one of the features that usually don't work.

There are Keitai forums dedicated to this stuff, I read some a long time ago and it seemed like way too much hassle.

[sleepyhead]

theres loads of softwares available on the internet that helps you unlock phones.. look them up

You will find Keitais to be hardware locked to the service provider.

As BlastUK says, alot of features will not work. Also if the phone plays media files, they will be strictly locked in the type of media file and how to "input" the media in.

[Perfectionist]

Click "Wireless networks" tab down the very bottom on blackberry's US site and it shows a list of all the different frequencies/data formats used in different countries, helpful to know for any phone really (you can google/wikipedia the data format names eg HSDPA and read more about em that way):

1

2

(UK and US sites have different info, UK one doesn't say anything about what service providers supported for some reason)

[sleepyhead]

The easiest way to get it to work in the UK is to basically have a contract with NTT Docomo/Softbank/KDDI and basically use roaming in the UK.

Otherwise it's back to what I mentioned of "hypersim".

[Perfectionist]

Is there any way to get a phone that will work anywhere in the world? The Blackberry Tour was meant to be like that, but seems the new Bold 9700 has actually more wireless network types support than it now, and even that has a lot of gaps.

[sleepyhead]

The only problem with Japanese phones (keitai) are that they are hard locked; specifically designed and built for the mobile operator; NTT DoCoMo, Softbank and KDDI.

European phones are not tied to an operator so you just need to find a phone that works on majority of network bands and as long as you have a roaming profile on your contract, you'll be fine. IE when in Japan, I was with Softbank (aka Vodafone).

[Perfectionist]

Do all countries use more than 1 type? Because even the phones with the best worldwide data handling capabilities seem to have a lot of missing types, which would seem to mean you would be gambling a bit that it will work on one when you go to a new country still. :/

e.g. which countries use "Dual-band 800/1900 MHz CDMA2000 1X Ev-DO" or "EDGE" wireless networks and which use 802.11a wifi (unsupported, rather than 802.11b/g wifi which is), which are the only things bb9700 doesn't do?

Another thing I thought was weird is that the UK version of the blackberry website doesn't say if the phones support american network types, such as is ticked on the US site specifically: "North America: 850 MHz GSM/GPRS" and "North America: 1900MHz GSM®/GPRS" networks - the UK site doesn't even have empty unticked boxes, just doesn't mention them at all while mentioning Asia etc.
Weird, or is it taken for granted that UK networks are the same as US ones? Though that would also be weird that they list it supporting america on the american site then.

[sleepyhead]

Do all countries use more than 1 type? Because even the phones with the best worldwide data handling capabilities seem to have a lot of missing types, which would seem to mean you would be gambling a bit that it will work on one when you go to a new country still. :/

Personally i haven't travelled the world. The most I know is...my phones that I have had (Nokia something, SE K800i, SE C905) worked in Paris, Nimes, Barcelona, and Tokyo. That was with zero research into the phone and if it would work outside the UK.. All from a Vodafone contract. I took the phones with me as my alarm clock.

Is there a specific country you are looking at seeing if a phone would work in?

EDIT
Balls, went miles off topic. Apologies to the OP. I hope somewhere in this thread is an answer you are looking for.

EDIT 2
OK, you added lots more detail there...I'd simply say, look at the operating frequencies the phone is capabale of, then check out the frequencies in the country you want to visit, then see if the your mobile operator is affiliated with someone in that country. IE Vodafone here (uk), ends up being on the Softbank network in Tokyo

Unless of course blackberry do something very different. I have no knowledge of how blackberrys operate.

[Perfectionist]

Whatever ones use "Dual-band 800/1900 MHz CDMA2000 1X Ev-DO" or "EDGE" Just bothers me that you could cross a border and find your expensive phone fairly useless except as a notepad!

and yeah whoever feel free to jump back in sorry I just thought this was the most appropriate place to ask this and it looked like the main question was answered as much as could

[Funkstar]

Generally speaking, European phones work all over europe, no problems (both with signal and network roaming agreements). They are also the most compatible round the world.

Africa can be dodgy for roaming agreements even if they operate on the same frequency, but that's down to local politics more than anything else.

With a modern European phone you should be able to make calls and send texts virtually anywhere in the world. If you can't, buy a local SIM and you are good to go. Data is pretty universal as well, although this may not be "high speed" data, you may be limited to EDGE, basic 3G or even *gasp* GPRS data!!

Blackberries may be different because of their push services, i think that is more likely down to limiting you to email over 3G and not being able to drop down to GPRS. My Windows Mobile is sync with my exchange server over GPRS, it isn't fun, but it does work.

[TooNice]

Regarding the original topic, this thread answers it, but it is 3.5 years old, so I am not sure if things have changed much since: http://euc.jp/misc/cellphones.en.html

I have some Japanese friends who do use their mobile phones here (not roaming). They can phone and send SMS, but I am not sure if all other functionalities (e.g. video calls) would work here.

Not sure how relevant it is these days, but a decade ago, most phones you could buy in the UK were 'dual band', supporting two GSM frequencies commonly used in Europe and most of Asia (except Japan and Korea who do not use GSM)/Africa. Typically when a mobile sold here is described as 'Tri-Band', it meant that it also supports one of the frequency often used in the US (1900Mhz I believe). However, those only applies for 2G network, and for 3G use a different system and that is why you can use a UK 3G phone in Japan.

[singdollar]

As I recall, the mobile phone frequency spectrum in japan are define slightly differently compared to the rest of the world. Therefore. I recon the mobile phone purchased from japan may not able to perform as it should in UK network. Event in rare occasion that they work. It may only serves the basic function such as phone call and text services.

may need to double check with the UK's service provider.