Most Popular Japan ISP's??

[kingkevo25]

Hi, I'm doing research about top ISP's globally.... can someone tell me what the top 5 ISPs in Japan are? (according to popularity or # of subscribers). Thanks alot....

ps- cool smilies

 

[Silverpoint]

I'm pretty sure Yahoo!BB is number one, but that probably doesn't help you much.

 

[yukio_michael]

Until very recently, Japan's broadband was pretty dismal... I don't know if there is much 'choice' in the way that there is other places in exactly how you get broadband in Japan.

Like Stinger said, I think Yahoo!BB is number one, probably simply by fortuity, rather than any sort of sterling service... though I never had a problem with them other than them not installing or restoring service with any sort of thing resembling speed...

...so yeah. I think maybe there is a dearth of broadband options.

Can anyone elaborate on this?

 

[Orionvortex]

I think Hikari is pretty big too. It costs a bit more than YahooBB and some of the others but it is fast!

 

[yukio_michael]

I think Hikari is pretty big too. It costs a bit more than YahooBB and some of the others but it is fast!

I would have to look, but there are some plans that are sold as advertisements on boards like 2ch as well, though I don't know how popular they are.

 

[Silverpoint]

Until very recently, Japan's broadband was pretty dismal... I don't know if there is much 'choice' in the way that there is other places in exactly how you get broadband in Japan.
Like Stinger said, I think Yahoo!BB is number one, probably simply by fortuity, rather than any sort of sterling service... though I never had a problem with them other than them not installing or restoring service with any sort of thing resembling speed...
...so yeah. I think maybe there is a dearth of broadband options.
Can anyone elaborate on this?

I'm gratified that you agree with me, but unfortunately I have to disagree with almost everything else you said.

Broadband was dismal until recently? In what sense? Japan is way ahead of the United States and Europe in terms of broadband. Even in remote areas it's pretty common to get 20 megabit plus ADSL. In many places (especially cities) you can get 100 megabit B-FLETS (Hikari fiber), or if you're lucky up to 1 gigabit. Personally I have a 1 gigabit B FLETS fiber connection, plus a 30 megabit cable TV line which just came as part of my package. Even my cellphone has a data rate faster than most people's broadband back in the UK.

Also Yahoo! BB became big by absolutely huge saturation marketing. There was a time when you could barely go outside your front door without being accosted by a Yahoo! BB salesperson. Fortuity had little to do with it.

 

[GaijinPunch]

Stinger is pretty much right. Here's a brief timeline of broadband:

Late 90s: Cable and DSL start popping about in the US. Japan offers cable, and cable only, and only in a very few remote parts of the big cities. All in all, only a handful of people have it, and everyone is screwed paying NTT big bucks.

Sometime in 2000: Not sure when it started, but Toyko Metallic (東京めたりっく）, Japan's first ADSL provider succeeds in suing NTT, and DSL in Japan is born. NTT must now lease their lines out to DSL providers. Gaijin Punch is one of the first 10,000 customers in Japan to get DSL, and pees in his pants on a few occasions. Tokyo Metallic's speeds were roughly 1.5 Mb download, and 768kb upload. Price runs about 4000 yen per month, and 15,000 yen installation fee.
NTT's claim was that they would skip DSL, and go straight to fiber (trying to protect their ISDN investment, which they apparently lost millions on). Note that to get DSL installed, NTT might have to come and change your line from one type to another. The installation is actually a hassle.

3 months later: NTT, as well as another provider (forgot who) now offer DSL. NTT is charged with doing sneaky things. Remember the aforementioned work NTT might have to do to give someone a line capable of DSL? Well, sometimes they'd just go ahead and sort out an NTT DSL connection right then and there, c-blocking Metallic or any other 3rd party provider.

Within the next year or so, speeds are getting to around 3Mb download and 1MB upload.

Not much later, Yahoo BB comes out, and offers up to 8Mb download. You had to be pretty close to a hub, but it was still good speeds.

-In either 2002 or 2003, Usen comes out w/ their Hikari Fibre connections, and introduce massive overkill to the broadband market. 100Mb download, 10Mb upload, and 5 WAN IPs. All for personal use. O_O. NTT jumps in w/ their Fiber stuff not much later.

Basically it took Japan forever to get DSL, but once they got it, it took less than 2 years to surpass the US, and likely most of the rest of the world. I tried Usen for a while, but I don't use antivirus or anything. They called me ALL the time telling me I had spyware and virii and whatnot. Annoying. When I moved, I changed to Itscomm, w/ a 30 down, 10 up connection, which was just fine.

The Tokyo Metallic thing is pretty interesting. I'd love to provide you with a link, but unfortunately can't. For the record, the CEO was a former NTT executive. Basically tore down the empire he helped build. He knew the company would fail, but he's the one that cracked open NTT.

 

[mr.sumo.snr]

Yeah, NTT were still cooking with ISDN well past its shelf-life date. Total Betamax fiasco! But for the 3/4 years I was using it I at least enjoyed a close to uninterrupted connection and comparatively low bills.

NTT hikari fiber was 2002. I remember downloading stuff on my mate's computer in Kanagawa and almost soiling my pants when I was getting a 5mb/s top speed - that was Spring 2002. We'd just moved into our new house, complete with cable internet at 0.5mb/s. June 2002 the B-FLets salesman with the ill-fitting hairpiece knocks on the door and offers free installation. Speed!

--

 

[Weems]

I am still amazed at the options and speed that Japanese people receive. Even their Cell phone Data Connections are faster than my home connection.

 

[yukio_michael]

I am not sure where it was that I read this, but I think it may have had to do moreso with NTT than Japan as a whole, it was a long while ago, so maybe the article was mis-informed... I can't recall... anyways, thanks for clearing that up.

If there were no other competitors, something that hasn't really been elaborated on at this time... I'd still call that fortuity... but who am I talking to...? The banned guy?

 

[ricecake]

Is wireless internet service available for residential customers ?

In the USA,we have dial-up,DSL,and wireless.

 

[GaijinPunch]

Is wireless internet service available for residential customers ?

Yes....

Filler

 

[Maloki]

I have to disagree on the point that Japan would have the worlds best broadband.. Sweden, wish is basically the inventor of broadband is the leading county of internet, my mobile phone (HTC TyTN) have a speed of 3,6/?? Mb/s (Turbo3G), my internet speed at home is 100/10 Mb/s, (this is normal speed witch almost everyone have) then I can upgrade to 100/100 Mb/s or 1000/100 Mb/s if I so wish. Almost everyone in Sweden have broadband, except a few ignorant fools who doesn't want to upgrade. You can even get broadband to a building in the middle of the forest at affordable prices. All the schools, universities and educational centres in Sweden have broadband (99.9%). Japan may be an advanced county of technology, but it doesn't surpass Sweden in connectivity. i yust had to point this out

 

[japantvhost]

YahooBB, Nifty, NTT, BigGlobe, are probably the biggest

 

[Ewok85]

Japan may be an advanced county of technology, but it doesn't surpass Sweden in connectivity. i yust had to point this out

Sweden doesn't have anything on Hong Kong. South Korea and Japan have similar levels of BB, both very high standards - 1000/100 is not unusual or too expensive.
Sweden has the advantage of how the homes are spread out, the density and lower population, making it far easier to provide broadband than Japan.
And for the record, American and British scientists, engineers and companies were the first to release broadband (invent the mediums like coaxial and fibre optic, then implement it), and the Australian CSIRO leads the way with wireless internet (having invented and continuing to improve it).

 

[Mrjones]

Ewok85 can you explain me why is it low density of people is advantage in internet business ? From this day I have always seen it as an disadvantage, especially when speaking in business point of view. I think OCN is The most famous internet provider in Japan. My current connection is 100/100, it costs about 8 euros per month, OCN theather

 

[Ewok85]

Ewok85 can you explain me why is it low density of people is advantage in internet business ? From this day I have always seen it as an disadvantage, especially when speaking in business point of view. I think OCN is The most famous internet provider in Japan. My current connection is 100/100, it costs about 8 euros per month, OCN theather

Low density is not going to be as cost effective as high density, but an evenly spread population is going to be easier to serve than a sporadically spread population. Also things like government grants and support have to be considered when talking about broadband and comparing how different countries are setup.