BBapply: Yahoo! BB ADSL Detailed Overview

On offer to residents of Japan . . .

Overview of Yahoo! BB ADSL

Japan's No. 1 ADSL Service Provider
DSL-type broadband offered in four speeds from 8M to 50M
May be used with or without NTT phone service.
Includes BBPhone IP phone service (050 number)
No Minimum Contract Period

Optional services

Wireless LAN router
BBTV–40+ Channels and Video on Demand
50M Revo–faster upload speed for users within 800 meters of server
Reach DSL for users who are far from the server
Keitai30–a 30% discount on calls to mobile phones

Apply for Yahoo! BB ADSL Now

Campaign Benefits

The current Campaign, ending September 30, 2008, offers:

Up to 2 months FREE! for All New Applicants
Discount of ¥1,050/month x 12 months if you have moved since May 1, 2008 (including from outside Japan)!
¥10,000 CASH BACK if you are a student!

Benefits may be combined (except you may not get both the Student and Moving benefits). So, for example, you could get two months free, ¥10,000 cash back). For details on current campaign benefits, see the Yahoo! BB Campaign page.

Yahoo! BB Fees

The basic monthly fee you pay depends not only on the speed you choose but whether or not you have NTT phone service. Fees range as follows:

8M to 50M:
With NTT phone service--¥3,366 to ¥4,214
Without NTT phone service--¥5,038 to ¥5,878

The above include all the monthly charges billed by Yahoo! BB:

Modem rental

ISP charge

ADSL charge

IP phone service (BBPhone)

Prorated connection charge

Tax

Not included are tolls for calls you make and a ¥7/month “Universal” charge that is billed to all IP phone services to cover the cost of connecting with emergency phone numbers (police, fire, etc.).

Detailed Yahoo! BB Price List

Note: when comparing the cost of Yahoo! BB service with other companies, keep in mind that most advertisments do not include all the above in their 'banner' prices.

Application

If you wish to apply for connection now, go to:

Service Request: Apply Onlin

For a detailed list of charges, set the Yahoo! BB Prices page.

Comparing ADSL Fees With NTT vs. Without NTT

If ADSL service is used without NTT phone service, then the ADSL price is higher because the ADSL provider must pay an extra fee to NTT for use of the wires.

On the other hand, if ADSL is used with NTT Phone Service, then the ADSL price is lower but the user pays NTT for phone service. Either way, the total cost to the user is about the same. The cost without phone service varies from about ¥376 less to ¥149 more per month than with telephone service depending on the type of telephone service (owned or not) and the population of the local calling area.

Besides cost, however, there are numerous pros and cons each way. For a detailed breakdown, see the NTT-or-Not page.

Connection Charges

Yahoo! BB pays NTT's ADSL connection fee (about ¥5,000) in advance and then bills it back to you at the rate of ¥84/month for 60 months. If you quit the service before it's paid off, the debt is forgiven and you don't have to pay the balance.

BBPhone
IP Phone Service

All Yahoo! BB service includes Yahoo's IP phone service, BBPhone at no extra charge. Calls using BBPhone are very economical compared to conventional phones and mobiles.

Toll-free to any of Yahoo! BB's 5 million subscribers

¥7.99/three minutes to any other landline in Japan

¥7.5/three minutes to call the U.S.A.

May be used with a Brastel card for lower rates to most countries

Many users find that the savings in toll charges they get by using BBPhone will cover much or all of the basic cost of the Yahoo! BB service itself.

Contract Term

None. You may cancel the service at any time without penalty or extra charge. All rental property (modem, cables, etc.) must be returned at user's cost, however. That usually costs around ¥1,500 or less.

Brastel Cards

To most countries, Brastel cards offer the best calling rate. If that's the case for your country, then you'll be happy to know that Brastel has a Yahoo! BBPhone number. Since BBPhone-to-BBPhone calls are free, that allows Brastel to give you an even lower price than their usual bottom rate if you use Yahoo! BB. BBapply provides Brastel cards to all internet and phone service applicants.

Reach DSL

One of the characteristics of DSL is that the conection speed declines over distance from the server. All the advertised speeds, e.g., 50M, 26M, etc., decline in speed until the signal becomes unstable somewhere between four and six kilometers. If you are over 3,000 meters and considering one of the slower (less expensive) services, then Reach DSL may be the best for you.

Reach DSL a special type DSL designed to 'reach' greater distances than other DSL types. It is much slower than the other services when it leaves the exchange building, 800 kbps (0.8 Mbps). However, its speed doesn't have the sharp decline the others have and beyond 3 km it's generally faster than the 8M service and beyond 5 km, not only will it usually be faster than the 50M service, it is also likely to be more stable.

Reach DSL is stable up to about seven to eight thousand meters. While it is 'only' about 700 - 800 Kbps, keep in mind that that is still about 15 times faster than dial-up service. Because all ADSL companies have their servers located in the same building, the same issue will apply to other companies, too. However, only Yahoo! BB offers the Reach- type DSL option.

See the Choosing the Best Service page for more info and advice.

Applying for Yahoo! BB

Please be advised that even though the Yahoo! BB ADSL services listed above are available at the telephone exchange building, in some rare cases the they will be unavailable or unstable at the user's location due to local environmental conditions on the phone lines.

For example, some buildings are wired with fiber optic wires which cannot carry ADSL signals. In other cases a user's analog line may run near a digital transmission source that interferes with the digital ADSL signal.

In short, the only way to know for sure is to apply and see if it works. (There's no charge by Yahoo! BB if it doesn't work and you return the equipment within the free campaign period.)