A journey to the Levant
On the same day UQ WiMAX announced the installation of the 5000th base station , they also announced the availability of WiMAX Repeaters.
As any other wireless technology the biggest issue is Coverage. Or rather, how to provide the best coverage with lower costs. A repeater is a good solution to extend a cell (when more bandwidth is not needed).
A PDF from UQ [JP] shows 3 different repeaters and usage. Graphics are quite bad , but I’ll ignore it this time.
UQ WiMAX announced today [JP] installing the 5000th WiMAX Base Station.
Very impressive, but it will be more interesting to read about UQ making money than spending.
Last year’s report indicated 27,000 users , which can’t really justify installing 5000 base stations.
Yet another awful commercial from UQ WiMAX has arrived. This time, they outdid themselves, by using a cat which has a very successful Youtube channel.
See below UQ WiMAX Commercial, asking if the cat will manage to go into the box, then asking if your Laptop has WiMAX. (Did I mention this commercial is BAD?)
And a sample cat video from mugumogu channel:
Finally, some figures on WiMAX adoption in Japan are available.
Number of subscribers: 21,700. That’s an average of about 7000 users per month since the official launch date. Quite sad, isn’t it?
The article continues to review the technology, laptops supporting the technology and the competition (Emobile), which came out with the 100 Yen Notebook campaign a few months before the official WiMAX launch.
UQ WiMAX did create a lot of hype around the WiMAX technology and the speed it supports, signed multiple MVNOs, but that was not enough to attract customers.
Yours truly decided not to use UQ WiMAX services, as my house was not covered , coverage around Tokyo is growing, but still cannot beat Emobile service.
UQ still plans to continue to deploy WiMAX around Japan, which means more investment in infrastructure and Base Stations. These are obviously bad news for KDDI and Intel (biggest investors in UQ) as well as for Mobile wiMAX technology.
One Month after the launch of UQ WiMAX network, I decided to check if I can get WiMAX at Home.
Result: NO
Below you can see UQ’s report on my area, which basically says that I will have hard time getting a WiMAX service even OUTSIDE my Home, not to mention indoor.
Nakahara station is about 4KM from my house and adjacent to Fuijtsu R&D facilities. Many people that UQ may target, and indeed UQ’s service is available there:
Please note the marked part stating that indoor service is not guaranteed. Exact translation is that service “may be available”, but sensitive to terrain, buildings, windows distance.
Sorry UQ WiMAX, still not convinced, still not signing for your service.
Bic Camera has recently announced participation in UQ WiMAX MVNO program. However, in a recent visit to Bic Camaera in Shin-Yokohama, I couldn’t find any reference to WiMAX, which made me investigate more into Bic Camer’a WiMAX offering on their website:
Bic Camera WiMAX Banner is at the bottom of the page, under Emobile, OCN and other promotions.
The plan details are fairly simple as they follow UQ WiMAX price plan, the UQ Flat at 4480 Yen per month. Additional 2835 Yen are required for registration (it still kills me to pay registration fees everywhere I go in Japan):
Now, this part is getting annoying. Bic Camera offer only one device (?!), the BDSS01, by Shinsei Corp, which I can just guess it is the same device used by UQ (UD01SS) with a different name and package. Device price is 12,800 Yen (!!!).
It doesn’t really feel like Bic Camera are pushing this device, no promotion, no benefits. I don’t see anyone interested in WiMAX getting it from Bic Camera, so why bother with the MVNO program?
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