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IP Phone with 050 Number?
For my private business, sometime I may need to tell my phone number to the others. Then it was better to have a separate phone number in addition to my private mobile phone, which may increase the credibility a little. Thus I investigated some IP phone services available in Japan.
As I guess I will rearely use a dediacted phone number for my business, I searched the services with lowest cost as much as possible. With this service, you can have another phone number starting with 050 by adding App to your existing smart phone.
Though it will be cost more, there are also services which enables to have a phone number starging with an area cord such as 03 (Tokyo), 06 (Osaka), or 0120 (toll free number in Japan) without having a fixed phone. I haven't know there are such services.
If you search the Internet, you will find many hits on sites that summarize 050 services, but in reality, there are services that have stopped accepting applications, and the options were narrower than I originally thought. Thus I will summarize information as of now (Jan, 2023).
My 050 (brastel) - My Choice
After many considerations, "My 050" was finally chosen. This service is provided by Brastel.
The reason I chose this service are here.
- Cheap price. The minimum fee for the first year is 1,650 yen. (Since there is no setup fee from the second year, the annual minimum fee is 1,100 yen. in and after the second year.)
- Initial cost: Setup fee 550 yen + number maintenance fee 550 yen/every 6 months
- As the chage will be debited one week after the phone number is given, you need to pre-charge the money by then. The charge starts at 500 yen. Initially, you will need to charge a minimum of 1,100 yen for the setup fee and number maintenance fee for half a year. Also you may need to add some fee for dialing cost.
- Call quality was good. (In a test using the Wi-Fi environment at my house. Both outgoing and incoming calls were good. If you apply, you will receive a 5-minute free call that is valid for 8 days from the time the 050 number is issued.)
Of course, the more calls you make, the more money you will have to charge. However I assume I rarely make calls, it did not care it a lot.
Until a while ago, there were services that were almost free, but now it seems that you can't get a 050 number unless you pay this much.
Basic Fee Comparison
Since the charging method differs depending on the company, I have summarized the comparison focusing on the basic charge only. This is a comparison between My 050, which I chose, 050 plus and Skype which remained candidates until the end.
I chose "My 050" only by considering this basic fee comparison (as I will not make a call so much).
050 Services Remained in The Final Candidates
050 plus
This is 050 service provided by NTT Resonant.
As a group company of NTT, you may feel more secure than other 050 services.
The monthly basic charge is 330 yen including tax, so it's not that expensive, but the annual basic charge is 3,960 yen.
Considering the call charges and universal service charges, I decided that "My 050" would be more advantageous in the long run.
Skype
You can also get 050 numbers from Microsoft's Skype. This might be a most popular solution for English speakers.
The base price is $2.95 if you pay monthly, $8.41 (5% off) if you pay every 3 months, and $23.60 (33% off) if you pay every 12 months.
I used to use Skype (without a 050 number) a lot both at work and privately, so I was thinking of signing up for Skype at first, but I gave up because of two problems.
I think I would have signed a contract if I had been a little more cool about the following points. Good luck Microsoft.
- The payment term cannot be changed later.
- At first, I wanted to make a one-month contract, and if I could use it without problems, I wanted to pay for 12 months, but it seems that I can't change it later. It seems necessary to cancel once (give up the 050 number) and make a new contract. I don't really understand it, but it seems to be such a rule. (Please correct me if I misinterpreted.)
- My phone number is not displayed to the other party. (Skype does not support caller identification in Japan. This is avaiable in some other countries such as US, UK, etc.)
- This point also bothered me. The other services listed on this page will display your phone number to the person to call.
Regarding the first point above, please refer to the answer to the question "Can I change my Skype monthly plan?" on the following page.
Other 050 services considered
LaLa Call
I was considering it as one of the options because I saw some information that says the basic monthly fee is 110 yen. Cheap.
But the site says "Persons other than eo/mineo subscribers and family members cannotapply currently".
I think that people who meet the conditions can be considered as one of the options, but I didn't fit...
SMARTalk
This is a service provided by Rakuten Mobile, but they stop accepting new applications from October 8, 2020.
It was one of the candidates because the basic fee is free. So it will be free unless you does not make a call. However unfortunately I could not apply.
Rakuten Mobile is trying to spread Rakuten Link on Rakuten's mobile phone, so I wonder if the SMARTalk service will be reduced in balance with that.
