世論 What Japan Thinks

I hesitate to post this survey as I already get about one dud trackback per day (fortunately eaten by Spam Karma) from a couple of dodgy MFA (Made For Adsense) RSS scrapers from articles on the topic of reducing phone bills, but I will place my faith in the power of karma! So, here goes with a report from MyVoice on the subject of mobile phone bills.

Demographics

Over the first five days of September 2007 13,789 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample was female, 2% in their teens, 18% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 27% in their forties, and 14% in their fifties.

I used to have the DoCoMo Packet Back discount, but I didn’t use enough packets to make it worthwhile so I cancelled it. Wifey has the all-you-can-eat deal, and despite prodding, she is not using it enough to get her money’s worth out of it; in fact she ended up spending more money buying MP3 ringtones, 100 yen for a thirty-second clip! I’ll have to search out software that allows you to import audio from SD cards so I can rip music myself.

Research results

Q1: Who is your mobile service provider? If you have a number of them, which do you use the most? (Sample size=13,789)

DoCoMo	43.1%
au	28.5%
SoftBank	20.4%
WILLCOM	2.4%
Other	0.4%
Don’t use one (to end of questionnaire)	5.2%

Q2: About how much per month on average do you spend on your own mobile phone bill? (Sample size=mobile phone users)

Up to 3,000 yen	20.8%
3,001 to 5,000 yen	34.3%
5,001 to 8,000 yen	25.1%
8,001 to 10,000 yen	10.5%
10,001 to 15,000 yen	5.6%
15,001 to 20,000 yen	1.3%
20,001 to 25,000 yen	0.4%
25,001 to 30,000 yen	0.2%
31,000 yen or more	0.4%
Don’t really know	1.3%
No answer	0.1%

Q3: Who pays your mobile phone bill? (Sample size=mobile phone users)

Myself	76.0%
Someone else	23.3%
No answer	0.7%

I presume that for housewives (and househusbands, if such a thing exists in Japan) paying from the family budget counts as paying yourself, as it does for the husbands who delegate all money issues to their wives.

Q4: Financially speaking, do you find your mobile phone bill a burden? (Sample size=mobile phone users)

Extremely burdensome	7.2%
Somewhat burdensome	38.5%
Not really burdensome	40.9%
Not at all burdensome	8.4%
Can’t say either way	4.6%
No answer	0.3%

Q5: Which of the following mobile phone billing plans are you contracted with? (Sample size=mobile phone users, multiple answer)

日本語	English	Carrier	Percentage
ファミリー割引	Fami-wari; discount for multiple handsets on the same bill	DoCoMo	38.0%
いちねん割引	Ichinen discount; discount for long-term users	DoCoMo	30.5%
家族割引	Family discount; discount for multiple handsets on the same bill	au	22.8%
年割	One-year discounted subscription; discount for long-term users	au	20.1%
パケ・ホーダイ、パケ・ホーダイフル	Pake-hodai, pake-hodai full; flat-rate unlimited data packets	DoCoMo	11.3%
無期限くりこし	Indefinite-period carry over; unused discount minutes, etc, from previous months are carried over indefinitely	au	11.0%
ダブル定額ライト	Double teigaku light; fixed-price unlimited data packets	au	9.2%
ゆうゆうコール	Yu yu call; discount voice calls to five designated numbers	DoCoMo	8.7%
My割	My wari; single person discount (the plan may have recently been superceded by 誰でも割/”Everybody discount”)	au	8.7%
パケットバック	Packet Pack; low-cost data packets	DoCoMo	8.4%
ホワイト家族24	White plan family discount 24; free calls to family members’ mobile phones	SoftBank	7.1%
パケットし放題	Unlimited packet discount; fixed-price unlimited data packets	SoftBank	5.7%
スーパーボーナス	Super bonus; various limited-duration free services for new customers	SoftBank	5.0%
ダブル定額	Double teigaku; fixed-price unlimited data packets when using full browser	au	4.9%
au→自宅割	au -> my home discount; discount voice calls to home fixed line	au	4.4%
指定額	Call designation discount; discount voice calls to up to three numbers	au	4.2%
ひとりでも割	Hitoridemo; single person discount	DoCoMo	3.8%
パケット割	Packet discount; discount on data packet transmission charges	au	3.1%
Wホワイト	Double white; half-price off-peak calls to all mobile phones	SoftBank	2.6%
ガク割	Student discount; discounts for people in secondary and tertiary education	au	0.8%
ワイドサポート	Wide support; discounts for children and seniors	au	0.4%
スマイルハート	Smile-heart discount; disabled person discount	au	0.3%
	Other		9.4%
	Don’t know		5.1%
	No answer		0.8%

I’ve used the names of the plans as stated on the English-language version of the carriers’ sites.

Q6: How well do you understand the details of your mobile phone billing plans? (Sample size=mobile phone users)

Understand well	14.5%
Understand to some degree	55.3%
Don’t really understand	21.4%
Barely understand	5.8%
Can’t say either way, don’t know	2.3%
No answer	0.6%

Q7: How did you come to decide on the mobile phone billing plans that you are contracted with? (Sample size=mobile phone users, multiple answer)

Pamphlet	34.0%
Service provider web site	33.7%
Advice from service provider’s shop staff	32.1%
Advice from electronics shop’s staff	15.4%
Television, radio, station, in-train or other advertising	12.9%
Family, friends, or word of mouth	11.5%
Mobile phone price comparision web site	6.3%
Magazine, newspaper column	4.4%
Television program	1.5%
Other	3.9%
Don’t know	5.1%
No answer	0.2%

There was a final question asking what people do to help make their mobile phone bill more affordable. Some of the interesting answers were foregoing a can of coffee each day, renting or just not buying CDs, cutting back on other luxuries like booze, clothes shopping or cakes, cancelling satellite pay channel contracts, and walking instead of getting the bus!