Posted on October 11, 2011 November 9, 2011 Categories apple, internet, japanTags ads, iphone, softbank13 Comments on Is Softbank’s new iPad 2 campaign worth it?
So it was the news of the day: Someone managed to activate tethering on an AT&T iPhone 3G by means of a “carrier support file”, a.k.a. “ipcc”. Here in Japan, the story was a bit more tricky : Softbank declared that they would not support tethering on their network and had no plans to do so in the future either.
Nice! So, with those brand new Macbook Pro without any pc express card slot, how are we supposed to use Softbank’s data cards? This bothered me to no end thus I went on a search for a Softbank carrier support file that I could modify somehow. I stumbled onto this very interesting post on a Japanese blog that talked about the same thing, but with a beta version of the iPhone OS 3.0.
OK, well, doesn’t hurt to try with the official release, right?
Update: This IPCC file does not work with 3.1 update. If you value your tethering, do not upgrade yet.
Amazon.co.jp has on shelf a battery upgrade kit which will enable you – if you are ok with thrusting an exacto knife into your iPhone’s entrails in cold blood – to change your battery with a new 1600mAh one (compared with 1150mAh for the original).
Bring your Gaikokujin Torokusho (Alien Card) + Passport. It seems they now require the passport too.
If you’re on a 90 days tourist visa, no soup (or iPhone) for you!
Update: as John points out in the comments, if you have a Japanese health insurance card or driver’s licence accompanied by a utility bill to your name, then this should suffice and Softbank’s people should not ask you for anything else. That’ll help quite a bit.