Are you exhausted by choosing a data pack plan?
If you only have a smartphone or tablet and don't have a PC or rarely use it, you will probably mainly use mobile lines such as LTE. Recently, carrier data plans have become larger and cheaper, so there is certainly the idea that this is sufficient.
However, the problem is the speed limit after the data plan capacity is used up. Especially if you subscribe to video services such as Hulu, dTV, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and watch movies, dramas, animations, etc., if it is a few GB, it will be exhausted for a few days, even if it is a plan such as 20 GB or 50 GB, it will be exhausted at the end of the month. It often happens that it gets stuck. If the speed limit is applied, you will not be able to watch the video, and it will be difficult to post and receive photos on SNS, which will limit what you can do. If you are under restrictions many times, you should review your data plan, but if you go up one plan, it can be several thousand yen higher, so it's hard to think about it.
No matter how much you increase the upper limit, if you watch a lot of videos, the limit will soon approach.Especially when wireless LAN is not available at home, it is easy to reach the upper limit
If you want to watch the video outdoors to your heart's content, you have to change the data plan, but if you mainly watch at home, it is recommended to connect an optical line and enjoy the video using wireless LAN. Especially if you live alone, it seems expensive to have an optical line at home, but the monthly fee is around 5,000 yen. If you can watch the video without hesitation, you can feel more secure than increasing the data plan.
Reduce monthly charges with MVNO's cheap SIM and optical line
If you simply add an optical line, the amount you pay each month will be high, but you can suppress this increase by reviewing the plan. First, let's take a look at the main plans of the three major carriers.
| Price (excluding tax) for each data plan, including basic plan and internet connection | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Data plan | NTT DoCoMo | au | Softbank |
| 30GB | ¥ 10,000 | ¥ 10,000 | ¥ 10,000 |
| 20GB | 8000 yen | 8000 yen | 8000 yen |
| 5GB | 7,000 yen | 7,000 yen | 7,000 yen |
| 3GB | - | 6200 yen | - |
| 2GB | 5500 yen | - | - |
| 1GB | - | 4900 yen | 4900 yen |
This is the total amount (all tax excluded) for each data plan when the basic flat-rate call plan of 1700 yen and the Internet connection service of 300 yen are added. There is a slight difference in the low capacity plan of 1 to 3 GB, but basically all carriers have mysteriously side by side.
If the capacity is insufficient with the 20GB plan, it will be increased to 30GB, but the difference at this time is 2000 yen. If the usage of the optical line is about 5,000 yen, the difference from the 30GB plan will be 3,000 yen. This alone still feels expensive, but if you try to reduce outdoor video playback as much as possible and watch it at home, you can lower the plan to 5GB or even lower. If you have 2GB a month, there is no problem checking net news or using SNS. Of course, if you use it frequently, you may get caught in the speed limit, but for these purposes, even if the speed slows down, it will not have much effect, so it is a good idea to take the plunge and make it the bottom plan.
Let's take DoCoMo's charge as an example and consider the case where the plan is reduced to 2GB. In this case, the monthly charge will be 10,500 yen, which is the plan charge of 5,500 yen plus the optical line of 5,000 yen. With this, it is a calculation that an optical line with no data upper limit can be used. On the other hand, if the plan is expanded to 30GB, it will be 2000 yen plus and the monthly fee will be 10,000 yen, which is almost the same. Unless you use it outdoors very often, you can get an optical line at home just by reviewing the plan.
If you want to keep the price down, you can take the plunge and move to a cheap SIM. Prices vary from company to company, but let's take "IIJmio" as an example. The 3GB plan with a call costs 1600 yen, and even if you add the all-you-can-call option, it costs 2200 yen, so even if you add 5000 yen for the optical line, it will be much less than 10,000 yen. Rather, I am surprised that it will be cheaper than choosing the 20GB plan with the original three major carriers.
As an example of a cheap SIM, the charge for IIJmio's "Miophone".If you don't include all-you-can-call, you can use calls and data (3GB) for only 1600 yen.
If you want to make it even cheaper, you can also contract an optical line with a provider as a set. It is cheaper than contracting separately, and there may be a discount on mobile phone charges as a unique benefit, so there is no loss if you check it.
How should I choose the essential wireless LAN router? Here is the key to choosing the best product for your smartphone!
Avoid the crowded 2.4GHz and give priority to 5GHz compatible wireless LAN routers
A wireless LAN router is required when trying to use an optical line with a wireless LAN. It is good to choose a rental router with a wireless LAN function when you sign up for an optical line, but be careful if the rental fee is high. If you use it for a long time, it may be cheaper to purchase it yourself. Also, I'm worried that the performance cannot be selected with a rental router. For example, if you want the latest 4x4 router with an emphasis on speed, you can't choose it unless it is available for rental. If you want to stick to wireless LAN or feel that the rental fee is high, you should buy a wireless LAN router yourself.
The first thing to check when choosing this wireless LAN router is that you can use 2.4GHz and 5GHz at the same time. Not only PCs and smartphones, but also cameras, TVs, HDD recorders, game consoles, and everything else is equipped with wireless LAN. Nowadays, the number of devices that support 5GHz is increasing, but many entry models and older products only have 2.4GHz. Therefore, 2.4GHz is much more crowded than 5GHz.
Check with the app "WiFi Analyzer" that displays the status of wireless LAN.You can see that 2.4GHz is extremely crowded just by displaying it in the house.
If it is a wireless LAN router that supports both, it will be possible to use it more comfortably because it can be divided into roles such as using the relatively free 5GHz as the main and using the old device at 2.4GHz. In terms of characteristics, 2.4GHz reaches farther, but it is difficult to connect in a particularly crowded place such as an apartment house, and the speed may slow down.
11ac with excellent high speed and connection stability
Compared to 2.4GHz, 5GHz is often vacant, so it has the advantage that it can be used comfortably, especially during busy hours such as evening to night. There are 11n and 11ac as wireless LANs that use this 5GHz, but 11n is 150Mbps ~, while 11ac is 433Mbps ~, which is advantageous in terms of speed.
Another advantage of 11ac is that it supports "beamforming". This is because the wireless LAN router grasps the position of the communication partner and sends the optimum radio wave to it to stabilize and speed up the communication.
Of course, no matter how good 11ac is, it is meaningless unless not only the wireless LAN router but also the terminal side supports it. Taking smartphones as an example, iPhone is compatible with 6 or later, and many high-end models released recently such as Xperia XZ and Galaxy S7 edge are compatible. On the contrary, the entry model may be limited to 2.4GHz, so I would like to thoroughly investigate which standard my smartphone supports.
Spec example on iPhone 7. You can see that it corresponds firmly to 11ac. Even on Android, many smartphones support 11ac for middle to high end.
Even if your smartphone does not support 11ac, it is very likely that the next smartphone you will replace will support 11ac. For that reason, if you buy a wireless LAN router now, you should choose a model that supports 11ac.
You can set up a wireless LAN router with just your smartphone!
The only thing I'm worried about when I have only a smartphone is setting up a wireless LAN router. Especially if you have set up an old wireless LAN router, you will have a strong impression that there are many setting items and it is troublesome. It was common knowledge to first connect a PC with a wired LAN, set up a wireless LAN router, and then finally connect to a wireless LAN terminal. But now this setting is also very easy. If you have an app for your smartphone, you can set up all your wireless LAN routers without using a PC.
However, to start the setup, you must first connect your WiFi router to your smartphone. A convenient function that can be used at this time is a connection using a QR code. It is necessary to install a dedicated application on the smartphone, but it is very convenient because you can set the wireless LAN connection just by reading it.
I'm using TP-LINK's "Tether". Various settings can be made from the menu at the bottom right.Many recent routers have a smartphone app for setting.
To connect using the QR code with Buffalo's "WSR-2533DHP", use the dedicated app "QR Setup". Just read the QR code and you will be able to connect via wireless LAN
Also, although it is not supported on the iPhone, it is often possible to use a simple connection using "WPS" on Android. If you are using an Android smartphone, you want to actively use it because the connection setting is completed just by pressing the button on the wireless LAN router side.
For Android with WPS connection, open the menu from the WiFi setting screen and select "WPS Push".Then it will be in the state of waiting for WPS connection
If you want to use WPS with TP-LINK's "Archer C7", press the "WPS / Reset" button on the far right of the back.It's so easy to connect to your smartphone
You don't need a dedicated app to use WPS, so it's easy to connect from a smartphone that doesn't have a SIM.
Of course, even if you don't have these functions, you can set up by manually connecting to the wireless LAN and calling the router setting screen from the browser, but it is much easier to use the app. If you choose a wireless LAN router on the premise of using a smartphone, you want to choose an 11ac wireless LAN router that supports the settings from the app.
