>Indeed, but at least in the UK and other EU countries operators
>are obliged to unlock the phone (for a fee) after your initial
>contract period has ended.
>There is no such obligation in Japan and the operators won't do it.
Are you sure that's true? Surely the terms which you are given (leased) the phone dictate whether the supplier has to unlock it. You would have to read all the legal documents of each supplier to find out exactly where they stand.
>but the way the Japanese bureaucrats tick, they are more likely to
>issue a first number in order to get a second number which then
>allows you to submit your application. Go figure.
Well, it's their country isn't it?
>However, I don't think anybody who's been living in Japan for a few years >would find this sort of thing unusual.
I find it really silly how people that have "been living in Japan for a few years" whine and whine about their "situation". Take that arsehat debito as the greatest example of that. Japan isn't all that different from any other country it's just the majority of people that move to Japan have no experience of living anywhere outside their home country and expect Japan to jump hurdles to accommodate the less than 2% of population that aren't Japanese.
Bottom line; If you don't like what the operators do to hardware before they lease it to you in Japan either A: move somewhere else B: learn some Japanese and buy a shiro-rom phone.
Register
@AC
>Indeed, but at least in the UK and other EU countries operators
>are obliged to unlock the phone (for a fee) after your initial
>contract period has ended.
>There is no such obligation in Japan and the operators won't do it.
Are you sure that's true? Surely the terms which you are given (leased) the phone dictate whether the supplier has to unlock it. You would have to read all the legal documents of each supplier to find out exactly where they stand.
>but the way the Japanese bureaucrats tick, they are more likely to
>issue a first number in order to get a second number which then
>allows you to submit your application. Go figure.
Well, it's their country isn't it?
>However, I don't think anybody who's been living in Japan for a few years >would find this sort of thing unusual.
I find it really silly how people that have "been living in Japan for a few years" whine and whine about their "situation". Take that arsehat debito as the greatest example of that. Japan isn't all that different from any other country it's just the majority of people that move to Japan have no experience of living anywhere outside their home country and expect Japan to jump hurdles to accommodate the less than 2% of population that aren't Japanese.
Bottom line; If you don't like what the operators do to hardware before they lease it to you in Japan either A: move somewhere else B: learn some Japanese and buy a shiro-rom phone.