From our other sites
The story
NTT Docomo announced on September 25 that it will raise prices for its online-only “ahamo” plan starting December 1. This marks the first price increase since the service launched in March 2021. The “Extra Large” option, which previously let users add up to 110GB total to the base 30GB plan for an extra 4,950 yen a month, will be discontinued and replaced with a new three-tier structure: 40GB, over 40GB up to 60GB, and 120GB. The base plan will get a 10GB capacity boost along with a 165 yen price increase, bringing it to 3,135 yen. On 5ch, reactions mixed confused complaints (some assumed exceeding 40GB would automatically bump them to a pricier plan) with debate over whether people actually use 30-40GB a month, plus comparisons to rivals like Rakuten Mobile and povo.
NTT Docomo announced on September 25 that it will raise prices for its online-only “ahamo” plan starting December 1. The 30GB plan will get a 10GB capacity increase along with a 165 yen price hike, bringing it to 3,135 yen. This is ahamo’s first price increase since the service launched in March 2021.
Previously, the standalone ahamo plan (30GB) cost 2,970 yen, and with the “Extra Large” option included (110GB) it cost 4,950 yen. Under the new pricing, the Extra Large option will be discontinued. Both tiers get a 10GB capacity boost and a 165 yen price increase, becoming 3,135 yen (40GB) and 5,115 yen (120GB).
Additionally, a new middle tier — “over 40GB up to 60GB” (4,125 yen) — will be added between the 40GB and 120GB tiers, creating a three-tier structure. Pricing will be determined by actual data usage, and this will apply to existing subscribers as well.
Source: itmedia.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Used to be that going over 30GB just meant slower speeds.
There's this thing called the 'data cap option' —
does that mean you actually get cut off once you hit the cap?
Re: #67
Any customer with an active ahamo contract as of Sunday, November 1, 2026, will automatically have a 'data cap option' set starting Tuesday, December 1, 2026, which caps usable data at 40GB.
Nope, it won't fix a thing.
Exactly this. Doesn't connect at all underground or at big stations. The moment my kid canceled their kids' phone, that was it for us.
Watching video ads and stuff, easy, no problem.
You really don't need it.
I'm on some cheap SIM's unlimited-entertainment option, 3GB a month (6GB with rollover), for under 2,000 yen.
If you don't have Wi-Fi at home it might be necessary though.
I use 100GB a month.
Re: #48
Home Wi-Fi isn't free either, you know.
Got hit with that on my Credit Saison American Express card's 'annual fee free forever' deal.
I don't even have an actual Amex — I had a Seiyu card with a lifetime-free annual fee, but it expired ages ago so I already cut it up with scissors and tossed it.
Rate plan price changes have never required user consent — that's been the case forever.
paying
500 yen
a month
Aren't those basically unusable during the daytime though?
Are you streaming video or something?
That's also a price hike with no change in content.
This is probably the first time a legacy plan that's no longer available for new contracts has gotten a price increase.
Re: #88
I figured povo would be faster at midday, but it wasn't really any different. Used it a little for updates in the hundreds-of-megabytes range.
on J:COM Mobile
paying 1,100 yen
a month
If you can put up with the slow speed, that's fine I guess.
Wasn't that thing riddled with problems just the other day?
I get it if you're some idiot playing games while walking around, but still.
Even gaming doesn't use that much.
Probably watching YouTube in high quality, right?
A lot of young people run their entire internet life off their phone without using Wi-Fi even at home.
Two years ago I tried leaving 5channel ads playing nonstop for a month as a test — data usage came out to over 60GB.
Same thing happened with the ice cream industry getting busted for cartel behavior, huh.
They just want money.
I win.
I think so too, but I wonder if you can actually keep your phone bill cheap if you skip video streaming.
For home use, Rakuten really is unbeatable.
Speeds hold up reasonably well anywhere it has coverage, too.
100TB is roughly what you'd use streaming 4K video 24 hours a day for a month straight.
That would drastically shorten the lifespan of your PC, monitor, and so on, so total cost actually goes up.
Electricity alone would run maybe 6,000 yen — for that kind of use, fiber is the only sensible choice.
Feels like they might finally start charging a base fee soon.
I doubt it.
Do that and everyone would vanish overnight.
They already send a service-suspension notice if you go 180+ days without paying for a topping.
So running it effectively free with no ongoing payment isn't really sustainable long-term.
All they'd need to do is shorten that to 30+ days or add a spending requirement, and the problem's solved.
For that kind of use, Rakuten is unbeatable.
You know there was a guy who caused an accident watching cooking videos on YouTube while driving, right?
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
ahamo launched in March 2021 as NTT Docomo’s online-only plan, introduced in response to government pressure to lower mobile phone rates, and this marks its first price increase since launch. On the thread, worries that “going over 40GB automatically bumps you to the pricier 4,125 yen 60GB plan” stood out, but as the explanation quoted in post 128 shows, existing subscribers will simply have a “data cap option” automatically applied from December 1 — exceeding 40GB only triggers a speed throttle, not an automatic upgrade to a more expensive tier. In other words, the “sneaky price hike” many feared is unlikely to actually happen — a nuance that got lost in the flow of the thread. The main split in opinion came down to whether people actually use 30-40GB a month: video-heavy users and those without home Wi-Fi saw it as reasonable, while light users questioned whether the price hike was even necessary. There were also plenty of comparisons to rivals like Rakuten Mobile, povo, and mineo, reflecting broader awareness of pricing pressure across the budget carrier market.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News Plus) thread “[Telecom] ahamo’s First Price Hike: ‘Extra Large’ Option Scrapped, New 3-Tier 40GB/60GB/120GB Structure.”
Leave a Reply