IP: an answer to --: Any IP'ers in Japan willing to comment on this?: Japan rations new year mobile use

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Thu, 03 Jan 2002 06:05:12 +0900
> From: Naoki Yamamoto <naoki () matatabi com>
> To: dave () farber net
>
> >Date: Tue, 01 Jan 2002 15:09:04 -0800
> >From: Ari Ollikainen <Ari () OLTECO com>
> >Subject: Japan rations new year mobile use
> >X-Sender: ari () mail olteco com
> >To: farber () cis upenn edu
> >
> >         Any IP'ers in Japan willing to comment on this?
> >
> >Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1735000/1735365.stm
> >Monday, 31 December, 2001, 06:20 GMT
> >Japan rations new year mobile use
> >'Happy New Year' calls will be restricted Japanese mobile phone
> >companies are limiting access to their services over the new year.
> >
> >The firms fear that a surge in calls and text messages to pass on
> >new year greetings will paralyse their networks.
>
> I live in Japan and am a subscriber of NTTDoCoMo. Although I did not
> send any new year greetings from my i-mode handset, I was aware of
> those wireless operators ran many TV commercials asking the
> subscribers to refrain from calling or sending email from mobile
> phones during the very first hours on the new year day. It was true
> that the operators restricted the use of their services during that
> time period to avoid their networks to go down, but I think the word
> "ration" was a little bit too strong to describe the situation. We
> need to take Japanese culture/custom into account.
>
> The new year day is the most important holiday in Japan. We send a lot
> of postal greeting cards to relatives, friends, bosses, colleagues and
> clients as those who in the West send Christmas cards. However, there
> is a difference between Christmas cards and the Japanese new year
> greeting cards. The post office guarantees to deliver the new year
> greeting cards on the new year day if we mail those cards before a
> certain date in December. It is like a ritual for many of us to read
> the cards in the morning of the new year day. It is also considered as
> bad manners if your greeting cards arrives later.
>
> The younger generation, who cannot live without "Keitai" the mobile
> phones, has substituted the new year greeting cards with phone calls
> and short email messages from their mobile devices. They make 'Happy
> New Year' calls and exchange short new year messages among friends
> during the very early morning hours on the new year day. I guess that
> you've got to send those messages (which just say a happy new year) as
> soon as possible if you want to show them that they are important to
> you.
>
> According to the reports from some popular Japanese chat rooms, it was
> actually less than an hour for people to have had trouble connecting
> to the wireless networks. There seemed no restriction for DoCoMo's
> FOMA, the new 3G service because of its tiny subscriber population.
>
> I think it is O.K. or even necessary for the wireless operators to
> restrict the use of their networks for a short time if there is
> justification such as making a room for emergency communication in the
> time of disaster. However, the new year day's spike in the mobile
> phone usage is something those operators have been anticipated and can
> prepare for it. IMHO, instead of spending big money on those TV spots,
> they should have increased the network capacities.
>
> Also, there are some easy measures that the operators should take to
> ease the new year day network congestion. For example, some operators
> doesn't allow BCC in their email, therefore people have to write and
> sent a message to each receiver -- it would strain the mail servers
> unnecessary. Some of the operators offer a service to deliver email
> messages at a preset date and time. They should publicise the service
> more and make people to use it for the new year greetings.
>
> Naoki
> --
> Naoki Yamamoto <naoki () matatabi com> in Yokohama, Japan
> Matatabi Digital Industry Report <http://www.matatabi.com>
> Gpg Fingerprint = B2A7 2A11 C50B DCC4 83EB  9311 607A FAE9 386B F070
> Public Key available from <http://www.matatabi.com/naoki_pubkey.html>

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