[Important Notes] Reviewing LINE Mobile’s New SoftBank Network

This time, I’ll be covering LINE Mobile’s new SoftBank network, which launched in addition to the existing Docomo network after LINE Mobile began borrowing SoftBank’s infrastructure.

About LINE Mobile’s SoftBank Network

LINE Mobile and SoftBank signed a capital and business alliance on March 20, 2018. Online speculation suggested LINE Mobile might become a SoftBank-exclusive MVNO, but the official announcement on July 2 revealed that LINE Mobile would operate as an MVNO using both Docomo and SoftBank networks.

The SoftBank network launched with the slogan “Making budget smartphones the fastest” — a tagline reminiscent of a certain other carrier (FREETEL) — aiming to gain an edge over other MVNOs (excluding UQ mobile).

They’ve taken an aggressive stance, promising to give all users 1GB of free data if speeds ever drop below 1Mbps.

However, LINE Mobile’s signature “Data Free” feature (formerly “Count Free”), which exempts social media apps from data consumption, won’t be available on the SoftBank network until fall. In the meantime, they’re doubling data allowances through September as compensation.

Apologies for the somewhat scattered writing — let’s move on to the next section.

Ordering and Shipping

The ordering process follows the same flow as before. At the beginning, you can choose between the “Docomo network” and the “SoftBank network,” so simply select your preferred option there.

After completing the application, you’ll receive a confirmation email followed by a shipping notification.

One important note: the shipping carrier has been changed from Yamato Transport (Kuroneko Yamato) to Sagawa Express.

With Sagawa Express, you can’t pick up at convenience stores or use delivery lockers like you could with Yamato Transport, so please keep that in mind.

You can call Sagawa Express to change the delivery to a branch pickup, but unlike Yamato, Sagawa has consolidated its relay points and has significantly fewer branch locations.

If you want to switch to branch pickup, think carefully before making the change.

Unboxing

As mentioned earlier, shipments previously used Yamato’s compact delivery boxes, but now they come via Sagawa Express.

It’s unclear at this point whether only SoftBank network orders ship via Sagawa or if Docomo network orders have switched too, so if you were counting on convenience store pickup, you might want to reconsider.

Here’s what the package looks like. Pretty standard.

I don’t think an invoice was included with previous orders, but they’ve started including one now.

Here’s the SoftBank version SIM card. Unlike Docomo MVNO SIMs, this one has the SoftBank logo properly printed on it.

Speed Tests

Let’s take a look at the speed test results.

Test Conditions

Test device: Apple iPhone X

Test times: Morning, Noon, Evening, Late Night (morning results will be added later if I manage to wake up early enough)

Test apps: “Speedtest.net Speed Test,” “RBB TODAY SPEED TEST,” “4Gmark,” “Google Internet Speed Test”

Results

Noon (13:00)

LINE Mobile — SoftBank Network

LINE Mobile — Docomo Network

au MNO Network

Evening (19:00)

LINE Mobile — SoftBank Network

LINE Mobile — Docomo Network

au MNO Network

Late Night (24:00)

LINE Mobile — SoftBank Network

LINE Mobile — Docomo Network

au MNO Network

Average Speeds by Time

Noon (13:00)

Evening (19:00)

Late Night (24:00)

Verdict

At this point, the speeds are impressively fast. In some cases, they even surpass au’s native MNO network. During the 1 PM time slot, it’s actually faster than au’s MNO.

However, keep in mind that this is only at the “current stage” when subscriber numbers are still low. When LINE Mobile’s Docomo network first launched years ago, it was also blazing fast — but that’s no longer the case, as the results show.

The Docomo network is barely maintaining usable speeds, and there’s a very real possibility the same thing could happen to the SoftBank network.

That said, while LINE Mobile isn’t a SoftBank “sub-brand,” it is under SoftBank’s umbrella, and they’ve made “fastest in the industry” their slogan, so speeds likely won’t drop below usable levels.

I plan to continue monitoring the speed situation and will write a follow-up article if things start to decline.

Update:

Recently, there have been many reports on Twitter about speed degradation, so I ran my own tests again.

Sure enough, speeds have dropped significantly, with many time periods falling below 1Mbps. For a service that declared an “MVNO Fastest Challenge,” these speeds are borderline false advertising.

LINE Mobile officially stated:

They’ve issued this statement, but it remains to be seen how things actually play out.

I’ll be keeping an eye on future developments.