@FreeD - DoCoMo's Flat Rate Wireless Data Service Launched

DoCoMo's flat rate cards and packages, dubbed @FreeD, hit the market on Tuesday 1st April. The current cost is 4,680 yen/month ($39) until 30th June and then 4,880 yen. During this period there are no sign up charges. You also need to have an ISP which supports the service and to purchase one of the two cards available, which are about 6,000 or 8,000 yen.

In my experience, it took about an hour to activate the card after purchase as the activation centre was busy due to strong demand for the new product. No additional software or drivers were required for installation on my Pocket PC. Simply plug it in, configure the dial settings are you are done. After two days of use I'm very happy. Streaming live radio (e.g. from the Pocket PC page for the UK's Virgin Radio) works fine when stationary, and even when on a moving train it worked well until you enter a tunnel or other area were there is no signal. At this point the connection does not drop but goes into a sort of standby status and then is automatically re-established when there is a signal without the need to re-dial. Web surfing using Pocket IE works well and MSN and Yahoo! Messenger worked flawlessly.

Overall the value of such a card will depend on how much you will be using it, but it certainly makes a difference having a flat rate connected Pocket PC. Of course AirH" have had such cards available for some time and it wil be interesting to see performance comparisons. ZDNet Japan has done a number of reports and comparisons. (Japanese only).