Using a G1 Android phone with a prepaid Softbank SIM
Here is a short guide on how to keep on using your Android handset without bothering with the pesky Japanese prepaid phones. You can buy a flatrate for your “EMails” which are actually forwarded MMS for 315 Yen a month. Here are the settings for it to work (note that you can NOT use the regular internet with a softbank prepaid):
Settings — Wireless Controls — Mobile Networks — Access Point Names — Menu Button — New APN:
Name it whatever suits you.
APN: mailwebservice.softbank.ne.jp
Proxy: leave blank
Port: leave blank
Username:softbank
Password:qceffknarlurqgbl
Server:leave blank
MMSC:http://mms/
MMS Proxy: sbmmsproxy.softbank.ne.jp
MMS Port:8080
MCC:440
MNC:20
APN type:either “mms” or leave blank doesnt make a difference with prepaid
Menu Button: Save
Now you have to open the messaging app and go to settings, scoll down to custom user agent and choose to enter your own custom string and enter:
Vodafone/1.0/V802SE/SEJ002 Browser/VF-Netfront/3.3 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1
That’s it. You should be able to send Emails from your messaging app to any email address. This does work with HandcentSMS as well. Couln’t confirm ChompSMS. To recieve HTML-Emails you might have to download an app to save MMS-attachments. Bothersome but well worth it.
Edit:
For some users this seems to have worked better:
Name: Open Softbank
APN: mailwebservice.softbank.ne.jp
Proxy:
Port:
username: softbank
Password: qceffknarlurqgbl
Server:
MMSC: sbmmsproxy.softbank.ne.jp
MMS Port: 8080
MCC: 440
MNC: 20
Authentication type: PAP
APN type: mms
The major difference is MMSC and MMSC Proxy. On my phone I leave the „MMS proxy“ field blank, and the proxy address from this article (sbmmsproxy.softbank.ne.jp) into the MMSC field. Hope this helps someone!
Sorry , Could you please point where is CUTOM USER AGENT setting? I could not find it on my HTC hero android 1.5
Start the “Messaging” app, press the menu button, press “settings” and scroll down the list to the bottom. It should say “Custom User-Agent”. Thats where you enter the information. If you use Handcent-Sms it should have the same option in its settings.
I’m running the newest Cyanogen and it COULD be an option only enabled in that particular mod. Can someone confirm?
Now the strangest thing just happened. Even without all the APN-Settings it started working beautifully. It seems, the user-string alone will do.
edit: actually thats just RECIEVING. Sending messages requires the APN-Settings for it to work.
Cyanogen – ?? Hmm that must be it, cause i browesd again and again and do not see Custom User Agend where you point out. Could you please let me know how to ge Cyanogen ? Can i install it on HERO HTC?
THANKS
Please refer to http://www.cyanogenmod.com for that. Have you tried installing HandcentSMS from the Market? That could include the User-Agent option.
Hi, thanks for this tutorial but I wasn’t able to make it work with my HTC MAGIC (unlocked) using prepaid from softbank, any idea? maybe apn settings changed or user agent is different.
Thanks so much
It worked for my HTC-Dream G1(unlocked). Here are some tips I found.
1. Uncheck “2G only” as Softbank doesn’t offer GSM.
2. Set WiFi off otherwise the phone attempts to connect to the proxy through your WiFi connection.
this article made my attempt to use Softbank prepaid on my android take waaaay longer to set up than it should have. The settings aren’t right, at least not for my Sony Xperia Play. This is what works for me, as gathered from other websites:
Name: Open Softbank
APN: mailwebservice.softbank.ne.jp
Proxy:
Port:
username: softbank
Password: qceffknarlurqgbl
Server:
MMSC: sbmmsproxy.softbank.ne.jp
MMS Port: 8080
MCC: 440
MNC: 20
Authentication type: PAP
APN type: mms
The major difference is MMSC and MMSC Proxy. On my phone I leave the “MMS proxy” field blank, and the proxy address from this article (sbmmsproxy.softbank.ne.jp) into the MMSC field. Hope this helps someone!
Thanks for the feedback. My original post is quite dated as it seems. Will update with your Info.
My previous post may not be all that correct… Yes, those are the settings I had working for me. A little experimentation has showed me that, in my case, the “MMSC” and “MMSC proxy” fields actually don’t even matter. I’ve since had mine work with settings as described in this article as well. There was one really important thing in my post though, which is the Authentication Type: PAP setting. When I had that set to “none”, it never worked.
Let me describe some more challenges I encountered. Keep in mind, I did this on a Sony Xperia Play. So I was trying to use the latest Softbank Mail app (version 2.1 I believe) from the App Market. It will actually work with these settings because it fakes the user agent, however the default messaging app will never work. However, there is a major bug which affects me in this 2.1 Softbank Mail app. Anytime my wifi was not both on and connected to a working connection, it refused to even attempt sending or receiving MMS! Which is crazy because MMS never uses the Wifi anyways. It’s the opposite problem from what many people were having with certain other Android phones and softbank mail, where MMS would only work if Wifi was turned off. This problem was solved by tracking down version 1.6 of Softbank Mail and installing that. It was a bit of a pain to do because you can’t get it from the Market. 1.6 seems better overall than 2.1, which is pretty terrible for some reason.
Yet another problem I’ve been having, which could be an Xperia Play issue, is that I often have to turn off my cellular data connection setting, and then turn it back on again, to get something to reset such that the MMS in the softbank mail app works. Seems like anytime I turn on the phone, MMS will not work until after I first turn off the data connection in my phone settings and then immediately turn it back on. So far, it seems though that once I do that, it will keep working so long as the phone remains on. Although, I haven’t seen what happens when the cellular signal cuts in and out, since I’ve been in one place with a strong signal doing all these tests. I’ll find out tomorrow… Anyway if you have an Xperia Play, hope this helps you figure out your problems.
On another note, I ran something called “Gingerbreak” to gain root access to my phone without even unlocking the bootloader. It was easy and worked great! I highly recommend that anyone with an Xperia Play give it a shot. Just be patient as it takes quite a while to do its thing (2-5 min), and quite a while for the reboot afterwards.
You can also download this app which was developed by Softbank
http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/smartphone/service/smail/