KDDI will add new discounts and services to UQ mobile targeting low-capacity to medium-capacity users at a low price. The target is the 5G-compatible "Kurikoshi Plan + 5G" that will start on September 2. The discount is "Home Set Discount", and the new services are "World Data Flat-rate" and "Failure Loss Support" during international roaming. Neither is compatible with the current carry-over plan, which only supports 4G, but it will be available by switching to the new plan.
The first home set discount is a set discount with a very simple fixed line. Not only au Hikari provided by KDDI itself, but also CATV operators and K-Opticom's eo Hikari, it is attractive to be able to make a wide range of sets with non-NTT series fixed lines. Originally, au offered a set discount called "au Smart Value", but it will be easier to understand if you think of this UQ mobile version.
What is unique to UQ mobile is that even "au Denki" and "UQ Denki" can replace fixed lines. Originally, UQ mobile offered "Denki Set Discount" from June, but with the addition of a fixed line discount, the discount has been enhanced so that you can choose either course. It is not possible to apply "Denki" by superimposing a fixed line, but if electricity is contracted with another carrier and it is difficult to operate, it seems to be a nice service for users to have more discount options.
By the way, the charge when applying the home set discount is 990 yen for Plan S, 2090 yen for Plan M, and 2970 yen for Plan L. Ymobile, which can be said to be a competitor of UQ mobile, does not have the same discount, and even in the case of a family contract, the discount is applied only from the second line, so in the case of "I want to use cheaply from the first line", UQ mobile will be in charge. go up. Strictly speaking, it is difficult to compare because 1GB or less is free or you can use it for 3278 yen as much as you want, but the price is partially cheaper than Rakuten Mobile, which sells low prices, and the contractor I am convinced that the number is increasing.
New services such as world data flat rate and failure loss support will be added. What I would like to mention specially is the former world data flat rate. This is a service that allows you to use data roaming from 490 yen for 24 hours to 980 yen for 24 hours without reservation. Since the amount of data used is subtracted from the plan contracted by the user, you can use up to 3GB for 3GB Plan S and up to 15GB for 15GB Plan M. Originally, data roaming was limited to 2980 yen a day for all three major companies, but au was the first to introduce it in 2016 in response to the voice that it was "too expensive".
On the other hand, UQ mobile has been limited to voice calls and SMS for overseas use, so it is a big evolution to support data roaming. Only major carriers can properly roam overseas. Most MVNOs do not support data roaming when used overseas, which is a differentiating factor as a sub-brand of major carriers. Also, for some reason, SoftBank has a weak international roaming service and retains the old rate system, so I think it will be an advantage from the perspective of Ymobile. It's not immediately attractive because there are big restrictions on overseas travel, but it's a service that I definitely want to expect from After Corona.
So why are these new services only introduced in the "Kurikoshi Plan + 5G"? The answer seems to be "5G compatible". At first glance, 5G may seem unrelated to the set discount with fixed lines and the world data flat rate, but there is a strong relationship from the perspective of core network equipment.
Until now, UQ mobile has been an MNO with its own equipment, but it has also been somewhat MVNO-like. The communication speed is on par with au, probably because the bandwidth for connecting mutual equipment has been increased inexhaustibly. It's just an image, but I moved the MVNO equipment, which was located in a different place from the KDDI building, as if I had put it in the KDDI main building without changing the contents.
That is why data roaming itself was not possible, let alone the world data flat rate. In the case of MVNO, voice calls are only borrowed from major carriers wholesale, so even if you take them overseas, you can roam as a line for major carriers. On the other hand, because such a mechanism is adopted, overseas carriers can only distinguish DoCoMo's MVNO from DoCoMo, and it cannot be connected to the data communication equipment of the MVNO side. This also applies to UQ mobile, which was dragging the equipment as an MVNO.
The time when 5G was provided was different from that of au because there was a difference in equipment. Therefore, KDDI seems to have renewed the equipment in line with UQ mobile's 5G support, and at the same time, proceeded with support for various services that were left unloaded. It seems that this is also the reason why it is necessary to change the SIM card at the beginning and the price plan of the same amount is divided into 4G and 5G.
It seems that these technical circumstances are behind the fact that we were able to match au not only with the world data flat rate, but also with fixed line set discounts, trouble loss support, and YouTube Premium campaigns. In that sense, for UQ mobile, the start of 5G is the “true integration” with KDDI. It may be over-read, but it seems that such a meaning is included even when the CM of the three sisters, which has continued since the MVNO era, was renewed with the brand slogan of "Simple for everyone." I feel like.
