Which network in Japan covers the area around Mt Fuji best?

Mt Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture

How five networks cover Mt Fuji differently

In this post I would like to do a quick research on which network has the best signal on and around "Mt. Fuji."  

Mt Fuij is one of the most popular destinations in summer for foreign visitors in Japan. If you have a mobile internet access, you can do the following things on the day you climb;

• use a map app to check your route
• check the weather
• look up a train or bus schedule
• check where you are by GPS
• book a mountain hut
• stay in touch with your friends and family while you are climbing
• take a selfie and send it real time even to overseas
• look up, watch or upload a YouTube video 
• most importantly call for rescue if needed

you can do it. But you have to be careful which network to use.

I have compared the five mobile networks of Japan, Docomo, Softbank, Y! mobile, au, WiMax, to see how their coverage will be different.  You will see a screenshot of the coverage of each network down below.

My Conclusion

There are many different wifi router models even from the same network. I tried to choose one of their newer models you can rent for this comparison.

Best: au, Docomo
Good: Softbank, Y! mobile
Worst: WiMax

If I were to choose a network to use to climb Mt. Fuji, I would choose Docomo over au (it rhymes with hey-you) .  The reason is that Docomo plans provide 2 times more data per a day than au plans I could find.

Interested in Climbing Mt. Fuji?
For Mt. Fuji Official Site in English, click here.
Mt. Fuji map(pdf)

Connectivity around Mt. Fuji by au (Service Area Map)

Top of Mt Fuji is covered by 4G LTE

au is known to have a great connectivity in remote areas as well as cities.  We can tell that even the top of Mt Fuji is covered by 4G LTE.

With au, you should be able to access the internet from the trailhead at Gotemba/Subashiriguchi 5th station all the way to the top of the mountain.

For this au service area map, click here. (Updated periodically.)

To rent an au mobile wifi router, click here(in Japanese).

by Docomo

East side of Mt Fuji is well covered by LTE

Docomo covers the area sort of patchy. But it's a good network to use if you climb Mt Fuji from the east(=Subashiri trailhead) as the top of the mountain is well covered by fast LTE.

They have launched a new faster 4G LTE Premium recently.

For this docomo service area map, click here. (Updated periodically.)

To rent a Docomo mobile wifi router, click here(in Japanese).

by Softbank

Southern side of Mt Fuji has faster connection

Softbank covers all the way around Mt Fuji except for the very top of the mountain.  This network appears to be offering a great service for the people climbing the mountain from the south(=Fujinomiya area).  But unfortunately the top of the mountain is not covered yet, looks like!

If you have a new equipment, such as iPhones 6/6 plus or later, which communicates over the newest Wi-Fi Standard IEEE 802.11ac, try one of their  latest wifi routers such as "501HW" or "303ZT."

For this Softbank service area map, click here. (Updated periodically.)

To rent Softbank wifi routers, click here 【WiFiレンタル.com】 (in Japanese).

by Y!mobile

Y!mobile used to be called emobile, but now the company was merged into Softbank in 2012. That's way their service is very similar to Softbank's. Just different wordings.

For this Y!mobile service area map, click here. (Updated periodically.)

To rent the latest mobile wifi router from Y!mobile , click here (in Japanese). 

by WiMax (UQ)

No WiMax signal on the mountain area

WiMax(including WiMax 2+) has very poor connection if it's away from cities.  That's why some WiMax plans are combined with au network.

WiMax is fast (up to 220MHz download, and now even faster) and handy only if you are in a city.

For this WiMax service area map, click here. (Updated periodically.)