Lawrence Lessig/blog/2002/11/13/0949/1

responds to::Lawrence Lessig/blog/2002/11/13/0949 when posted::November 13, 2002 6:08 PM author::Chris Yu Yes, it's open for DSL but you must participate in the phone company's monopoly. Sadly, DSL in Japan still requires you to pay NTT (the national phone monopoly) the base rate for the residential phone line (about $700 flat fee plus monthlies and per minute charges on every call irregardless of distance) or the rental of a line. For those of us who decide not to pay it and go wireless, we need to buy "Type 2 DSL" which includes a monopoly fee of about $20/mo additional to NTT for which you receive nothing in return.

It's better than one company offering DSL but not quite free of the bell-heads yet.