Home fibre in Japan: 5 for working from a flat

Home internet in a Japan apartment: all five support IPv6, priced as a two-year total
NURO Hikari is fastest at 946 Mbps down but covers only some regions
GMO and en Hikari have no minimum term; en Hikari is cheapest over two years

The five

Best for	Where to get it	Score	Two-year total, flat
Fastest measured, and first for speed in the satisfaction survey — if you can’t decide	NURO Hikari Get it	84/100	¥114,770 (two-year total, flat)
No lock-in, router included, no mobile contract required	GMO Tokutoku BB Hikari Get it	79/100	¥101,260 (two-year total, flat)
The cheapest two years here, with no lock-in	en Hikari Get it	78/100	¥89,232 (two-year total, flat)
The quickest NTT-based line here, and it cuts an au or UQ mobile bill	BIGLOBE Hikari Get it	76/100	¥108,372 (two-year total, flat)
KDDI’s own network, second for speed satisfaction	au Hikari Get it	75/100	¥111,870 (two-year total, flat)

These are Japanese services. Where a plan needs a Japanese address, a bank account or a residence card, we say so on the row itself.

Fastest measured, and first for speed in the satisfaction survey

NURO Hikari

Sony’s own fibre network, not a line rented from NTT
946 Mbps down and 779 Mbps up over three months, with the lowest latency
Covers only parts of Hokkaido, Kanto, Tokai, Kansai, Chugoku and Kyushu
Smaller buildings need two separate installation visits

See plans and prices→

Why it made the five

Fastest average download and upload of anything here
First in Oricon 2026 for single-occupant households and for speed and stability
Up to 2.5 Gbps on the standard plan
A cheap mobile router to borrow for up to two months while you wait
Right for: Video calls and large files, where speed comes first.
Not for: Needing it working soon, or living outside the coverage area.
Worth knowing: A three-year contract. Installation is written off over 36 months, so leaving at two years costs about ¥18,300 plus the exit fee. The two-year discount ends at month 24 and the price rises. Check coverage before anything else.

Score breakdown — 84/100

Criterion	Stars	Why
Quality	★★★★★	946.11 Mbps down, 778.79 up, 11.43 ms ping across 709,874 measurements — the fastest and the most responsive here
Value for money	★★★☆☆	¥114,770 over two years in a building under 40 units; ¥90,770 in a larger one
Easy to live with	★★★☆☆	36-month term, ¥3,643 to leave; two installation visits in buildings under 40 units
Trust	★★★★★	66.3 overall in Oricon 2026 (second), and first for single-occupant households, flats, and speed and stability
Only here	★★★★★	Its own network rather than NTT’s, 2.5 Gbps as standard, and a loan router until it is live

No lock-in, router included, no mobile contract required

GMO Tokutoku BB Hikari

NTT-based service: plug it in, nothing to configure
Averaged 595 Mbps down over three months

See plans and prices→

Why it made the five

No minimum term and no exit fee, whenever you leave
IPv6 as standard at no extra charge, with a Wi-Fi router lent free
The same price whoever your mobile operator is
Installation date confirmed by email within two or three days
Right for: Being on a budget SIM with no bundle to claim, or wanting to leave when you like.
Not for: Wanting a mobile bundle discount.
Worth knowing: Installation is written off over 36 months, so leaving at two years costs about ¥8,400. Weekend and public-holiday installation surcharges are not covered.

Score breakdown — 79/100

Criterion	Stars	Why
Quality	★★★★☆	595.03 Mbps down, 473.71 up, 19.39 ms ping
Value for money	★★★★☆	¥101,260 over two years: ¥4,290 × 24 plus ¥3,300 set-up, less ¥5,000 cash back
Easy to live with	★★★★★	No term and no exit fee: the maximum
Trust	★★★☆☆	A highly-rated company in Oricon 2026 (60 or above; score not published). Operated by GMO Internet
Only here	★★★★☆	IPv6 at no charge and a free router that becomes yours after three years, with no mobile tie-in at all

The cheapest two years here, with no lock-in

en Hikari

Another NTT-based service
Averaged 578 Mbps down, in line with the big resellers

See plans and prices→

Why it made the five

The lowest two-year total here, with installation currently free
No minimum term and no cancellation charge
A discount for customers on UQ mobile, povo or ahamo, on application
Installation date arranged within two working days
Right for: Keeping the monthly cost down, and being comfortable setting up a router.
Not for: Wanting the reassurance of a survey ranking or heavy support.
Worth knowing: IPv6 is a ¥198 option you must order, or you will not get it, and you must supply an IPv6-capable Wi-Fi router. Free installation is a promotion — check it still applies when you order.

Score breakdown — 78/100

Criterion	Stars	Why
Quality	★★★★☆	577.78 Mbps down, 481.85 up, 15.22 ms ping across 66,240 measurements
Value for money	★★★★★	¥89,232 over two years: ¥3,520 plus the ¥198 IPv6 option, 24 times, with installation free
Easy to live with	★★★★★	No term and no cancellation charge: the maximum
Trust	★★☆☆☆	Outside the Oricon 2026 ranking. Operated by Enjin Inc.
Only here	★★★☆☆	A discount for UQ mobile, povo and ahamo customers, and three extra nights of free mobile Wi-Fi hire while you are a customer

The quickest NTT-based line here, and it cuts an au or UQ mobile bill

BIGLOBE Hikari

NTT-based service whose provider, BIGLOBE, belongs to KDDI
616 Mbps down over three months, the fastest of the NTT-based services we compared

See plans and prices→

Why it made the five

The fastest NTT-based line in this comparison
Up to ¥1,100 a month off an au or UQ mobile bill
A free mobile router to borrow until it goes live
IPv6 (IPoE) routers available
Right for: Being on au or UQ mobile, and wanting speed from an NTT line.
Not for: Wanting to avoid a minimum term.
Worth knowing: The 1 Gbps plan is a three-year contract with an exit fee. Installation is written off over 36 months, so leaving at two years costs about ¥9,500. The cash-back offer was announced as ending on 30 September 2026.

Score breakdown — 76/100

Criterion	Stars	Why
Quality	★★★★☆	615.91 Mbps down, 490.16 up, 17.06 ms ping across 299,756 measurements
Value for money	★★★★☆	¥108,372 over two years: ¥4,378 × 24 plus ¥3,300, with installation written off
Easy to live with	★★★★☆	Three-year term with a ¥3,000 exit fee for flats; new lines can take about two months, with a free loan router meanwhile
Trust	★★★☆☆	63.8 overall in Oricon 2026 (seventh). Operated by BIGLOBE, part of KDDI
Only here	★★★★☆	The au Smart Value or home bundle takes up to ¥1,100 a month off an au or UQ mobile phone bill

KDDI’s own network, second for speed satisfaction

au Hikari

Built on KDDI’s own equipment rather than NTT’s
692 Mbps down and 617 Mbps up over three months
Internet plus a phone line qualifies for the au Smart Value discount

See plans and prices→

Why it made the five

KDDI’s own network, with strong upload speeds
Second for speed and stability in Oricon 2026
A no-minimum-term plan at the same monthly price
IPv6 at no extra charge
Right for: Being on au, and living in a building that already has the equipment.
Not for: Living in a building that does not — you cannot order it.
Worth knowing: Flat pricing depends on the building’s equipment type, and Type V tops out at 100 Mbps. Check your building before ordering. Depending on what you agree to at sign-up, claiming Smart Value can end the set-up-cost discount.

Score breakdown — 75/100

Criterion	Stars	Why
Quality	★★★★☆	691.74 Mbps down, 616.92 up, 16.77 ms ping across 380,975 measurements, houses included
Value for money	★★★☆☆	¥111,870 over two years: ¥4,455 × 24 plus ¥4,950 registration, with set-up costs discounted to nil
Easy to live with	★★★★☆	Two-year rolling plan with a ¥2,290 exit fee, or a no-term plan at the same price; only in buildings already equipped
Trust	★★★★☆	65.5 overall in Oricon 2026 (fifth), 71.2 for speed and stability (second). Operated by KDDI
Only here	★★★★☆	KDDI’s own network rather than a rented NTT line, with IPv6 included and a phone bundle that discounts an au mobile bill

Know before you buy

All of these support IPv6, which is what stops the line collapsing between eight and eleven at night. On some, it is a paid option you must remember to order.
Measured over the last three months: NURO 946 Mbps down, au Hikari 692, BIGLOBE 616, GMO 595, en Hikari 578. Upload matters as much for calls — NURO 779 and au Hikari 617 lead there.
Two services here have no minimum term at all. The others run two or three years and charge to leave early.
Installation is usually ‘free’ by being written off monthly over 36 months. Leave at two years and you owe the rest: about ¥18,300 at NURO, ¥9,500 at BIGLOBE, ¥8,400 at GMO.
Flats are not all alike. NURO is cheaper in buildings of 40 units or more, and au Hikari’s price and top speed depend on which equipment your building already has.
Getting connected takes time. BIGLOBE warns new lines can take two months; NURO needs two separate visits in smaller buildings. Two of these lend you a mobile router in the meantime.

How we chose: theme, conditions, scoring

How we chose

Candidates: 11
Met every condition below: 9
Kept: five, each the best at something different

Conditions (all of them, not most of them)

Has published prices for both flats and houses
The line and the provider are one contract and one bill
Supports IPv6 — where that is a paid option, its cost is in the two-year total
The monthly price and the installation fee are published
Can be ordered as of September 2026 without holding a particular mobile contract

Scoring

Five criteria, one to five stars each, weighted to one hundred points. Every star says where the number came from.

Quality30 pts
- Average download speed over the last three months from Minsoku’s crowd-sourced measurements, flats and houses combined. 800 Mbps or more is five stars, 550–799 four, 300–549 three, under 300 two.
Value for money25 pts
- The two-year total for a flat: 24 months of charges, the set-up fee, any installation cost not written off, less cash back available to everyone. ¥95,000 or less is five stars, ¥110,000 four, ¥120,000 three, above that two.
Easy to live with15 pts
- Minimum term, exit fee and how many visits the installation needs. No term and no exit fee is five stars; a term with an exit fee no larger than a month’s charge four; an installation needing two visits three.
Trust20 pts
- Overall score in the Oricon 2026 customer satisfaction survey for internet services in Kanto. 66 or more is five stars, 65 four, 60 or a highly-rated company without a published score three, outside the ranking two.
Only here10 pts
- How useful the thing only this service does is to someone working from a flat. Our judgement, with the reason stated.

What we dropped

Candidate	Verdict	Why
Rakuten Hikari	Runner-up (73/100)	73 points, below the lowest of the five (75)
SoftBank Hikari	Runner-up (70/100)	70 points, below the lowest of the five (75)
Docomo Hikari (1 Gbps, type A)	Runner-up (70/100)	70 points, below the lowest of the five (75)
Rakuten Hikari	Runner-up	First overall in Oricon 2026 at 67.0, but the slowest line we measured at about 326 Mbps down, and its free installation is a points rebate conditional on holding a Rakuten Mobile contract.
SoftBank Hikari	Runner-up	Third for speed and stability in Oricon 2026, but the installation discount only starts in month seven, so part of the fee still falls inside two years. A SoftBank or Y!mobile phone narrows the gap.
Docomo Hikari	Runner-up	Third overall in Oricon 2026, but the free installation is refunded in d points, making its cash two-year total the highest here. A Docomo phone narrows the gap.
So-net Hikari	Held back	A highly-rated company in Oricon 2026, but its 10 Gbps pricing changes in October 2026 and we could not verify the 1 Gbps flat price.
Flets Hikari plus a provider	Failed a condition	The line and the provider are separate contracts with separate bills.
ahamo Hikari	Failed a condition	Requires an ahamo mobile line to order.

Questions visitors ask

For video calls, does it matter which one I choose?

A video call needs little bandwidth — what it needs is a line that does not stall in the evening. All five here run IPv6, which is the thing that prevents that. Where they differ is upload: NURO averaged 779 Mbps and au Hikari 617, which is what you want if you are sending large files as well as your own face.

How long before I can use it?

A new line needs an engineer. BIGLOBE warns it can take about two months; NURO needs two visits — inside and outside — in houses and smaller blocks. GMO confirms an installation date within two or three days of ordering, and en Hikari arranges it within two working days. NURO and BIGLOBE will both lend you a mobile router in the meantime.

What does it cost if I leave after two years?

GMO Tokutoku BB Hikari and en Hikari have no minimum term and charge nothing. BIGLOBE’s 1 Gbps plan is three years and NURO is three, both with exit fees. Separately, where installation is written off monthly you owe the remainder: about ¥18,300 at NURO, ¥9,500 at BIGLOBE and ¥8,400 at GMO.

Does the size of my building change the price?

Sometimes. NURO is cheaper for two years in blocks of 40 units or more, bringing the two-year total to about ¥91,000 — we priced the smaller-building rate. au Hikari’s price and top speed depend on the equipment in your building, and it cannot be ordered where there is none. The NTT-based services do not vary by building size.

Can I get this without a Japanese mobile contract?

Yes — that was one of our conditions. GMO Tokutoku BB Hikari charges the same whoever your mobile operator is, which suits anyone on a budget SIM. ahamo Hikari was excluded precisely because it requires an ahamo mobile line.

What is IPv6 and do I have to ask for it?

It is the newer way of routing traffic, and in Japan it is the difference between a line that works at 9pm and one that does not. It is included as standard at GMO, au Hikari, NURO and BIGLOBE. At en Hikari it is a ¥198 monthly option you must order, and you supply a router that supports it.

Changes

2026-10-25　First published. Scored from 11 candidates.