Mansion-Type vs. Kotei-Type Installation

Mansion type internet in Japan is the shared-building fiber plan most apartment renters meet first, while kotei-type installation is the dedicated direct fiber run used for detached houses and for apartments without shared equipment.¹² The distinction decides your monthly cost band, whether a technician must visit, and how much speed you can expect in busy hours.

Confirm current details with official sources

Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the NTT East and NTT West FLET'S Hikari sites.

Overview

This guide is for renters and owners new to Japanese home internet, on any status of residence. It covers the structural difference only; carrier choice and plan brands sit outside its scope.¹

The one sentence distinction

A mansion plan shares one fiber line drawn into the building among its units, while a kotei plan runs fiber directly to one residence for near-exclusive use.² Which one applies is decided by dwelling form plus the equipment already installed in the building, not by tenant preference alone.¹

The variation to expect is building-level, not regional. Two apartments in the same ward can fall into different types because their buildings carry different shared equipment or wiring.¹³

How Mansion Type Works

The マンションタイプ (manshon taipu, "mansion (apartment-building) type") is the shared-building fiber plan for multi-unit buildings.¹ Fiber reaches a shared facility in the building, then branches to each unit through the installed in-building wiring.²

A mansion-type contract requires that the building already holds that provider's shared fiber equipment in its common space.¹ Without that equipment, the provider cannot offer mansion type at that address even if fiber passes the street outside.¹

Fiber to the building, shared distribution inside

The provider draws one line into the 共用部 (kyōyō-bu, "shared parts of the building") such as the entrance hall, riser shafts, or equipment rooms.³ From there, installed shared equipment distributes the signal to each unit.²

Where the building drop is already complete, activation is usually limited to in-unit work. That means connecting room equipment to the shared facility plus setting up the modem or router.²

In fully equipped units the line may already be active to the room. In that case service starts by plugging in, with no separate drop-in work at all.³

The three in-building wiring methods

The final stretch from shared space to room decides the speed ceiling. The three methods below are the standard vocabulary in listings and provider pages.³

Method	Cable to the room	Standard maximum	How to spot it
光配線方式 (hikari haisen hōshiki, "optical wiring method")	Fiber-optic cable	About 1 Gbps, up to 10 Gbps on some plans3	Optical outlet (光コンセント) on the wall
VDSL method	Telephone (metal) cable	About 100 Mbps up and down3	Modem connected to a telephone jack
LAN wiring method	Ethernet cable	About 100 Mbps, up to 1 Gbps on some properties3	LAN port on the wall

Check the wall socket before comparing plan speeds

The socket tells you the ceiling faster than any headline speed does. An optical outlet means optical method, a modem on a phone jack means VDSL, and a LAN port means LAN method.³

How Kotei Type Works

The ファミリータイプ (famirī taipu, "family type"), listed as 戸建てタイプ (kotate taipu, "detached-house type") on provider pages, is the unit-direct fiber plan.¹² One line runs from the nearest pole straight to the residence for near-exclusive use.²

A dedicated fiber run to the residence

Kotei installation needs two stages. Outdoor work pulls fiber from the nearest pole to the residence, and indoor work carries it inside to place the ONU (回線終端装置) (kaisen shūtan sōchi, "optical network unit").² Both stages are normally required for a fresh drop.²

A technician visit is part of the process. Where a new fiber drop is needed, the visit pattern runs about one to two hours (as of 2026-04; confirm current lead times with NTT or your chosen provider).⁴

New fiber drops typically take 2 to 4 weeks from application to activation (as of 2026-04).⁴ Spring moving season runs longer, so apply as soon as the address is fixed.⁴

The diagram above captures the building-first decision this article follows. Equipment presence decides the type; permission decides whether the fallback path is open.

When an apartment uses kotei type

A multi-unit resident may still contract family or kotei type where the building lacks that provider's mansion-type shared equipment.¹ The address is an apartment, but the installation behaves like a detached-house run.¹

NTT West requires owner or management-association consent on two points in that case. Pull-in of fiber must be possible, and a route to the unit interior must be secured.¹

Some providers allow this direct-to-unit contract in apartments with owner or management permission. The trade is a dedicated run against extra work, permission handling, and higher cost.²

Confirm fiber permission before signing the internet contract

Technician work can need shared-area access such as the MDF room or existing ducts, and drilling can be refused. Confirm landlord or management-company permission first so a denied installation does not strand a contract already signed.³

Mansion Type vs Kotei Type Side by Side

The two types differ on cost logic, installation effort, and speed behavior. The table below summarizes the shape before the detail.

Dimension	Mansion type	Kotei type
Line architecture	Shared from building facility to units2	Dedicated pole-to-residence run2
Provider choice	Limited to installed providers3	Free within the service area, permission assumed3
Activation	In-unit work only where drop exists2	Outdoor plus indoor work with technician visit2
Speed behavior	Can fall in busy hours2	Holds high speed more easily2

Cost shape

Mansion type costs less because one line and its equipment cost are shared across building users. Kotei type costs more because one household bears the dedicated line cost.²

The typical gap between the two types runs about 500 to 1,500 JPY per month depending on provider (as of 2025-04; confirm current figures with your chosen provider).² Consumer-facing totals land around 4,000 JPY per month for mansion type (as of 2026-04) and around 5,000 to 6,000 JPY per month for kotei type (as of 2026-04).⁴

FLET'S Hikari covers the physical line only, so a separate ISP contract is also needed unless the provider bundles both into one bill.⁴ Line fee plus ISP is the real monthly total, and the table below shows the line-fee component behind the totals above (as of 2026-04).⁴

Item	Amount	As of	Notes
NTT East line fee, house (3 units or fewer)	5,950–6,270 JPY/month, plus ISP	2026-044	Line only
NTT East line fee, apartment (4+ units)	3,355–3,685 JPY/month, plus ISP	2026-044	Varies by wiring method
NTT West line fee, house	5,940 JPY/month, plus ISP	2026-044	Line only
NTT West line fee, apartment	3,520–4,950 JPY/month, plus ISP	2026-044	Varies by plan tier

Installation effort and lead time

Mansion type where the building drop exists needs only in-unit connection work and completes comparatively quickly.² Some cases finish without a technician dispatch at all.²

Kotei type always needs the outdoor pole-to-residence pull plus indoor ONU placement, with a technician visit.² New drops typically take 2 to 4 weeks from application to activation (as of 2026-04).⁴

Speed stability

Kotei type uses optical wiring end to end with no telephone or LAN segment in between, so it holds high speed more easily and feels neighbor congestion less.² The dedicated structure is the reason for the stability, not the brand on the bill.²

Mansion type shares one line among building users, so speeds can fall by time slot and usage, especially evenings and holidays.² Within mansion type, optical wiring performs closest to kotei type, while VDSL or older LAN segments cap the ceiling regardless of the plan headline.²³

What Apartment Shoppers Should Check

Listing labels encode the readiness state. Reading them before signing a lease avoids a post-move-in surprise about who installs what.³

Net muryo and hikari taiou labels

A fully equipped listing (インターネット完備, intānetto kanbi, "internet fully equipped") means the line is already active to each unit. Use starts by plugging in, often with no individual internet contract.³

A ready listing (光対応 or インターネット対応, hikari taiō, "fiber-ready building") means fiber reaches only the shared space. The tenant then contracts a provider and arranges the unit drop-in.³

Fully equipped cost is typically free or folded into rent or the common-service fee, while ready-type cost is the plan monthly fee plus installation (as of 2026-07; confirm current terms with the landlord or management company).³ A building advertising free internet or fiber-ready status gives the tenant the easier and cheaper activation path.³

Term	Meaning
ネット無料 (netto muryō, "internet included")	Building internet cost bundled into rent; tenant plugs in3
光対応 (hikari taiō, "fiber-ready")	Fiber to shared space; tenant contracts plus unit drop-in3
光未対応 (hikari mitaiō, "fiber not installed")	No line equipment; independent arrangement needed3

Hikari mitaiou buildings

A not-installed listing (未導入, midōnyū, "not installed") means the building holds no line equipment. The tenant must get owner permission and contract plus install independently.³

Wall drilling or shared-area access can be refused in such buildings. Where permission is denied, a construction-free home router or pocket WiFi becomes the fallback.³

Individual direct fiber installation in an apartment may be limited by building-owner restrictions.¹³ Check this point at viewing stage, not after signing the lease.³

Good to know

The provider menu follows the installed equipment

Apartment plans are generally limited to providers already installed in the building.³ Using another company requires checking whether an individual kotei-type contract is possible after owner permission, which is a separate negotiation from the internet application itself.³

A fiber-ready property where the tenant picks a provider sometimes suits a speed-focused renter better than a fully equipped one with a fixed provider. Convenience and control point in opposite directions here.³

VDSL wiring caps speed even on a gigabit headline plan

A VDSL building caps at about 100 Mbps even on a headline 1 Gbps plan.³ The wall cue is a modem on a telephone jack, and no plan upgrade inside that wiring changes the ceiling.³

NTT East stopped new applications for VDSL and LAN mansion methods in 2024 and is promoting conversion to optical wiring.³ A VDSL building may convert later, but timing is building specific, so confirm plans with the management company rather than assuming conversion.³

Installation fees can outlive the contract

Installation fees are often payable lump sum or in installments, and early cancellation can trigger both a termination fee and the remaining installment balance.⁴ Check both figures before signing, not just the monthly rate.⁴

Applying only after move-in day leaves a connectivity gap measured in weeks for any fresh drop. Line up the application at lease signing so the 2 to 4 week window (as of 2026-04; confirm current lead times with your chosen provider) runs while the move proceeds.⁴

See also

• Internet and TV: Utility Setup Overview
• How Renting Works in Japan
• Move-Out Procedures: Closing Utility Accounts
• Home Fiber Internet in Japan: The Carrier Landscape
• Mobile Routers and Home-Router Alternatives
• NHK Reception Fee: The Obligation Question

References

Footnotes

1. NTT西日本 (NTT West). 「ファミリータイプとマンションタイプの違い」. https://flets-w.com/new/difftype ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

2. eo光 (Optage). 「光回線の『戸建てタイプ』と『マンションタイプ』とは？違いを徹底解説！」. Updated 2025-04-18. https://eonet.jp/column/optical-line/differences-houses-apartments.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵

3. INA Real Estate Intelligence (Daisuke Inazawa). "How to Choose Internet for a Japanese Apartment: Why Wiring Method and Readiness Status Decide Your Speed." Published 2025-09-26, updated 2026-07-20. https://media.ina-gr.com/en/archives/column/mansion-internet-plan-selection-guide ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹

4. Sakura Mobile. "NTT FLET'S Hikari Internet: Pricing, English Support and How to Apply." Published 2026-04-08. https://www.sakuramobile.jp/blog/japan-home-internet/what-is-flets-hikari/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴