To put it as the background: I have two IC Cards with me: Suica and PASMO. The former has been with me for years and has been using it for personal uses (trips, purchases, etc.), while the latter only obtained quite recently (less than a year) and used solely as the Commuter Pass. I decided to separate the uses between those two as it’s easier to track the expenses and separate the expenses, purposes-based. I put both of them inside my wallet, on the very utmost opposite card slot of each other to avoid interferences and such, and makes it easier as you just need to tap opposite sides of the wallet depending on the purposes.
Now here’s the interesting part: I found that in terms of the tapping part, especially in the ticket gates in stations, the **PASMO of mine has a higher chance of error of reading** and makes me have to step back or even take it out of the wallet. I’ve tried pressing it further into the sensor (as it’s still inside the wallet) and it even has around 50:50 chance between error and successfully read by the sensor. But when I open the wallet widely it always reads successfully, the same goes to when I just hover the wallet above the sensor. Oddly this thing **never happens when I do the opposite with Suica**, it’s 100% always works without a single fail.
So are there any differences in terms of interference, sensitivity, etc.? I found it weird as I thought this kind of IC system has been standardized and virtually performs the same overall, just under different umbrellas of the service provider companies.
19 comments
The most likely scenario is that you’ve got other cards or objects on one side of your wallet which are interfering with the Pasmo card, but not the Suica. You could swap the positions of the two cards and see what happens.
But in general you shouldn’t be stacking NFC cards that close together in a wallet. If you want both to read effectively, I’d suggest taking the Pasmo out and giving it a dedicated holder – given you only use it for commuting.
I’ve had my watermelon card since 2014 and I don’t think it has failed me yet.
There’s a person on here who knows much more than me about this stuff, but at the core it’s the same FeLiCa chip and design. I’d guess that the Suica (or maybe one of your other cards) is interfering enough with the signal (or sucking up too much of the power field) when the reader talks to the PASMO card to throw errors like that.
I’d probably get an IC セパレーター　([like this one from コクヨ](https://www.yodobashi.com/product/100000001001453071/) ) and put it behind the pasmo and see if it lets you use it with the wallet closed.
They are interfering with each other. Simple solution would be to buy from Daiso etc a “magnetic error prevention sheet” (might be called differently). It should be in the same rack as phone accessories.
I bought mine from Can Do (though it took a while for me to find one).
I had a PASMO and Suica 定期券 for a number of years (different lines) and never had an issue with either.
I’ve had this problem before when I had 2 IC cards in my wallet(Suica and Manaca).Although I could enter the gate it an error keeps happening.What was happening was the gate’s reader was so strong(esp in Tokyo) that it was reading both IC cards. This could be what was happening with yours.
I’m confused though why you need to separate the two cards. Unless you have expenses related to your work in 1 card that needs tracking, I don’t get the point separating the two.
Those things have what looks like a flat coil inside, so maybe the Suica one has a better design.
The supplier for most japanese IC cards is the same. Sony supplies nearly all the felica compatible cards in Japan.
it’s likely an issue with interference or damage to the coils in the card.
Having two or more cards that perform the same function close to each other is going to confuse the gate reader. You may sometimes accidentally use the wrong card too.
I have my Suica/Pasmo in one of those pass holders with the extendable cord, it works every time.
There’s probably a Wikipedia article that describes how close an RFID(I think these are?) needs to be to the reader. Stacking two of the same card will return an ambiguous/error response to the reader, as one or both cards may be energised.
I don’t know about cards but to me it **feels like** the difference between card readers is much more pronounced.
Using my ICOCA on reader at gates in Osaka with å¾¡å ‚ç‹ç·š or 近鉄線 I can just slide my wallet across very quickly and it never fails. But when I’m in Shizuoka at my in-laws place the gates don’t register with just sliding on top I always have to hold it here for a bit (not very long, max 1 sec, but sliding doesn’t work).
And some readers in busses and trams can’t even read the IC card with it being inside the wallet and require me to take it out.
Bruh, it’s your cards. Why are you thinking there is some infrastructure which causes certain cards to fail 50% of the time?
I used to do exactly the same as you. Different sides of the same wallet. In one of the card slots between them I had an aluminium covered cardboard barrier. I don’t know if it actually did anything, but I never had a read error.
I’m still using the PASMO I got in May 2017, never had an issue with it. I think you might have just gotten a bad card.
Some cards from different areas don’t work on certain vending machines.
Having purchased multiple stacks of empty IC cards for other uses, I find a defective one every once in a while. So that’s always a possibility.
Suica is far more useful as it can be used widely on JR trains across the country.
I have a Suica in my iPhone and PASMO as a physical teiki. Use the Suica of personal stuff and PASMO for work trips. Keeps it simple and always have one available. The one in the phone I can charge anytime I need to with a credit card. I like the redundancy of having them separate.
i’ve been using the same pasmo since 2007 and he’s been good to me
I’m not sure if it is still maintained after Covid started but I remember you cannot get a commute pass unless you have a specific IC. Example, my work commute was only confined within Tokyu lines so I was only allowed to get my pass with Pasmo.
(I hope this reply also addresses your topic, OP.)
(Never mind. It doesn’t. >_< I cannot strikeout the message.)