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Author Topic: CELL PHONE FAQ  (Read 7890 times)

Offline esmc16

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Re: Anyway to buy a temporary phone?
« Reply #20 on: October 14, 2011, 08:40:54 pm »
You can get an old phone and pay as you go. My Korean friend gave me his old flip style cellphone and went with me to help set up my cellphone plan. I only pay the minutes and text messages that I use and incoming calls are of course, free. I think the first couple of months I had to pay a W7,000 registration fee since I was a new customer. My plan is not the prepaid deal where it expires every month. I got to personally pick four digits of my cellphone number too. I don't use my cellphone a lot each month but my bills have always been less than W30,000 each month. It really helps to have a Korean friend who can translate and knows about the cellphone business in Korea.
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Offline dbsk23

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Re: CELL PHONE FAQ
« Reply #21 on: October 31, 2011, 01:04:22 pm »
I am planning to travel to korea for 6 weeks and wont be able to get an ARC card. Whats the cheapest system i can get? renting phones seem expensive.. im planning to just use it to contact each other in crowded areas.
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Offline NYHCwaygook

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Re: Anyway to buy a temporary phone?
« Reply #22 on: November 01, 2011, 12:34:08 am »
Phones can also be rented at the airport.
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Offline Suza

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Re: Anyway to buy a temporary phone?
« Reply #23 on: November 01, 2011, 07:33:42 am »
If you live near Ansan thats the best place to buy one. I got a good 2nd hand one for 30K which came with 20K pre-pay loaded on it.
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Offline modernseoul

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Re: CELL PHONE FAQ
« Reply #24 on: November 03, 2011, 10:27:20 pm »
Quote from: dbsk23 on October 31, 2011, 01:04:22 pm
I am planning to travel to korea for 6 weeks and wont be able to get an ARC card. Whats the cheapest system i can get? renting phones seem expensive.. im planning to just use it to contact each other in crowded areas.

There are a few places in Itaewon however, it wouldn't be 100% legal, renting one is the best way if you really require one.
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Offline Rilakuma

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Re: US iPhone 4 works on olleh in SK!
« Reply #25 on: November 20, 2011, 05:28:50 pm »
Taken from this website:
http://expatblog.kt.com/category/List%20of%20KT%20Global%20Stores

KT Olleh Global Store in Gangnam is the closest one from Bundang

824-21 Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
서울특별시 강남구 역삼동 824-21 상경빌딩

How to Get There:   Take the subway to Gangnam Station (Line 2, Exit 1).  Walk straight approximately 100 meters.  Olleh Avenue is located on the Kookkiwon Intersection.

The SIM card was about 5,500 won. If you don't speak Korean first ask the people downstairs what you want. They should send you upstairs (maybe with a note) to get the SIM card. Then go from there. I signed a contract before I knew it would work, but in case it didn't they said they would allow me to break the contract. This is what happened to me, they might say something different to you. Good luck!
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Offline quan5287

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Re: CELL PHONE FAQ
« Reply #26 on: December 30, 2011, 05:21:07 pm »
Hey so I managed to get a sim and my iPhone is iOS 5.0.1 with baseband 3.10 wtv and I have used my Gevey Ultra in other countries successfully but somehow did not manage to get it working here. If i wait and dont do any of the procedure, I get invalid sim in 30 seconds or so >? Any help advice??? Do you think the IMEI did not get registered in the OLLEH KT system or what ? It should work coz there seems to be nothing really missing besides that ? Any help would be appreciated please!!!! PLEASE!!!
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Offline Rilakuma

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Re: CELL PHONE FAQ
« Reply #27 on: January 01, 2012, 12:41:18 pm »
Quote from: quan5287 on December 30, 2011, 05:21:07 pm
Hey so I managed to get a sim and my iPhone is iOS 5.0.1 with baseband 3.10 wtv and I have used my Gevey Ultra in other countries successfully but somehow did not manage to get it working here. If i wait and dont do any of the procedure, I get invalid sim in 30 seconds or so >? Any help advice??? Do you think the IMEI did not get registered in the OLLEH KT system or what ? It should work coz there seems to be nothing really missing besides that ? Any help would be appreciated please!!!! PLEASE!!!

When did you update to iOS 5? Did you also install the new jailbreak for the iOS 5? I did some reading and found that people who upgraded to iOS5 had a problem getting Gevey SIM to work. For this reason I never upgraded, I'm still on 4.3.3.

There is a possibility that they did not write down the IMEI number correctly. Though it is more likely that they haven't finalized the application. When I registered it took a couple days for them to add my IMEI number to the registry.

It's common that the iPhone doesn't recognize the SIM card. Every time I restart my phone I have this problem. Toggling the phone in and out of flight mode can get the phone to recognize the SIM once again.

Please let us know more information or if you still have a problem!
« Last Edit: January 01, 2012, 12:48:02 pm by Rilakuma »
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Offline quan5287

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Re: CELL PHONE FAQ
« Reply #28 on: January 03, 2012, 06:52:58 pm »
Hey !!! I dont know how to thank you enough for the 3G settings!!!! I am not sure how you managed but a pat on the back !!

So this is where I am at :

iPhone 4 - iOS 5.0.1
Baseband - 3.10.01
Untethered Jailbroken through RedSnow

I had been using the Gevey Ultra in Australia and India and had no issues with it. When I came here, I managed to get an Olleh sim and somehow it always went in a searching loop and then invalid sim. Then I recently bought the fake Gevey Supreme trying my luck ( from G Market) and what do you know !! IT WORKS!!!!! and thanks to your internet setting even 3G works!!

Note : A thing i read and successfully follwed was to switch on all 3 3G options including data roaming ( this is actually the opposite elsewhere but I guess Korea the system is different like everything else ;))

So that is it !!! SUCCESS at last!

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Offline Calvinism

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Re: CELL PHONE FAQ
« Reply #29 on: January 26, 2012, 03:04:17 pm »
If you are looking to get in on the smartphone action mobileboo.com is a subsidiary of SK Telecom (SKT), which was launched in 2011 to help foreigners who want a smartphone since may shops don't have a "waygooken" procedure. I currently have a Samsung Galaxy S2 which I pay about 70,000Won a month for with 300 minutes/texts as well as unlimited data.

While this may seem pricey for some, in my opinion it is a better deal than I would get in the U.S.A. And while I did sign a 2-year contract, the price to break the contract is only 25,000WON and I must also pay the phone off but then the phone is my to keep and take with me which is a quad-band device. Which I can take with me to the U.S.A and use. If your interested I urge you to check it out, because the whole site is in plain English as well as the support when you call or email. And they even send in your device to your home so you don't have to go pick it up; they have different plans and devices like iPhone 4's, Samsung Galaxy's, and tablets. I recommend you go for the brands like Samsung and Apple's because they are better suited to use internationally unlike Sky which is really only for Korea. Basically if you can find it for sale in your home country go with one of those.

How this helps that poor soul who wants a smartphone, but not sure where to start. This is great because you won't need to hassle you Korean friends or teachers to co-sign for you. A last tip, when they ask for you to scan your passport/ bankbook you can just take a close picture with your camera as a .jpeg file and send it in.
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Offline elzoog

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Re: CELL PHONE FAQ
« Reply #30 on: January 26, 2012, 04:40:12 pm »
For your cell phone questions you guys can contact Mr. Pak   010-9842-0002    You will have no trouble with his English level.   He can get you a cell phone deal or advise you on what the best deals are.
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Offline ci2012

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Re: CELL PHONE FAQ
« Reply #31 on: February 24, 2012, 05:49:12 pm »
This is great information, i have just arrived in Korea with an unlocked phone and was wondering if i could purchase a Korean sim card to use in my phone! Glad to hear that this may be very possible!
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Offline lissy22

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Re: CELL PHONE FAQ
« Reply #32 on: February 24, 2012, 07:30:23 pm »
Thanks, everyone! this is really useful information!
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Offline saznack

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Re: CELL PHONE FAQ
« Reply #33 on: February 25, 2012, 05:47:01 pm »
can you get by without getting a cell phone? id prefer to do without...
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Offline elzoog

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Re: CELL PHONE FAQ
« Reply #34 on: February 26, 2012, 05:27:38 pm »
Quote from: saznack on February 25, 2012, 05:47:01 pm
can you get by without getting a cell phone? id prefer to do without...

Yes, you can also get by without a villa or apartment by sleeping in a box by the river with a kerosine heater for warmth.   It just won't be very convenient or comfortable.

The thing is, Koreans tend to put things off until the last minute (in other words, they do not plan things very well).   So you really do need a way for them to contact you in case there is a meeting that will be held 15 minutes from now.  If you don't have a cell phone, this is going to be a bit difficult.

The only reason I can think of not to have one is you are short on money, which might make sense your first few months in Korea (I came to Korea with only $96 in my pocket and needed advances from the hogwan to survive my first two months here). 

Keep in mind that Koreans do things differently than back at home.  I would say a cell phone is more of a necessity in Korea than in the US (or maybe Britain).
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Offline henry.li

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Cell Phone
« Reply #35 on: February 29, 2012, 02:44:45 pm »
Does anyone know if I am able choose whichever cell phone I want if i sign up for a two year contract? ANy help would  be great. Thanks.
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Offline techteacher

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Re: Cell Phone
« Reply #36 on: February 29, 2012, 02:47:00 pm »
Yes you pick what you want.
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Offline _Omiak_

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Re: CELL PHONE FAQ
« Reply #37 on: February 29, 2012, 08:24:32 pm »
So how exactly does the Arrival Store's monopoly on getting a phone without an ARC work? I don't understand how this website can offer phones without an ARC but large scale phone companies cannot. Are they just registering all of the phones in someone elses name or something? I'm a new EPIK teacher in Gwangju and it's a bit difficult to get things organized with my job as I have no phone and no internet in my home.
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Offline Davey

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Re: CELL PHONE FAQ
« Reply #38 on: February 29, 2012, 08:33:36 pm »
Quote from: _Omiak_ on February 29, 2012, 08:24:32 pm
So how exactly does the Arrival Store's monopoly on getting a phone without an ARC work? I don't understand how this website can offer phones without an ARC but large scale phone companies cannot. Are they just registering all of the phones in someone elses name or something? I'm a new EPIK teacher in Gwangju and it's a bit difficult to get things organized with my job as I have no phone and no internet in my home.

It;s good that you brought it up--it is possible through major service providers using your passport. Looks like it's pretty much like renting a phone as a tourist would [1]. However, you might have to go a KT Global Store, which are, unfortunately, only in or around Seoul [2].

Contact KT for exact details. [3].

[1] http://expatblog.kt.com/87

[2] http://expatblog.kt.com/63

[3] http://expatblog.kt.com/176
« Last Edit: March 02, 2012, 04:45:21 pm by Davey »
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Search this site using Google by typing, "site:waygook.org [search term]," especially during peak hours. Alternatively, use the site's search function.

EPIK: VISA, RENEWING, PENSION, ETC:

http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,2614.0.html

Offline _Omiak_

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Re: CELL PHONE FAQ
« Reply #39 on: February 29, 2012, 09:32:29 pm »
Hmm, I may try that KT phone number. If that doesn't work I guess I'll either wait for the ARC or get an (overpriced) Arrival Store rental phone until I've got an ARC.
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