Prices may fall as handsets appear in grocery aisles

[confusedsafferinkorea]

Good news?

http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2952239&cloc=joongangdaily|home|newslist2

Consumers in Korea can now buy a mobile phone from convenience stores, online shopping malls and shops run by handset manufacturers such as Samsung and LG Electronics, the Korea Communications Commission said yesterday.

They can then take the gadget to a service provider like SK Telecom, KT and LG U+ to launch a line, whereas previously, only carrier-operated shops were authorized to perform this service.

The move is expected to pave the way for cheaper prices and a greater wealth of choice.

Under the newly introduced government measures, users can also immediately start using handsets purchased overseas as well as used cell phones by inserting a universal subscriber identity module chip.

Previously, the handset needed to have a serial number called the international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) registered with one of three mobile service operators.

As such, phones lacking an IMEI recorded in the government’s database could not be used. The commission has now scrapped the policy and even registers the IMEIs of lost and stolen handsets. For that reason, the new rule has been nicknamed the “blacklist policy.”

The commission will also have large discount chains such as E-Mart and Homeplus set aside shelves displaying handsets around June or July. These will mostly be lower-cost models or ones that have long remained in their inventories.

Hong Jin-bae, an official from the commission’s communications policy bureau, used the example of Samsung’s Galaxy Y, a budget Android smartphone, to illustrate the benefits.

The model was launched last year exclusively for overseas distribution, but Samsung will now produce the model domestically and put it on sale at various stores in Korea, except for offline stores run by mobile carriers.

“Mobile carriers have only been interested in selling expensive phones that give them large profit margins,” said Hong. “That has hindered the circulation of lower-cost handsets, although we think demand for them remains very high. Whereas Galaxy S smartphones cost around 1 million won ($885), the Y model costs just one-quarter of this. From now on, stores that are not attached to mobile service providers will be selling the [cheaper models].”

Since the government has promised not to interfere with the sellers’ pricing and marketing schemes, shops eligible to sell handsets will compete against each other to offer lower prices to attract more customers, according to the commission’s ambitious projection.

However, the issue of monthly fees remains a potentially contentious one.

For expensive smartphones, mobile carriers provide subsidies dubbed “discounts” to customers who sign contracts with a single carrier for two years or longer. But the carriers have yet to unveil monthly plans for purchasers of the lower-cost cell phones that went into circulation yesterday.

[Jeff619]

I would think it's good news.  When I first came to Korea you couldn't even get a plan as a foreigner on an E-2 visa.  I'd always wondered why it was so hard to get a phone here and I figured it was probably because SK is still at war with NK so their security needs to be higher than we're accustomed to.  I just wish Korea would start using the sim cards like many other countries do.  I bought a cheap Motorola phone for $20 dollars in the US and I can walk into any convenience store in many countries and buy the sim for it.  It's great for traveling.  For a country with such easy access to new technology I'm surprised Korea hasn't done that yet.

[confusedsafferinkorea]

Most of the newer phones have simcards now, with the exception of some LG Telecom phones.

[Jeff619]

Most of the newer phones have simcards now, with the exception of some LG Telecom phones.

That's cool.  I haven't seen those yet as I've been on a contract for almost two years now. 

[Cereal]

I brought my Samsung phone here with me from Laos. It has a SIM card in it but doesn't work here. Does this mean that that phone will work?

It sounds like it should. Anyone have a surer answer?

[confusedsafferinkorea]

I brought my Samsung phone here with me from Laos. It has a SIM card in it but doesn't work here. Does this mean that that phone will work?

It sounds like it should. Anyone have a surer answer?

The answer depends on a couple of things. What phone is it? Is it a smartphone (3G)? If it is then it should work here, perhaps the Company's sim card you have in it does not have a roaming agreement with Korea or perhaps you didn't activate roaming in Laos before you left.

If it isn't a 3g phone it is highly unlikely to work here since most countries use GSM and Korea uses (used?) WCDMA.

If it is a smartphone and you didn't activate roaming in Laos the only way to find out if it works here is to pop a sim card in from another country, like the Philippines that has a roaming agreement with Korea and that sim is activated for roaming. If it then picks up a signal here for that sim, then you know you are good to go with it.   I don't think you can as yet just pop in a Korean sim to see if it works but  to quote the article... inserting a universal subscriber identity module chip, will do it.

I am not sure what a subscriber identity module chip is though.


If you are in Seoul (your profile says you are on earth  ) then you are welcome to contact me and we can meet up  and you can use my Philippine sim (I have a couple) and we can try it out.

[#basedcowboyshirt]

Does this mean that if we have an unlocked North American phone, it ought to work here now?

[confusedsafferinkorea]

Does this mean that if we have an unlocked North American phone, it ought to work here now?

Yes, it did before but you had to register it, now it seems you don't have to anymore.

[Cereal]

I brought my Samsung phone here with me from Laos. It has a SIM card in it but doesn't work here. Does this mean that that phone will work?

It sounds like it should. Anyone have a surer answer?

The answer depends on a couple of things. What phone is it? Is it a smartphone (3G)? If it is then it should work here, perhaps the Company's sim card you have in it does not have a roaming agreement with Korea or perhaps you didn't activate roaming in Laos before you left.

If it isn't a 3g phone it is highly unlikely to work here since most countries use GSM and Korea uses (used?) WCDMA.

If it is a smartphone and you didn't activate roaming in Laos the only way to find out if it works here is to pop a sim card in from another country, like the Philippines that has a roaming agreement with Korea and that sim is activated for roaming. If it then picks up a signal here for that sim, then you know you are good to go with it.   I don't think you can as yet just pop in a Korean sim to see if it works but  to quote the article... inserting a universal subscriber identity module chip, will do it.

I am not sure what a subscriber identity module chip is though.


If you are in Seoul (your profile says you are on earth  ) then you are welcome to contact me and we can meet up  and you can use my Philippine sim (I have a couple) and we can try it out.

Well that settles it no doubt. It was a basic phone, didn't even have a camera. It did, however, work in Canada, the USA, China, Japan and all over SE Asia. But Korea is the best!  ::)

[accordingtodd]

This post has made my day. SFETE. (smiling from ear to ear)