korea - what phones work there?

eurotrotter

hey gang

im heading to korea next month and wondering what kind of a phone i need?

i have a tri band nokia 6310i, will that suffice?

thanks

ed

Davy

You would need a 3G phone

:>http://www.gsmarena.com/network-bands.php3?sCountry=KOREA

eurotrotter

thanks bud!

tannytantans

Hey, i lived in Korea for 18 months - came home in early 2010. Unless things have changed since NO phones bought here will work in Korea. They're the only country in the world where this is the case as far as i know - its to do with protectionism.

I called vodafone before I left and they told me that a quadband phone should work - it didn't! Everyone I know had to buy a new phone once they got there - and until then we had to use payphones (there are loads everywhere). I'd ask on the forums on www.davescafe.com to be certain

tannytantans

found this - it's from an emerican site - explains it better!

Will my mobile (cell) phone work in Korea?

Probably not. Korea uses a different system from almost every other country. A typical $50 unlocked world phone (multi-band GSM) will work just about anywhere - except in Korea (and Japan).
A few of the 3G phones do work in Korea, at least in theory. They don't cost $50, but you can generally find one in the $120-150 range without too much trouble. Look for a phone that says it supports WCDMA 2100.
But the phone isn't the problem. The problem is the cellular service providers. The big ones are SK and KTF, with LGT on their heels. The problem is also the Korean governement. Unlike the EU, where mobile service is a utility like water or electricity, in Korea there aren't any laws (at least none that are really enforced) that make it easy to switch providers. You can't just walk up to a street kiosk and buy a cheap prepaid SIM card the way you can in Europe. The Korean service providers act like US cellular companies did a decade ago. They want to sell you the handset and lock you into their plan.
So you can take your 3G smartphone to Korea. But can you make it work? Don't bet on it. SK, KTF or LGT will gladly sell you a handset to use with your own "world SIM," but good luck on the vice-versa.
You don't need them to sell you a handset anyway. You can use your own with that world SIM, if you really want to. But why would you? They cost anywhere from about 20 cents to a couple of dollars (!) per minute. You might be able to put up with that for a 2-week visit, but I doubt that you'd want to go a year that way. And if you think it's expensive for you, just wait until you see what it costs your students to call your foreign number. Not too practical.
Your best bet will most likely be to buy a mobile phone after you get to Korea. As with so many other matters (sigh), the process goes much more smoothly with the help of a native guide.
Card phones are relatively easy to get. You don't absolutely have to have a Korean friend to buy one, but it can really help. A used phone will cost you around 50,000 won (US$50). Phone stores sell them. You might also be able to "inherit" a phone from another western teacher whose contract is ending. Cards are 10,000 to 15,000 won per hour of usage. You pay only for calls you make - incoming calls are free. If you want a contract cellular plan, your Korean friend may have to countersign for you or even pay the monthly bill for you. You'd better be very good friends. I'd recommend sticking with the card phones.

blaz

tannytantans wrote: »

Hey, i lived in Korea for 18 months - came home in early 2010. Unless things have changed since NO phones bought here will work in Korea. They're the only country in the world where this is the case as far as i know - its to do with protectionism.

Nonsense. Any European 3G phone will work if your operator has a roaming agreement with either SK Telecom or Korea Telecom.

http://maps.mobileworldlive.com/network_info.php?nid=6875&org_id=6874&cid=2032
http://maps.mobileworldlive.com/network_info.php?nid=8205&org_id=8204&cid=2032

Three has roaming agreements with both, Meteor only with KT, Vodafone and O2 have an agreement only with SK Telecom.

Note that for most (all?) of the operators only bill pay roaming is available, pre pay will NOT work.

tannytantans

Well I'm only telling my experience, and the experience of anyone I know who has lived over there. I had a vodafone quadband phone with 3G. I bought it specially for going because I'd been told it would work and it didn't. When flying into Incheon airport I met an American businessman who explained all of this to me - and he had a bill pay phone. I have never met anyone whose phone from home has worked there.

I am open to correction though if you've been yourself.


From the vodafone website: (its been updated)https://support.vodafone.ie/system/selfservice.controller?CONFIGURATION=1003&PARTITION_ID=1&LANGUAGE=en&COUNTRY=ie&USERTYPE=1&TIMEZONE_OFFSET=null&CMD=VIEW_ARTICLE&ARTICLE_ID=2058&SOURCE=null

Op are you moving to korea or only visiting?You can rent phones from the airport if you're only there for a week or two. All of our visitors did this hassle free. If you are going to work there more than likely your boss will supply you with a phone.

blaz

tannytantans wrote: »

I had a vodafone quadband phone with 3G. I bought it specially for going because I'd been told it would work and it didn't.

Vodafone bill pay or prepay?

tannytantans

I was prepay, husband was billpay. Neither worked.

But maybe things have changed.

blaz

tannytantans wrote: »

I was prepay, husband was billpay. Neither worked.

But maybe things have changed.

As I said, only bill pay roaming is available, prepay requires special arrangements that only exist in a limited number of countries (mostly European).

The bill pay account should have worked, what kind of phone was the bill pay SIM card in?

Here's a report from an AT&T customer successfully roaming in Korea using an iPhone 3G:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=536457

Of course I am only talking about roaming, getting a local SIM is a completely different story - there is no technical reason it couldn't work, but local administrative barriers (read: idiotic policies) might not allow it.

Solair

South Korea uses CDMA2000, so no European phones will work there end of story.
LTE is planned / rolling out and may change that but there are no LTE handsets.

Japan uses it's own system for 2G called PDC

European 3G handsets will work on Softbank mobile in Japan but ONLY in 3G mode.
CDMA2000 is also used.

blaz

Solair wrote: »

South Korea uses CDMA2000, so no European phones will work there end of story.

No, they also use WCDMA 2100, which is equal to European 3G.

Solair

blaz wrote: »

No, they also use WCDMA 2100, which is equal to European 3G.

If there's WCDMA coverage it's relatively new. We tried several European 3G phones, that supported the full range of WCDMA frequencies in Korea and got absolutely nothing. In Japan, you get a UMTS 2100 signal, but it's often not very good. It's tolerable though.

Just make sure that you check with whoever your network operator is in Ireland before you travel.

I know some of them have CDMA roaming, where you can swap your handset. It's usually restricted to business customers.

Whatever you do, do not bring any 2G GSM phones with you. They simply will absolutely not work at all. The same applies in Japan.

I know a few people who had 2G/EDGE blackberries and were left totally phone less in Japan.

blaz

Solair wrote: »

If there's WCDMA coverage it's relatively new.

KT has WCDMA 2100 since December 2003:

http://maps.mobileworldlive.com/network_info.php?nid=6875&org_id=6874&cid=2032

SK Telecom has WCDMA 2100 since December 2003:

http://maps.mobileworldlive.com/network_info.php?nid=8205&org_id=8204&cid=2032

We tried several European 3G phones, that supported the full range of WCDMA frequencies in Korea and got absolutely nothing.

If you tried with a Korean SIM then it didn't work because the Korean operators have a whitelist of IMEI's that allow only phones purchased in Korea to operate on their network. If you have tried it while roaming, then either your operator didn't have roaming in Korea or your account wasn't setup properly.