Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Sapa]

I'm looking for a rough idea of how much bills would be per month. I was told it could be around $200 per month for everything including internet, gas, electricity and building maintenance. Does this sound about right? I know it depends on how much you use and whether it is winter or not. Just give me an idea of what you pay.

[maddog]

It depends on a number of factors. I live in a fairly big apartment in Daegu. I don't know how many pyeong, but it has a kitchen, living room and two bedrooms. Right now, with no air-con or heating, my monthly bill is 130K. It was about 170K in winter. And once summer arrives, it's go thru the roof. Oh, I don't have internet.

My friends live in smaller apts in the same building and their bills are less than 100K. I don't use lots of energy or water, so I suspect the difference is in management/maintenance fees which are based on apt size.

MD

[Mr. BlackCat]

Do you live in a villa or a big complex? How big is your apt? What city are you in? What area? Basically you can bet on between 100-200, though. I lived in a villa my first year and paid less than $50. Last year in a smaller place in Gangnam I paid close to $200. This year in a similar sized place across town I pay 100-150. Budget for the worst, then treat yourself if there's any change.

[Stormy]

I paid 10,000 won last month for electricity & water but it went up to 13,000 won this month for some reason. I pay 35,000 won per month for internet & the cost of oil changes depending on the weather. I live in a rural area in a small granny flat 20 minutes walk out of town. The other FT in town lives in the middle of town in an apartment & pays over 50,000 won per month just for 'apartment fees'.

[SOOHWA101]

Electricity: 50,000
Gas: 8,000
Water/apt. dues/cable: 50,000
Internet: 35,000

10,000,000 Key money
350,000 rent per month

[Yesterday]

350,000 won each month....

thats pays for Officetell fees (electricity, elevator, cleaning, security)
gas
internet
mobile phone bill
cable (pay) tv

(this does NOT include rent, bus/subway travel to and from work)...

[WoBW]

This month:

electicity - 26,000
water - 10,000
gas - 31,000
cable&internet - 41,000

[machellebelle]

electricity: 9,000W
internet (no cable): 18,000W
gas: 8500W (the original bill was 40,000W but supposedly it had some of the previous person's usage, idk, im not complaining!)
water: included!
apartment fees: 50,000W

I guess I'm lucky?

[missionshk]

[icicle]

I don't know what my monthly expenses will be this time around ... I haven't been here long enough to have the full range of monthly bills ...

But I am interested in hearing from those people who are paying relatively large amounts for Internet ... why ? ...

Last year in Gyeonggi do I paid $27 a month for Bundled Cable TV and Unlimited Internet ... and I know from what I heard at the time that similar levels were available elsewhere ... especially in Seoul ... And just last week we had ads delivered where I am living now in Seoul which had similar prices ...

Now I do know that even $40 a month for just Internet is in comparison to Australia where I am from a very good price for what is in many cases an unlimited service ...

I consider myself very lucky this year to be in a new "smallish" oneroom apartment which I found out last Friday when I needed to collect something from my Landlord who I had not met before because everythig was arranged by the school ... that Cable TV and Internet are FREE to me ... Which I guess meant one of the things which is included as part of the accommodation to encourage people to live there ... I think that he told me that because the post man had delivered a bill into my letter box by mistake (which I only found out because I had to ask my principal to explain what it was for ... because it was for a lot more than I would have expected for a first bill ... and she said it was for more than one apartment and she would talk to the landlord to find out what was going on ...) ... So in one fell swoop my monthly expenses went down by at least $30 ... which I am not going to complain about ...

All I need to do now is to get through another 10 days and I will get my first pay ... And at the same time get the first lot of real bills for Korea ... I don't quite count my first electricity bill which was for a total of 8 days or so and was for 3,400 won ...

[michael5799042]

$200 a month for me.

[KrazyInKlamath]

This past month my bills went so:

Apartment maintenance-10,000
Gas-30,000 (I cook a lot at home. Winter is about 40,000)
Electric-6,000 (Hopefully won't be too insane since I have a new air conditioner and I live in a shaded place on the first floor)
Cable-6,600
Cell Phone-40,000
Telephone-4,000
Internet-included in the apartment rent which my school pays

At my old place when I was in Daegu, everything was about the same except for the electricity. In the summer (due to an ancient air conditioners in two rooms) my roommate and I paid about 200,000.

[bettyspaghetti]

I'm moving to Seoul next month- an ideas on which is the cheapest cable/internet bundle? I have a lap top, does this include a router? Is free wifi easy to piggy back off of??

[the ireland]

internet: 35,000
helloD cable: 13,000
electricity: 40,000-50,000
gas:30,000(will drop over summer)
apartment fees:52,000, but that is paid by the school, we don't pay building fees

[icicle]