Korean Job Discussion Forums

freethought · Joined: 13 Mar 2005

I am leaving Korea and will be moving to Taiwan to work on my chinese for 6 months. I have a cell phone that is dual format, but SK says it wont work in taiwan with one of their carriers.

So if anyone knows a phone that is for sale in korea that will work internationally, please let me know.

kiwispanker · Joined: 10 Mar 2009

Which phone do you have? Was it purchased here in Korea?

freethought · Joined: 13 Mar 2005

My phone is the anycall global roaming phone model number: SCH-V920

It's got a couple of years on it now, but I needed a no hassle roaming phone since I travel a lot. It's worked in Asia, Africa, and both ends of the EU (paris to istanbul). I turn it on, set the function to roaming and it automatically detects the network. No special plan from SK required, and no signing up for anything.

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2006/09/talk_around_the_globe_with_samsung_v920.html

It says it's dual format, but I can't figure out why they said it wouldn't work if I bought a SIM card in taiwan.

I don't want to bring the phone with me and then have it not work, since I can probably sell it here for a anywhere between 80-120,000 won before I go.

Is SK just bullshitting me?

Xuanzang · Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Location: Sadang

Probably has to do with the WIPI protection that`s on it. I would just buy a used GSM phone in Taiwan. They'd come cheap and plug and play way easier than something from here.

freethought · Joined: 13 Mar 2005

yeah, that's what I think i will have to do. I may sell the phone and use my old one. I want to unlock it, since it's a great travel phone (the first global phone), but 've never unlocked one before and not sure how to go about doing it.

kiwispanker · Joined: 10 Mar 2009

Well I know that some Sky phones can read GSM SIM cards. They just need to be unlocked. The magic unlocking SIM can be had for 10,000 won at Technomart.

I have not tried this, but a lady suggested doing so when I asked about Korean phones that have GSM (not roaming, but SIM card reading) capabilities. She only said that "these specific KTF Sky phones" could do that. I have SK so I asked if there were any of those Sky phones on that network; she said no.

I'd suggest investing in a nice GSM phone while in Taiwan. Heck, HTC should be cheap there, right? I've never faced as much restrictions on cell phones as here in Korea.