Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bsrosenfeld]

My recruiter set me up with a pay as you go phone with T-World when I first arrived in Korea and before I had my ARC. That deal is about to expire (it was only good for 3 months) and I will have to either provide my ARC to keep the pay as you go or sign up for a contract phone.

I've done some research and a contract phone doesn't seem to be for me. I currently pay 20won per text message and 37won for 10 seconds of call time; about 10,000 - 15,000won per month. The cheapest contract phone I can find is about 30,000won per month.

So here are my questions:

Can I go to Itaewon/Yongsan and buy any cool phone and use that with my T-World account or are phones carrier specific like in the States?

Are there any pay as you go phones that I can get internet access with or will that require a data plan?

Is there anything I should be aware of when buying a new/used cellphone in Korea?


Thanks so much for your help.

[SeoulNate]

you dont need to buy a new phone.

Just find out where your boss got the phone and walk in with her name written down along with your phone number and ask them to charge it. If you dont speak any Korean just hand them the name and number and 20,000 won, they should know what to do.

The three month expiration thing means that you need to put money on the phone every three months or they are going to cancel your contract. So, in other words if you walk in the store every 2 and a half months, put 20-30 bucks on the phone it will never go inactive.

[bsrosenfeld]

Sorry for the incomplete thought. I know I don't have to get a new phone, but I really don't like the one I have now and would like to get something a little easier to text on and maybe with internet access.

While we're on the topic of recharging:

Is it possible to recharge without going into a store? Say online or over the phone using my debit card or bank account? My recruiter has been recharging for me, 10,000won at a time, but I will need to start doing it from now on.

Has anyone heard of your minutes expiring each month? When I press *11 on my T-World phone it gives me my current text/talk balance and it always gives me a date that is about 1 month after my last recharge.

Appreciate it.

[bsrosenfeld]

Moderator, please move to 'General Discussion' forum.

My bad.

[SeoulNate]

I was with T-world a few years ago and as far as i remember the minutes last for three months before they expire, not every month.

As for a new phone, since it sounds like you dont need a contract, i would just check out the local phone shops that use T-world, they should have nice used phone from about 20bucks. At which point you will probably need a Korean speaker to help you transfer the phone number. In addition, you will need the signature of whoever opened the account. Or, you can just start a new phone number, which is a lot easier if you dont care about the old number.

As for over the phone recharging, you can't, unless you have a korean credit card, but any of your coteachers can do it in like 5 minutes.

[jamiemexi]

Will they have iphone 4 in s. Korea?

[Ramen]

[bsrosenfeld]

I looked at getting an iPhone 3GS through SK (I think) and it required a 2-year contract and would still run you about 250,000won. On top of that the rate plans for the cheapest plan (30,000won per month) gave you really low data usage, number of texts and minutes.

I'd love to go back to having an iPhone, but just can't justify the expense.

[SeoulNate]