Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Troglodyte]

I got phone a second hand couple months ago. I went to a KT office to get it activated. When I activated it, I asked how long the credit lasts for making outgoing calls and after that for receiving calls. They said that I could make calls for 4 weeks for 10,000Won. That sounds about right. I think it was similar in the past when I've had phones here. They weren't sure for how long I could receive calls after the outgoing time had expired but they said it is a long time and should be at least 6 months. OK. That also seems familiar. I'm quite sure there were times in the past that I've gone more than 2 months with only incoming calls.

Now for the strange part. Recently I wasn't making many calls, so I didn't recharge the credit on my phone. After the 4 weeks, I couldn't make calls. Normal. I could still receive calls and texts. Normal. But a few weeks later I noticed that I couldn't receive calls anymore. When I tried using the phone, I got a message in Korean. It basically said that I had requested my account to be closed. Huh?!? So a week or so later (it wasn't a priority and I had other stuff that I needed to do) I went back to the shop where I originally activated the account. They checked on their computers. Sure enough the account is deactivated. It turns out (or so they say) that prepaid accounts deactivate 14 days after your outgoing credit expires. Wow! That's a pretty short time.

So I said, "OK. Can you reactivate it?" "No. You will have to activate a new account with a new phone number." No problem. I can give out the new number to my friends. So I asked them to just make me a new number. No can do. Apparently the phone is too old or something. I didn't quite understand that part, and neither did the Korean friend who was with me. But the phone is only about 4 years old. Sure, it's not a new model, but I HAVE seen people with this model. And it was ok to use this phone earlier this year when I first started using it.


Does everyone else have the same problem with pre-paid? Do you really only get 2 weeks of incoming after your outgoing credit expires? Or is this something new?

Does anyone know from experience how long you can continue to get incoming calls after your outgoing credit expires? What's the longest that you've left your phone without adding credit? What phone company were you with?

For me, the major benefit of having a prepaid phone is that you only charge it when you actually want to use it. If I HAVE TO put 10,000 Won on the account ever month then I might as well just get a monthly plan for 10,000 Won.


What about old phones? Why would they not let me use an old phone ? I'm not talking about some old brick phone from 20 years ago. This phone is only about 4 years old. It doesn't have a SIM card, but I doubt that can be the problem as many phones still don't have SIM cards. I DID activate it earlier this year and it was no problem then.


If anyone has any experience (similar or different), I'd really like to hear about it. If there is more than 1 type of prepaid and I've just happened to have signed up for the wrong type let me know. I doubt it but who knows? If there's a better company for prepaid, what is it?

[dalem]

The Image store in itaewon sells phone credit. They also can set up your number and such. They've always treated me fine. It's directly outside one of the exits (on the opposite side from the Hamilton Hotel)

[onlyinkorea87]

As far as I know there's no such thing as a 10,000 won plan. The whole point of a prepaid phone is that you decide what amount goes on it every month. You could get a real contract--and the lowest I've ever heard anyone pay is 30,000. I got a prepaid phone with SHOW a while back, 10,000 will last you four weeks? That price might get you through a week or a week in a half if you don't really use it. I pay 50,000 a month, and go into a SHOW each month to pay the bill. To be honest, my phone isn't that old, but it sucks (drops calls, people can hardly hear me, only works at the kitchen of my apartment...). I'm getting a real contract in August.

If the company is causing problems, you should switch to another one and definitely go for a real phone--they are nicer and less of a hassle than prepaid phones. I'm sure there are people that don't have these problems with their prepaid phones, but you never know what you're going to get when you get one.

Well, hope that helps and your able to get a new phone/fix that problem!

http://www.onlyinkorea87.wordpress.com
http://www.youtube.come/onlyinkorea87

[air76]

I have a pre-paid phone with SHOW....and setting up the phone was one of the great battles of my life. My girlfriend bought me a brand new phone off another foreigner who'd got it free somehow....anyhow, the phone that SHOW had given to this foreigner was somehow not allowed to be owned by foreigners (basic f-ing phone, not an iPhone or anything like that) and it took me 3 months to finally get it set up through one of the most infuriating K-experiences of my time here. Anyhow, I won't delve into all that.

I buy 10,000 won cards, and a card usually lasts about 3 weeks....but I generally try to just send texts with my phone and make calls from the office. I have no idea when the account expires after the card empties out, but I am sure that I've gone a month before.

[Troglodyte]

I know where to get a second hand phone. There are plenty of places in Itaewon. I also know places in other areas. That's not a problem.

There ARE monthly plans (not pre-paid) that cost 12,000 /month.

I don't need a new phone. I have an MP3 player. I have a digital camera. I don't need those in my phone. For me, a basic phone is fine.

I rarely use the phone in Korea. The only reason that I got it is because my friends are always saying that I need to get one so that they can call me. But the reality is that I rarely use it. For calling friends back home, I use Skype. Even for people IN Korea, I often use Skype. Usually the phone just keeps accumulating credit. So, I don't need a monthly plan. And I don't need to charge 50,000 to it each month.


What I would like to know is how long a prepaid phone can keep receiving calls after the outgoing credit has expired?

I'd also like to know if anyone has heard about some phones that can't be activated because they were "too old" (old being 4 years). This phone IS a pre-paid phone. I know because I used it as a pre-paid phone already. Apparently though, it's now "too old" (or something like that) to be activated. Anyone heard of something similar?

[SeoulNate]

[Troglodyte]

[confucian]

With my prepaid KTF phone, after the 10 000 won for 4 weeks or I use all the time, I have 45 days to put new minutes into it-if not, it expires like the former president.

[Troglodyte]

[Troglodyte]

I've been to a couple of KT offices in Bucheon (both phones I have are locked to KT). Both of the offices were QOOK SHOW, which I believe is the new name for KTF.

All the shops that I went to recently said that 10,000 Won credit lasts 4 weeks (as expected). They also said that after the credit expires, the phone can receive incoming calls for 2 weeks. Huh? I've never heard of this before now. The office that I went to today, also said that there is a 25,000 Won fee to activate the account. I've never paid a fee to activate a prepaid phone before.

Has KT changed their policies on prepaid phones recently?

If there is anyone else who has recently activated a prepaid phone with KT, then I'd be interested in knowing how long your phone stays active after the credit runs out, and whether you had to pay an activation fee.

[seoul777]

[UknowsI]

I had a very similar problem, except I'm on a subscription plan! I was home on vacation for one month. I used my phone almost daily for texting to Korea , but after about 2 weeks it suddenly stopped working. I could still receive messages but couldn't message back. Then when I came back to Korea I went straight to the KTF store at Incheon airport. They told me that I had closed my subscription and that I had to go to a real KT store. I went to a KT store in town and they told me that my number had been deleted because my previous visa had expired and that I had to get a new one. They recommended me to buy a new phone, because otherwise I would have to pay for a new number. There is nothing wrong with my phone, so I declined and went to their main office a few days later. They told me that I still had 2 months left on my down-payments on my phone and then they fixed everything in 5 minutes giving me my original number back.

I have had a little trouble with KTF earlier which I wrote about in this thread: http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=178208&highlight=
What I have learned from it is that most employees in the local offices seems to have worked there for less than a week and doesn't know anymore than you as a customer. They usually have to make a phone call for every question I ask. If you go to a main office they are usually competent people who can solve any problem.

[Troglodyte]