Korean Job Discussion Forums

[loki82]

Quick question to anyone who might know:

I have a Mac Powerbook and I'm used to taking it everywhere with me back home, to make use if the wireless airport. Here I seem to get a strong signal in every coffee shop, but for some reason whatever modem I'm accessing doesn't actually let me get online. I haven't seen something like this before, does anyone know what the deal is?

[cheem]

You're getting open and closed signals; the closed ones requiring authentication. Unless you subscribe to a service such as NESPOT, your only option is to test each of the signals and hope you can pick up an open (free) network.

Which coffee shops are you trying to get online? Starbucks is partnered with SKTelecom (http://www.skwin.com) which is currently offering wi-fi free of charge. Registering for an account is not a trivial task, however, and connecting with OS X requires some black magic.

Having said that, I am posting this from an iBook in Starbucks and the connection is solid.

[loki82]

Ah, I think most of the places I've tried have had NESPOT. So that's like a pay-in-advance Fatport sort of setup, huh? I tried one Starbucks but it was in a department store. I got a signal named 'Daegu' with the same problem.

How does one go about this laborous task of signing up, and which animal do I sacrifice to the OSX gods for this black magic?

[cheem]

[loki82]

Funny, I was actually on the second floor of the Seattle's Best today trying to figure out the wireless - but like a fool, I was on the right side, and thus only getting the roadblock that is NESPOT.

Do you need to have an SK phone account to be able to sign up? I'm afraid I don't, and I'm still too fresh-off-the-boat to have any real friends to ask to help out. If you don't need one, would you be able to link me to the sign-up page for foreigners? I appreciate the help.

[cheem]

AFAIK, you do need a mobile account with SK Telecom. Be sure to ask any prospective girlfriends which carrier they're with before you commit.

[patchy]

I have a Mac too and found that it's simple to get connected once you know how - there were a few false trials before I got connected as the skwin people don't tell you the whole story. (There is an skwin phone number to assist English speakers but it's not on the English website and I can't remember how I found the number - you might have to ring directory assistance, but once you get the person, they're willing to help, especially with obtaining an skwin ID - it's just that they're not that knowledgeable, and they will deny that you can connect if you have a mac).

First of all you don't need a telephone account with SKTelecom. I have an LG phone account. (But you do need a Nate.com registration number). To get an skwin ID, go to the skwin.com page in English and fill out the sign-up form including the alien registration number. You have to leave the bottom part blank where it asks for your skwin ID. You get that by clicking on the button next to where you put in the alien registration number. It will do some checking to see if it's a valid number, matches with your name, that kind of thing, and if it all checks out OK, a box pops open for choosing your own ID and password. Once you've done that you can put the ID name you've chosen in the skwin ID space and finish registering.

But you won't be able to connect yet. If you see the skwin ID space you will see there is a @nate.com after it, which is there because you have to register with nate.com (although the skwin person will tell you don't need to - she was wrong).

Go to to the nate.com site and ring the customer service number at the bottom of the page - you will need a Korean speaker for this, who will let the person know you are a foreigner. The nate person will probably tell you to fax them your ID papers to them and in 24 hours they will text-message you a temporary ID, usually a variation on your alien registration number.

After you get the temporary number go to the nate.com site and register there using your skwin ID as your nate.com ID. I didn't finish registering at nate.com and I could still connect so you may not need to actually fill out the registration form, but you will still have to contact nate.com and get a temporary ID assigned to you, this temporary ID might be enough for them to put you on their system it appears.

The reason why you need to do the second step, contacting nate.com, is because the skwin ID does not work unless it's also a nate.com ID, that is, until you can write it as [email protected], even though your skwin ID (without the @nate.com) tag will work fine on the skwin site when you log in there.

This was the snag that caught me until somebody tried typing the @nate.com after the ID AFTER I had contacted nate.com (as I had tried the @nate.com thing already but before I had joined nate.com so it didn't work).

If you follow the link above in cheem's post, http://www.appleforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36119, it will be easy for you to get connected even though you might not be able to read Korean, just follow the images which are screenshots, in that link. Warning: to see the images you have to copy and paste the addresses into your address bar as you will not be able to see them otherwise and will just get an error message. (And it might not tell you that you need a nate.com ID. If you already have a nate.com ID you probably had no problems connecting by following the directions, unlike me).

(Basically, the instructions are to open Network Preferences, choose a new account, make it connect via Airport, choose the SKTelecom option that pops up for network, choose OK; then open Internet Connect, select 802.1X, choose Edit Configurations, make a new configuration, choose Airport, SKTelecom, and put your skwin ID in including the @nate.com tag - NB. it won't work without the @nate.com tag, input password, and for Protocol, choose MD5, click OK, and you will get a new box, click connect in this new box - it will say connecting via MD5. Then open a browser - voila, you are connected.)