Korean Job Discussion Forums

[zerosummer]

I was provided with a cellphone through my school, though I still have to pay for the monthly service. The problem is...I'm kind of a tech junkie, and it's a pretty mediocre phone. Obviously, the phone store employees don't speak any English, so I can't ask them this stuff.

My question: can I take the sim card (or whatever it's called here, but it has one) out of this phone and put it into a better phone, the same way I could in America? And, if so, will I be able to use the expanded versions of similar utilities (I think my phone has some kind of web access included, but the interface is terrible).

And here's a real long-shot....is there any chance I could use an unlocked US phone? Even when I switch the main interface of my phone to English, all of the non-basic submenus are still in Hangul.

[bossface]

Korean phones are CDMA, thus they don't have SIM cards.

Unlocked US phones: doubtful. It would have to be CDMA (ie Sprint, Verizon, and some smaller carriers like US Cellular but NOT T-Mobile or AT@T/Cingular) and CDMA phones are not generally "unlockable." I had a US CDMA phone when I got here that was far superior to any Korean phone I could afford (and it was a Samsung phone to boot) but there was no way to activate Korean service on it, despite the fact that the phone was not associated with a US account.

I presume you could buy a new phone and port your Korean number to it, but even getting a prepaid phone here has to be done by a Korean. The cell phone game here is insane. You can outright purchase (ie, no contract) a Samsung or LG phone in the US for less then you can here.

[zerosummer]

That's unfortunate.

I was hoping that I could buy a better phone (I know I'd have to pay full price) and put the chip in (there is some kind of removable chip that looks like a sim card under the battery, but you're right, it's CDMA. Does it serve the same purpose?). So switching that chip to another korean phone isn't possible? Or do you mean I wouldn't be able to buy a Korean phone without signing up for a plan?

I've heard horror stories about trying to buy phones in Korea. Maybe I could find one on ebay or something?

Oh, if it matters, my current carrier is SK Telecom.

[orosee]

Hmmm, not sure if the thing with the SIM card is correct. I have a phone I brought with me, Nokia N80, that does 3G. Works fine here with roaming on a Thai SIM card, but of course expensive. Oh, and SMS doesn't work since I don't have the local settings. But: I also have a locally purchased LG Viewty on SKT contract and that has a SIM card (called USIM card - not sure if that is different) and that card fits nicely into my Nokia, and even better, it works. Again, no SMS, but as a mere phone it is fine. No text messaging in Korea means of course that you have no chances of ever having a girlfriend here, whe will dump you after 2 hours of textlessness.

So I'd say see if you can open up the phone, and start digging for anything resembling a SIM card. The give it a try on a 3G phone.

[bossface]

ooh, I forgot about 3G, sorry. I've had my ghetto (but basically bulletproof) Samsung Anycall 2G deal forever now. I used to change phones in the states every 6 months, I guess I'm out of touch now since getting a phone here as a foreigner is so needlessly difficult.

Is your phone a 3G phone? I read in another post that the apparent SIM could actually be for banking or some other non-phone purpose.

[orosee]

There must be some very cool things you can do with your phone (although for whatever reason, I am not allowed to do them), such as using the phone like a T-Money card, and most ATM I have seen have a small pad on which you can put the phone to do whatever is there explained in great detail in, unfortunately, Korean only.

The Nokia N80, which is still superior to any of the local phones I have used or seen, unfortunately fails in one silly respect: Of all the countries listed in its automatic setup, Korea is missing. Hence I have no idea what data to enter for the SMS and MMS services. Clearly the settings I have now - Thailand's AIS - don't work here, not even on roaming.

Sort of stupid to make a phone that DOES work in Korea and then not include the country in the auto-setup list

A couple other phones I brought with me definitely don't worl on account of not being 3G, so shame on them: HTC Touch, and the magnificient iPhone, but the first has WiFi and can be used for email services under Exchange, the latter could be used to surf the web OUTSIDE of the stupid NATE cage, as an iPod and just to install/uninstall apps.

Finally, I have a Belkin Skype phone which operates on wireless networks and can be used for calls anywhere you find free WiFi, and at home if you have a wireless network.

Ladida, I still have a USB Skype phone from B1.

I have to say that my regard for the quality of the Korean phone scene has drastically diminished; I'd change my LG Viewty any minute for a last generation Nokia, the iPhone 2 or even a gaymoto.