Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tenchu77491]

So~ do you need an ARC for a prepaid or cash based phone? Say~ an SK phone? Can you get one without an arc?

[ChinaBoy]

you CAN actually get one without an ARC, but it's not umm... probably legal, and costs a hell of a lot more than regularly

[dimnd]

cannot imagine them being illegal

[some waygug-in]

I got my phone before I got the ARC, and then I just buy time on a prepaid SK card each month. It varies depending on how much I use it, but so far it's been about 10 - 20 thousand won/ month.


Big pain in the arse when the time runs out though.

[M-Tea]

You can get one with just your passport. Depends on the vendor but is pretty cheap usually. (30-60k won) The phones aren't great but will still make your foreign phone look like trash.

I got one attached to an LG account. I hear some of them have rollover. LG ones do not. I think some of the SK ones do.

I don't remember if you need your ARC for this or not but another option is to grab a bank book and head to a Phone n Fun. You can get a direct debit from your bank book. It's a bit rough if your Korean isn't at least between basic and intermediate level so borrow a Korean friend and buy them some coffee afterward. If you do it this way, you do need to make any more annoying trips to the store to recharge your phone and it won't run of money unless your bank account does.

[tenchu77491]

I got an old bank book from before my runner incident. I may check that out, is there many of those shops around Seoul, around the Hoegi station/daedongmun area? I can read and write korean, got some basic grammar. I can probably bring a friend. It seems like a good deal.

How much are the phones themselves?