Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cantthinkof1]

so i have an unlocked iphone 3g that i brought over from the states. i was hoping that when the iphone got released in korea, i could either just put in a sim card and use it with SKT or bring it over to Show and set up a new account using my iphone. apparently this is not the case as they tell me that the iphone in korea is different from the one i have. of course i find this to be complete bs. just wondering if anyone else out there has gotten an iphone brought over to work in korea.

[dazzed]

There was a post bit back ago about using Iphone from US. It's a long and tedious process. Also the prob with is Korea only uses CDMA chips where as in US uses GSM.

[pkang0202]

There are like 100 threads about people wanting to use their home cell ere in korea. Check those threads.

[cantthinkof1]

sorry but im posing a different question than the ones previously posted. yes i have looked through those threads. what im wondering is if anyone has say taken someones iphone activated through KT and taken that sim card and put it in an iphone from the states.

i dont think apple went out and made an iphone with different specifications just for korea. its available in a 100 countries, im pretty sure the hardware is the same everywhere. again, the only reason i posted this thread is because korea now allows the sale of iphones whereas the previous threads were posted when it was not available. again this is an unlocked iphone meaning its not locked to an ATT network.

also, its really easy to just post a comment saying check another thread. im just lookin for people who are contemplating what im doing and have experimented. sorry dont mean to be mean.

[ppcg4]

Good luck buddy.

I've been trying for a year and a half. And even now that the iPhone is here, I'm still told that it's not possible. I've also heard rumors of a 500,000 won activation fee.

This is from having one of the phone guys in Itaewon actually call the phone company for me and talk to someone about it. He gets different answers from different representatives.

[victorology]

You can use it but you'll have to get it certified by the KCC first. It costs around 300,000 won and it takes about a month. If you want expedited service (about a week), it costs 500,000 won.

After that, you can go with SKT or KT. I hear 2GB data plans with SKT are 19,000 won.

[logan2003]

I have an LG KS20 not released in Korea, and it is unlocked. I can use sim cards from Korean phones. So I signed up for a Korean phone (with a sim), then put that sim in my LGKS20. I do not believe the iphone is different. I too took my phone to the office and they told me the same thing. I had my friends test their sim cards. Bingo it worked! I dont know if it had anything to do with it being a Korean made phone.

[steveohan]

i just went through the certification process with my unlocked iphone. it was a long wait (5 weeks) but worth it imo.

certification takes 4-5 weeks and costs around 300,000 won.
your phone needs to be hardware unlocked.
after you receive certification you can use it here.

i would recommend you stay far away from kt because they gave me the runaround for days.
skt put my iphone on their network in an hour.

for other people who said that you can just take a sim card out of a korean phone and pop it into the iphone, that wont work.

edit: if you have questions about the process, send me a pm and i will forward the contact info for the guy that deals with this at the kcc office (need a korean friend to call him).

[hugekebab]

300,000 is daylight bloody robbery.

[John Smith]

[Mr. Pink]

300,000 for activation, why would anyone pay that? Just go with a Korean iPhone and jailbreak it. Pretty nuts to pay 1/3 of the phone's cost just to get them to check if it works.

Korea is one of those weird entities that takes foreigners to the cleaners, yet cries fowl when foreigners take them to the cleaners.

[pkang0202]

OP
your question is not different than the hundeds of others about bringng a nonkorean phone into Korea. As you can see, you get the same answer that was given a hundred times with blackberries, nolias, samsungs, lg's, Sony ericsons, etc....

Any non Korean bought Phone must go through Korean certification, and then the phone's hardware whitelisted on koreas network.

[Xuanzang]

They get rid of WIPI but still find ways to screw us. Brilliant.

[kimchi girl]

this country is so screwed up

[unplugged_boy]