Korean Job Discussion Forums

[teatoast]

Does anybody know whether it's possible to use a UK iPhone in Korea?

I've already read somewhere that roaming charges are phenomenal (especially for data) and am basically just looking for a way to call, text and use apps...would it be possible for me to use a Korean SIM in the phone for this and disable the 3G signal so that only wifi can be used? I've heard of jailbreaking iphones but don't know whether this allows foreign SIMs to be used...help!

PS: I know I could just use another phone over there but I love my iphone and it's super useful as a remote for my Mac whilst teaching (I use Keynote a lot) so I could really use the advice.

Thanks chaps!

[Drew10]

Get it unlocked and you can set it up over here with a full plan (talk/text/data). If not...you can still buy an iphone here, you'd just have to take a day or 2 to set it up how you like it. If you go that route, the iphone you bought here can be unlocked for use back in the UK.

Basically, for an iphone to go anywhere outside of its country of origin, it must be unlocked, unless you plan to roam.

[teatoast]

Thank you! Do you know whether it is illegal to unlock an iPhone? Also, is it my provider/Apple/a bloke in a dodgy shop who can do it? I'm on a contract here in the UK until late 2012 and am hoping to move in January so it would be a big help to me if I didn't have to buy a new one whilst over there.

[Drew10]

It's not illegal by any means. I'm not sure in the UK if your carrier would unlock it. I know people from the U.S are having problems with their carriers unlocking their phones. Here in Korea, it is the carrier that unlocks the phones. It is possible to do yourself if you're tech savvy enough.

I would check with your carrier first though. In order to unlock it by any other means, you would have to jailbreak it. While that itself is not illegal, it voids your warranty.

[DeLaRed]

[Drew10]

[travelnguy]

I requested my iphone to be unlocked. I got a Korean message stating it was unlocked. I put in an SK Telecom USIM card from an iPhone 4 and it didn't work. It said no service.

KT said my phone was unlocked though. We'll see in a few weeks when I try it outside of Korea. I will be pleasantly surprised if it is unlocked.

Good luck.

[Drew10]

Travelnguy,

After you put in the SK sim card, did you re-sync with iTunes?

You should have synced with iTunes, removed the KT sim card, popped in the SK sim card and re-synced with iTunes.

To my knowledge, that's how the process goes. I'm not an iPhone user, but we have assisted with unlocks at my store in the past.

[travelnguy]

Thanks Drew10. No, I did not re-sync with iTunes. I just turned the phone off and back on again. I didn't want to re-sync because I was afraid of losing my friend's data as it was their SIM card.

Would this work with a prepaid SIM card from Korea? Or what about something like this?

http://item.gmarket.co.kr/detailview/Item.asp?goodscode=201452364&pos_shop_cd=SH&pos_class_cd=111111111&pos_class_kind=T&keyword_order=SIM%c4%ab%b5%e5&keyword_seqno=100026026&search_keyword=SIM%C4%AB%B5%E5

Thanks again for the information

[Drew10]

That sim card looks a little too big for an iPhone 4. The 4's use the micro sim cards.

You could always go to an SK shop and attempt to set it up as a pre-paid to really find out.

[travelnguy]

Thought I would up this as I just got the magical words from iTunes. "Your phone is now unlocked." Well, something along those words.

1. I requested to have my phone unlocked and they sent me a Korean message with some instructions. I followed those instructions and they didn't work. Apparently, I should have synced my phone with the new SIM card.

2. I took my SIM card out of the phone and synced it.

3. I put my original SIM card back in the iphone and clicked on the restore to factory settings button.

4. It went through it's thing and the unlock message appeared.

So, if any of you get the unlock message from KT, there's no need to wait for a SIM card. Go ahead and do what I did. It can't hurt you phone. I just had to re-sync it to get my songs and everything back on it. That took about 20 minutes.

Thanks for all the help everyone.