Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bangbayed]

After being told by numerous vendors in Yongsan that I needed to get married to a Korean (F2 visa) to obtain an SK phone, or that I would have to pay about double for a phone, I went back to where I got my original KTF phone in Shinchon. There's about a half dozen phone shops around exits 2 and 3 of Shinchon station (the corners where Macdonald's and A Twosome Place are) that are foreigner friendly. One even had a sign that said Foreigners welcome.

I switched from KTF to SKT, got a brand new Motorola MS400 (the small sliding phone) in my name , paid a 200,000 won deposit and didn't need a credit card; although I do prefer the credit card automatic payment system better. Saves me a trip to the bank and I can easily confirm the charges since I get statements from the bank and a statement from the phone company with a little pie chart telling me how I used my phone for the month. And despite the warnings from the Yongsan dealers that the only reason Shinchon would sell me a cheaper phone was because I would have to pay for additional monthly charges, the monthly charges were minimal (3000 won) for things like personalized ringtones etc. Which any new subscriber would have to pay for anyways.

Bottom line, forget Yongsan and the crappy Itaewon places. Go to Shinchon where they have student prices and welcome foreigners without hassles and pushy salespeople. Nice flashy phones too. Just bring your ID card and a bank account number. And cash.

[withington]

Bangbayed's old post was right on the money. Go to Sinchon, not Yongsan. I got my old phone in Yongsan back in 2005. LG Telecom service, Cyon phone. Had to pay 200,000 security deposit. When I recently went to cancel service, LG had no record of the shop (now under different ownership of course) taking my deposit. The contract did not have anything on it about the 200,000, and if I had a receipt I long since lost it. My bad, but it also shows the integrity of the operation in question that they didn't report the deposit for my account.
LG meanwhile says it's odd I had to pay a deposit because they don't make customers do that. I said, it's because I am foreign and have no credit history here. I have also heard of other foreigners having to pay this, so either the lady on the phone and her manager don't know what's up, or a bunch of stores are taking the p_ out of us.
I went to Sinchon to get SK Telecom service. No deposit needed, although I had to wait 4 hours in the shop. That seemed to be more about glitchy misfortune than anything systematic, so I still recommend going to Sinchon. Prior to all this, I bought another Cyon in Yongsan, and it sucked. Maybe not Yongsan guy's fault, but I don't care. If it comes from Yongsan, expect disappointment. The guy in Sinchon said the guys in Yongsan are liars, and I had to agree, despite the obvious bias.

[MSU Fan]

I haven't had a problem buying a good cell phone at Yongsan. The price was about $50 for a new phone and costs about $10 a month. All I had to do was show my Alien Card to verify I existed. I had first bought a used phone for only $10, but it was in pretty bad condition.

Just go to Yongsan and get a decent phone, particularly one with an English-Korean dictionary (very handy). Most salespeople know a decent amount English, so you shouldn't have any trouble getting a quality phone.

[alienbutter]

You can buy the phone easily.

http://www.itkorea4u.com

[Misera]

[Misera]

Ok so I decided that SK's activation fee was a lil high and we were offered better phones with KTF without having to get someone to sign or put down a 200k deposit (you do need bank account and ARC though). If you want to know which store we went to here are the directions:

Sinchon station Exit #8. Walk down a little and you'll see a SK/SHOW/KTF etc. cellphone shop to the left. There's usually one guy standing around at the entrance. Each time we've been there there has always been 3 young guys there that do the selling. There's one or two people behind at the computers, and this time there was a girl doing the selling as well.

The phones they offered were a 50k Anycall fairly normal slider phone, a white slider phone with a circle on the outside pad, and the phones that we got: LG-KH1800M LG Metallic Slim Slide phones for 70k. They have them in grey and red (red is prettier :p).

The people there are really nice. For our one year contract, we had to pay the 70k, they provided the USIM for free, sign up for internet for 1 month for 12k (some weird korean law??), and agree to pay 30k as activation fee over 3 months. They provided the cellphone charger and a clear case for free. You get to pick the last 4 digits of your cell number on your own. Anyway, we were pretty satisfied The phone has a korean-> english dictionary (and other way around), subway map, pretty good camera, mp3 player, and tons of other features.

IF you want to get a super super cheap phone, if you go out exit 7 there's a department store to your right. In the department store, there's a cellphone shop on the 1st floor. The guy does KTF service as well and has a white cellphone for only 20k. My friend said it might be refurbished but if you just want something cheap, then it's probably good enough. He also offers 3 month contracts with the same 50k Anycall phone.

[Carla]

If you have the mental capability of remember to go buy minutes, then I had no problem with my pre-pay phone. And it was mine. But I did know some people who, while they were good people, couldn't remember to load minutes on their phone if their life depended on it.

[karismatic]

Are prepaids still really popular there? Plan to go in August of 09, thanks

[melek-taus]

I went with my Scottish friend to Yongsan to buy a phone. On the 7th? floor we wandered to a counter and a man in a suit was called over. He spoke fantastic English and guided us to a different counter where a clerk had a sign reading "PPS here". I assume this was for pre-paid service. The clerk sold us both small cell phones for 40k plus 10K worth of talk time. I brought my ARC but my friend didn't even need his. He actually brought an out-dated passport! We were out of there in 25 minutes with our phones. They were obviously used, but work great. No worries. Phone even has a dictionary.

[thurst]

is there any place where you can buy a pre-paid/card phone off the rack like in the US? i only ask bcuz i lost my passport and prob won't have a new one in hand for a week or so.

[deadhead09]

my korean friend gave me his old phone to use. how do i go about putting the phone in my name and either picking up a monthly contract or doing the pay as you go thing?
(it is LG telecom model if that matters)

[climber159]

[alphakennyone]

that site http://www.itkorea4u.com/ looks pretty cool. order online, phones come with two batteries, can use your passport until you get your ARC

BUT

33 won for 10 seconds? that sounds like it would add up REALLY fast.

[catchshime]

It sounds like if you are going to rely mostly on texting and are looking for something cheap, getting a refurb + pay as you go is the way to go.

[i_teach_esl]

forgive if this was posted already, but i got a cell phone plan via global village...

http://theblackeslteacher.blogspot.com/2007/03/cell-phone-in-korea.html