Korean Job Discussion Forums

charlieDD · Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Location: Seoul, Korea

Having been in the states now a few months, I've had the chance to use a mobile phone for the first time in U.S., with Motorola on SK Telecom being my first mobile phone experience.

I've learned a new term here in the states: "drop out" It happens constantly. I have been using T-Mobile, so my experience is limited to their service, but I have heard it is a common problem here in the states. When I was in Korea, I absolutely never had any "drop out" problems (well, unless the person or I went into an operating elevator).

The quality of voice in Korea was always exceptional. Here . . it's often difficult to understand what someone is saying on the other end.

In Korea my mobile worked in the depths of parking garages and subway stations, in tunnels, under bridges, and it worked everywhere in the country, even the remotest mountain hiking paths.

Here, if I take my phone in the basement locker room of the university's gymnasium, I lose service. (Not that I often need a phone in the locker room, but did want to make a call the other day from there after my workout and couldn't.) If I take my phone inside a storage facility where I've stored a few things pending my final destination here in the states (still interviewing around the country), I lose service. If I am taking a leisurely stroll and talking on the phone and I pass under the highway overpass, I lose my call.

And here, if I go outside the main suburbs, I run into areas where there is no service.

In Korea, you call . . you pay; you receive a call, you don't pay. Here, both the caller and the receiver have to pay, generally, for the call. So, I find myself reluctant at times to call someone's cell phone here just for a friendly chat. I'm afraid I'm imposing on them when they have to pay for every minute of my call too.

So, those of you in Korea using mobile phone services, count your blessings. They've got a topnotch network, infrastructure and service there.

IncognitoHFX · Joined: 06 May 2007 Location: Yeongtong, Suwon

I used to do customer service for Nextel, which is owned by Sprint. I know exactly what you mean.

In Canada we never have dropped calls either, we only lose signal when going into a Wal-Mart or an elevator. In the United States, there aren't enough towers to meet demands and cheap-ass companies don't seem to be doing anything to improve the situation. Try getting cellular service in Montana--because you can't, anywhere.

I'd recommend powering your phone off and on once a day, that will raise your priority to the nearest towers and you'll be less likely to have your call dropped. Even so, it will still happen.

The US has a geographical area that is way larger than Korea. They also have an older infrastructure. That means a hell of a lot more towers over a hell of a lot more area, that singularly can't pull as much weight, which means you don't have a strong network. I bet Korea's cellular towers are a lot newer (and I bet cellular service in Korea is more recent) and each individual tower can do a lot more. When they built the towers in South Korea, they probably accounted for how many people would be using them--whereas the success of cellular phones in North America wasn't forsaw.

I'm not %100 sure though, just speculating.

pkang0202 · Joined: 09 Mar 2007

Sounds about right. I just would like to add a few more things.

The geographic land mass of the US makes it a monumental task to upgrade or roll out new cell phone technology in the US. Korea could upgrade/replace all their cell towers within months. It would take years for the US to do the same thing.

As for cell phone charges and rates. I would say the US is more expensive than anywhere else. There isn't competition. The cell phone companies are more like a cartel. Look at all the cell phone plans and they look the same.

The US cell phone companies have a nice strategy going on. Instead of offering better plans to attract new customers, they just gotta offer new/different phones than their competitors.

MissSeoul · Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Location: Somewhere in America

IncognitoHFX · Joined: 06 May 2007 Location: Yeongtong, Suwon

pest2 · Joined: 01 Jun 2005 Location: Vancouver, Canada

Actually, I think both Korea and the US suck for phones compared to Europe or many other Asian places. For someone who travels alot, Korea is terrible simply because 1)the phones are only usable in Korea 2) as a foreigner only in Korea for a short time, you have to pay a ridiculous amount -- prepaid -- per minute to use your phone. The OP already pointed out why the US sucks...

I got a SIM phone in China (for about 30$ since it was slightly used and stuff in China is way cheap in general), and I've used it in China, Thailand, and about 7 European countries, now, by simply getting a new chip in each place.

Came back to Korea and had to get a whole new phone that I will again have to try to sell in another 5.5 months when I finally leave this place for good.

IncognitoHFX · Joined: 06 May 2007 Location: Yeongtong, Suwon

Once you have a phone in Korea, what is it generally like? When I move to Korea I'm definitely going to have to get a cell phone.

What are the rate plans like? Are there contracts? How decent are the phones? What is the best carrier?

Thanks.

SuperFly · Joined: 09 Jul 2003 Location: In the doghouse

Tmobile sucks ass. Get Verizon. After my 2 year contract with suckTMobile, I switched to verizon and never had a dropped call.

cbclark4 · Joined: 20 Aug 2006 Location: Masan

Yes Verizon, seconded here.

I had 2 phones with 700 shared minutes per month, I paid $70/month.

I am not much of a talker never used all my minutes.

I think the overage was $0.20 per minute though.

cbc

happygirl · Joined: 20 Feb 2006

I'm going back to San Antonio, Texas next month. Been looking at some of the local rate plans. There are a few that are unlimited calling plans with nationwide long distance included for $45 a month and a 1 year contract. That's what I'm going to do.

http://www.mycricket.com/

Had Sprint for 4 years before I left because I got locked into those d@mn contracts. Hated it! Dropped calls, poor voice quality, incorrect billing almost every month, awful phones.... I will NEVER go back to them even if they offered me a free phone and free service. Talk about poor customer service. Korea has outstanding service compared to them.

Wow, it's rare to get me on a serious rant. That felt good.

IncognitoHFX · Joined: 06 May 2007 Location: Yeongtong, Suwon

The best cell phone company in the US, hands down, is Metro PCS. If you can get it, get it. Apparently it's dirt cheap, has excellent reception and unlimited nationwide calls.

pest2 · Joined: 01 Jun 2005 Location: Vancouver, Canada

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

In Korea we also get free repairs and upgrades. I don't even have a land-line here, as I have absolutely no need of one. When I was back in Canada this summer I couldn't believe how many places there were where handphones didn't work. This is perhaps the best country in the world in terms of mobile phone service for the price you pay.

danby_ll · Joined: 06 Dec 2006

I use a prepaid phone in Korea and I pay such a ridiculous amount of money per minute. If I put 10,000 won on my phone, I will have to charge it again less than a week later and I never make phone calls over 2 minutes. I just send texts or will call someone and have them call me back.

In Canada, incoming calls are free, at least on my plan. Plus free weekends and evenings after 6:00 p.m., free Canadian long distance on weekends, 250 daytime minutes. Korea's cell phone plans suck. I have heard that the concept of free evenings/weekends does not exist here.

However, the actual phones here are a hundred times more advanced.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004