Korean Job Discussion Forums

taobenli · Joined: 26 Apr 2004

Hi, all-

I will be in Korea June-September for university language study. Unfortunately I'll be leaving my husband in the U.S. and we'll want to talk on the phone and e-mail as often as possible. Last time I did this (also in Korea) I bought a used cell phone and got prepaid cards for it. I couldn't call internationally with it, but my husband could call me.

Is there a better way to do this? I still have the (kind of tacky) old cell phone and charger and could bring it to see if I can get set up this way again. Is there a better way for me to be able to call out internationally with a cell phone? (In 2005 when I had to call internationally I had to do it with cards from a payphone).

Finally, I'll have my laptop this time and am looking into getting a webcam and headphones and doing Skype. But I heard they're in trouble- are they still taking new customers? Or are there any similar services?

Thank you for your advice!

kimchi story · Joined: 23 Nov 2006

If you both have a webcam, then videochat via yahoo or msn is a reliable and free way to go. The logitech laptop cam has a mic built in.

I have a prepay cel that's a few years old (no prepay cards - it's a ktf phone and I go into the ktf store by my place and give'em 20 grand every coupla months) - I call internationally by using an international calling card.

Hope that helps.

cuppotea · Joined: 05 May 2007

hmm i hope skype is not in trouble...i wonder where you heard that? i think you're confusing them with vonage or that other service whose name i forgot.

anyway even if they do go defunct (and i hope not!) there are a whole slew of competing services...aol, msn, google, yahoo to mention a few that will be happy woo you away from skype.

what i suggest is getting a local number from one of these services. this is a local number based in your home country. you can have this number forwarded to your cellphone or any other number. this allows the caller to call you at their local rates and you to pay your local rates too (plus a few cents a minute or so for the forwarding service).