Having a cell phone (핸드폰/haendeupon or hand phone, 휴대전화/hyudaejeonhwa) in Korea is like having oxygen. This place is absolutely bonkers for cellphones and hi-tech devices. As an expat in Korea, it's recommended that you seek one out as soon as possible, even if you have a small or limited social circle. Why? Because of Korea's cellphone penetration, you'll find that payphones are not widely prevalent. And if you do find one, many are not coin-operated, but take phone cards. If you're an english teacher, your school will almost certainly have a phone hooked up for you in your room, which will be handy for those calls home. But if you are out and about, you will find the lack of a cellphone to be very frustrating. Especially when you get stuck in a language barrier dilemma with someone or you're lost and need to call a Korean friend or your employer to help you navigate the situation.
Getting a cellphone is pretty straightforward. You buy a phone and then either have it on a monthly plan or a prepaid plan. We'll talk more about the details surrounding those.
[edit] Buying a cellphone
Phones cost anywhere from around 50,000 won for an old and/or second-hand model to over 500,000 won won for a new model, including a dizzying number of features such as a 3 megapixel camera, video recorder, mp3, tv, file viewer, mobile printing, photo studio function, wireless access, searchable phonebook while talking, video games, English/Korean dictionary, etc.
[edit] Electronic Markets
If you are in the Seoul or Gyeonggi-do area, then your best bet is going to be at one of the big electronics markets, like Yongsan, Technomart, or the International Electronics Market. All sell new phones, but some kiosks sell used ones.
If you're looking for a higher-end new phone, Lotte Mart has good prices, but requires a Korean credit card for setting up a new plan.
[edit] Itaewon and Yongsan
Also, there are many cellphone vendors in the Itaewon and Yongsan area who cater to foreigners.
Two good vendors of note in Itaewon are:
- If coming out of Burger King, turn left and walk around the side of the building and turn left up the road after the convenience store. This road will be the one with all the Korean food vendors and the odd juicy bar. Near the top of this street and on the right, you'll see a cellphone vendor with lots of phones available.
- Jenny's Cellular Phone Services. If coming out of Hamilton Hotel, turn right and walk for about 10-15 minutes and walk around the bend past the entrance to Itaewon street, until you start seeing more businesses on the other side of the bend. This small vendor is a few doors down from Thunder Burger.
At both of those places, you can buy prepaid cellphone cards, set up monthly plans, or get long distance calling cards.
[edit] Outside of Seoul
If you live near any US bases, the streets outside of the bases are lined with stores that service the US military servicemen. Cellphone vendors are usually one of them. So if you can't get to Seoul, then take a look around the bases near you.
See: Cellphones (Daegu)
[edit] Prepaid or Monthly payments
You pretty much have three options for buying a cell phone in Korea:
1. A Pre-paid card phone is the most popular option for foreigners in Korea. The per-minute rate is expensive, but recieving calls is always free and text messaging rates are quite reasonable. If you get a prepaid card phone, there is no hookup or monthly fees. You buy the phone and buy time as you need it. Card phones can be quite a bit more expensive than the monthly plans, depending on how much you use it. You can buy cards at the SK or KTF wireless stores that line the streets of Korea, depending on which one your phone is listed under. LG Telecom allows foreigners to sign up, and has a pay-as-you-go plan where one 'recharges' the phone (충전, chungjeon) with an amount such as 10,000 won, and uses the phone until the money begins running low whereupon it must be 'recharged' again. This system costs more money however, about 500 won per minute, and around 30 won per SMS message (문자, munjja); this makes it more useful for sending messages and taking calls (taking calls is free) than for making them.
2. Sign up for a plan phone with the name of a Korean friend. By far the easiest and cheapest option, if the friend is a person you know you will see regularly because in all likelihood the bill will be set up to come directly out of your friend's bank account.
3. Sign up for a plan under your own name. This is the most difficult option. You must have your Alien Registration Card (ARC), so you will be unable to sign up for at least a couple weeks after your arrival in Korea.
Even once you have the ARC, not all companies make it easy for foreigners. SK requires an extra 200,000 won deposit and KTF requires a Korean credit card for the monthly balance to be automatically deducted. If you want to get a monthly phone plan from SK or KTF, then you need your ARC, passport and a deposit of 200-300,000won, in addition to the cost of the phone. If you are lucky enough to have an employer or Korean friend willing to do this for you, they can sign the plan contract in their name to avoid the deposit. There's usually a hookup fee of around 50,000won. There are many usage plans to choose from, so choose wisely.
LG does not require the extra deposit, just a 30,000원 setup fee that can be spread out over a few months' payments. Your monthly bill can be deducted from your bank account, rather than a Korean credit card, so make sure to bring your bank book with you.
Note: if you have a credit card, you can usually have the deposit waived.
[edit] Entering Korean text on a cell phone
- Full article: How to text message in Korean
Different phone manufacturers have patented their respective keypad layout for Korean text input, and thus every company's method is different.
You'll have to figure out on your own exactly how to switch between Korean and English language input. The rest of this article will assume that you have that step figured out (or ask a Korean, they'll figure it out rather quickly probably).
The Samsung system is pretty easy. After entering a consonant, for example, ㅇ, you click the "." button once or twice, depending on how many dashes you want. In other words, one dot for ㅓ, and two for ㅕ. And then the next button you push is either a ㅡ or a ㅣ (the difference between making a ㅗ or a ㅓ), which then connects the dots and completes the character. The order is also important. If you enter the ㅡ or ㅣ before the dots, then it will come out as ㅜ,ㅏ, etc. If the dots are first, then it will be ㅗ,ㅓ. Once you have that down it's pretty intuitive to start making ㅐ,ㅔ,ㅒ,ㅖ. Just hit the corresponding buttons an extra tap in the correct sequence left to right.
LG has a different system. Basic characters are laid out on the 1-9 keys. The * key is a special key which then modifies the entered character. This system is not quite as intuitive as the Samsung system according to some, but once you figure out which "key" the different characters are, it's not so hard.
ㄱ/ㅋ (1), ㄴ/ㄷ/ㅌ (2), ㅏ/ㅓ (3), aren't so hard to figure out. The double characters like ㄲ and ㅆ are made with the # button on the other side. The character 셰 (which doesn't really exist in usage) for example would be the ㅅ (7), # (doubles to ㅆ), 3+3 (makes a ㅓ), * (turns it to a 여), and then a 9 to put the last ㅣ on the end.
If you know the input method for a different brand of phone, or if your LG or Samsung phone doesn't follow the outline above, feel free to add your own knowledge on the subject.
