Comments on: Foreigners and iPhone in Korea

By: to domain name

to domain name — Mon, 03 May 2010 10:06:40 +0000

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By: Yagati

Yagati — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 07:25:27 +0000

I just need the Phone… is it possible
During my stay in korea.. i use it as Ipod touch.. then back in my country i use it as phone/ipod..

So is that possible

By: Tim Dolan

Tim Dolan — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 11:59:03 +0000

I am an American on an E1 visa who got around all the cell phone subscription BS by having my Korean national sister-in-law, get the contract for me. It’s with KT and now I have the opportunity to buy a used iPhone from an American friend in Hawaii.

I checked with a local KT shop and was told that an American iPhone won’t work in Korea without a changeover that would run about 300,000 won. This sounds preposterous.

My question is, will an American iPhone brought into Korea work under a KT contract, or has the hermit kingdom proven to be again an alternative universe in its domestic telecom infrastructure?

An authoratative response would be most welcomed. I leave to pick the phone up next week.

By: han42

han42 — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 05:49:34 +0000

im 19 years old….can i buy iphone? and im d-4 visa holder….. pliz help me….im a foreigner in korea..

By: han42

han42 — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 05:15:52 +0000

i’m a foreigner with d-4 visa… and im 19 years old, based on the korean aging system… i just came to korea last 1 month… can i buy the iphone? pliz help me..

By: mek

mek — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:46:49 +0000

I forgot my phone in a dongduchon taxi, it seems the Taxi man is wicked, He answered my call after several attempt, but hang up after a while…I kept calling my phone for 3days and no one answered it again.
Well, i ended up registering another USIM card with same number..

I went to different phone shops, There is one particular shop i went,the lady said ande! ande! wegu saram ande!…lol

Just on 21 march 2010 (2days ago) i went to Yongsan Ipark Mall in korea to buy a phone, I asked about the iphone and they said it’s not for foreigners….hummmm

By: MattG

MattG — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:12:49 +0000

I live near Osan and SHOW opened a store on the base where you can get an iPhone. I don’t know the details (price etc), but if anyone is in the area and has access to the base it’s available.

By: smoluck

smoluck — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:35:42 +0000

Hello,

I’m french and I’m leaving in Korea since February 2010 with a F2 Visa.

I’m very desappointed since I’ve got some information from KT reps, when I wanted to order a contract in order to use it here in Korea.

I got this iPhone through Orange in France and pay my bills during 15 month before I come in to Korea for Family affair (so that’s was an unpredictable situation).

Before I’ve come here, I’ve unlock the Simlock by demand through Orange Service. So I’m pure & legal iPhone user.

KT reps say me that it’s not possible to do a contract since I autorized/register my iPhone here in this country for 300 000 W. I know that iPhone was launch here since few month by KT with Exclusivity but it was not a good reason.

Why it’s so expensive and difficult for foreigners ?

By: shigzeo

shigzeo — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:08:28 +0000

I’ve lived in 5 countries including Japan and never had such problems. I won’t get an iPhone as I dont’ work here for a Korean company and personally, think the rates etc suck. But Korea isn’t run like a country, but like a bloody business, and one which hates people who lives in its borders – even if they are Korean.

But, here’s another example: Korea charges duties (on shipped items) not on the item price only, but on shipping costs. So an item which I recently bought which is less than 150$ (the limit) got hit because its shipping was 30$. So instead of getting the item last week, I had to phone customs, tell them the situation, understand that obviously, if I don’t want to pay customs (on shipping?), I have to buy in Korea which is 3x the markup.

The item still hasn’t arrived though it was supposed to be here on Saturday (6 March). Koreans too get screwed here, but foreigners are not people. The problem is that foreigners have pretty much no representation outside of: military and ‘english teaching’. horrid.

By: Ken

Ken — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:27:40 +0000

does anyone know how and if an F-2 visa holder can get an iphone that was bought in the US activated in korea? will i be able to get an iphone plan and will it be the normal plan or still the inflated ridiculous plan? i will be going to korea soon. I plan to buy the iphone unlocked.

By: Andrew Smith

Andrew Smith — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:43:29 +0000

Can somebody provide an update about the current situation for foreigners?

I’m currently planning on unlocking my US 3GS, sending it to the certification/registration place, then getting a contract somehow.

Any tips?

By: tohhui

tohhui — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:17:58 +0000

Recently, I inserted my my SK sim card into an Iphone and a HTC Touch HD2 in Malaysia, and they work (roaming). I wonder if I bring either one of those phone to Korea, will I be able to use it in Korea? Anyone has any ideas?

By: Gawa Rawa

Gawa Rawa — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:08:24 +0000

I just got my iPhone from a Show store in Gimpo City.
I paid W890 000 for the phone with W12 000 monthly plus W??? per minute if I go over the allotted nr of free minutes. (I’m not sure how the monthly thing will work out exactly, will only know for sure next month)

I had to sit through almost 3 hours with them finding out how to sell the iPhone to an foreigner. So that store is now “open” for foreigners.

By: jeremy

jeremy — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:34:27 +0000

good article about foreigners in Korea and iPhone….. i hope things can be worked out very soon…

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2914731

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:27:50 +0000

Well it’s not just in Korea that they don’t allow foreigners to have a phone unless they have a certain visa. It’s the same thing in the U.S too, most foreigners to U.S would need a social security in order to open a line for AT&T, since in U.S they do credit check via social security. Even if the foreigners do have a social security, it all depends on their credit scores. Regardless if their score is low, they can still choose to buy it by paying 400 bucks upfront for a security deposit.

Same thing in Korea, if you are doing a 2-year contract with their service, they do check credits as well, especially with smartphones like omnia. My friend try to buy one with his credit, but he couldn’t because the fact that his credit was too low. So he ended up using his sister’s to get the Omnia, plus it’s not just omnia, it’s with other phone as well.

By: iPhoneFanboy

iPhoneFanboy — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:16:07 +0000

FYI, i’m a Korean American with a F4 visa and was denied the iPhone 2-year contract from SHOW stores and Apple stores throughout Seoul. My visa dates are 6 days less than exactly 2 years so i was denied the 2-year contract despite having been in Korea over a year and despite having a Korean credit card and working at a company (not a teacher). I think it’s completely ridiculous that 6 days barrs me from the iPhone in Korea. KT is horrible – too bad SKT won’t get the iPhone, i just showed my ARC and got a 2 year agreement right away. Took me 10 minutes.

By: Steven

Steven — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:29:07 +0000

@ johann

It was very easy to purchase an iphone from Ebay. I just looked at which shipped to South Korea and the one that had the best price, I used this guy:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-iPhone-3GS-16GB-Black-FACTORY-UNLOCKED-SEALED_W0QQitemZ180443234366QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCell_Phones?hash=item2a0341403e

For some reason he is now more expensive, because I was able to purchase the 32GB 3Gs for around USD $ 450.00, back in September. Now, he is offering only the 16GB version for $ 848.00 that is a big difference. I would look at others; some even offer free international shipping from the US to Korea now.

Considering that you need to pay the 500,000KRW for the certification. After that it was really easy, I just walked into SK with my old phone, and they did the transfer no questions asked. I know that it is expensive going the way that I did, but I could not wait, and I did not want to deal with all of the problems that I am reading about here in these posts. I have been very happy with using it here in Korea the past few weeks, and I have waited 5 years for Korea to finally offer 2004 type mobile technology here in Korea 

By: Maxwell

Maxwell — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 06:42:44 +0000

Foreigners never fear the Iphone is here. When we first walked into the shop we were initially turned down, but said “the KT service center said we could” to the agent. He called verified our claim and got the paper work rolling. We did not even have to call the Foreign Service center. The contract is in a foreign name and we think for one year ( It could be two, communication wasn’t so great ). We were able to switch our phone numbers from LG to KT with no problems.
As long as you have a Korean Credit card you can get the Iphone. The phone cost 732,000 Won + 7,000 won for the sim and the monthly rate is 14,000 per month base fee for minutes , and 10,000 base fee for 500 Mb ( 24,000 Total minimum / month) Much lower than the offered I-plans by KT for the Iphone . We had a D-7 working visa with 9 months left.

By: José María Areta

José María Areta — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 03:33:34 +0000

@Adrien
I have read many times that SK is going to release, at least, 2 Android phones in Korea (Samsung and LG).

Anyone has any news about Motorola in Korea? Why they don’t release the Droid?

Merry Christmas, everyone.

By: aquilajedi

aquilajedi — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 06:55:06 +0000

@James or anyone military iphone users in Korea,

James, I’m also military and I’m real close to buying an iphone. I have a few questions about it, but unfortunately I can’t get the “one guy” at the one stop on Yongsan that speaks good english.

For anyone military:
1. How much did it cost for which GB model?
2. Do you have to get the 15,000/month internet?
3. What plan did you get and what is the cheapest plan?
4. For James, why did you get a 2 year contract?
5. For anyone with an iphone – how good are the “KT hot spots” and are they free?
6. Does the GPS work and do you need internet to use it?
Either post the answer here or send me an e-mail: aquilajedi@hotmail.com Thanks in advance!

I keep going back and forth as to whether I want to have a Korean friend get it for me (cheap up front, but expensive plans). Or just pay a lot up front. However, not knowing if I have to get internet or even want internet makes the situation more complicated.

D*mn it! I was 1 week from buying one in the US before I got orders to come here . . .now I had to spend 2 months researching Korea and it’s ridiculous phone system. I guess the concept of a “deposit” hasn’t quite made it here . . .