[gregornz]

Hi

I'm in China and I'm gunna by a phone [prob a 2/3 year old nokia].

Will it work in South Korea?

All I can find out from googling is that it should be CDMA [I think]. What other requirements do I need to fufill?

Thanks heaps...

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› See More: Buying in China, using in Korea

[Brad729]

First of all, welcome to CPF, gregornz. I have looked into your question, and what I have found is not a definite answer. If you buy a Chinese CDMA phone, it *should* be able to work in South Korea BUT only if the Korean service provider is willing to activate a phone designed for a different provider. In the United States, for example, most if not all of the CDMA providers refuse to activate other providers' CDMA phones, even if you can actually have it unlocked. (CDMA unlocking is highly debated but I attempt to explain it in the following thread: CLICK HERE.)

So, if you read my answer in that other thread, you will see that you might have a very hard time getting any Korean CDMA service provider to activate the phone if it's not specifically for their network. But technically, the technologies are compatible as long as you make sure the phone is CDMA 800/1700mhz because that is the CDMA standard currently used in South Korea. Just make sure your Korean service provider is willing to activate a Chinese phone before you buy it!

Now, if your intention is to roam in South Korea with a Chinese service provider, that is a different story! You will have no problem roaming in Korea as long as you have a Chinese CDMA provider. Unfortunately, I cannot give you a definite yes or no answer to your question, you will have to call the service provder you intend to use and ask them yourself. Whether they will activate a CDMA handset not purchased through them is at their discretion.

(Now, I am going to move your thread from New Member Help over to the General Cell Phone Forum, where someone else might be able to comment further on your question, and maybe someone knows more than what I was able to find through my online research .)

[gregornz]

Hey, thanks Brad729, great answer.

Unfortunetly, I don't speak Korean, so asking a service provider to move heaven and earth for me is probabally out of the question, just to save a few bucks...

Thanks for the reply anyways

Gregornz

[Brad729]

Don't feel bad, I only know 2 words of Korean, and only because I eat at a Korean restaurant all the time. Well, I guess a few more words if you count the stuff on the menu, but it's *****ed in both hangul and our alphabet.