will a US iphone5 work in south korea? will a south korean iPhone 5 work in the US?

Very straight forward. 1. Go to large service center. As I mentioned in an earlier post KT Global center in Gangnam or Gwanghamun is reccomended but I used SKT in Gangnam without much issue. 2. They will ask you if the phone is unlocked. Assure them that it is. 3. Choose plan. Korean plans are better/cheaper than US ones in my opinion. You can choose LTE or 3G data plan.There are many options. unlimited 3G is ridiculously cheaper(see my next post) You will have to have a korean government issued alien ID card. I'm not sure about temporary sims and cannot speak to that process. At this point they will "register" your device with the government. This used to take a long time but now its only a matter of them writing something down. 3. They take out the verizon nano sim in your phone and pop in their carrier sim. 4.Go get a cheese rakkpoki and surf the web on your handset.

A little update on my experience with iphone 5 in Korea. I registered the phone and chose a cheaper LTE plan. 1GB for 44.000 won to be exact. I spend most of my time at home and work where i have wifi so thought I wouldn't need that much data. The first day, however, I noticed a hiccup that seemed similar to the problem with LTE on verizon in those first few days last month. I got a message saying I had used 700mb in less than 24 hrs! Now I watched a you tube vid of about 2 minutes on the bus but thats about it. Im not sure but I think using wifi was drawing on my LTE data. Since the iphone 5 has not been released in Korea as of yet the carrier is unable to verify this. I decided to change over to an unlimited 3G plan for roughly the same amount and wait to see how this plays out after the release. Anyone else noticing LTE problems?

I had a similar issue. After successfully activating the phone, i got a notification that I used up 1gig in less than a week. Im not sure how that could be since it usually takes me a month to use a gig. Im going to visit the store to check what used up so much data. My problem is slightly different from yours since I wasn't connected to wifi. I just dont feel like my usage was heavy enough to reach 1gig already.

Be sure to point out the issue that US carriers had regarding this and that it is a hardware prob with apple(not their fault). They seemed more able to listen at that point. They had to do a little fancy footwork at that point to register my phone as a 3G phone for whatever reason. Basically tricking the system into thinking that my new phone is my old samsung phone. But hey it works and they said I could go back to LTE at a later date although if I turn it on now I'll be paying roaming.

Robinsle,

Where in the US did you buy an iPhone 5 (A1249) model?

Have anybody seen this article - http://www.imore.com/iphone-5-splits-two-models-one-us-gsmlte-another-cdmalte-an d-everybody-else ? Derek Kessler, at iMore.com, references an A1249 model. But, at the beginning of the article he specifies it as an A1429. So, I assume, unfortunately, that many people (according to my google search) are stating A1249 and A1429 interchangeably. 😟 "I bought the Verizon A1249." - quoted by robinsle. I don't know about robinsle, but I bought my "Verizon" A1429 at the ... "Verizon" store.

gravityron,

Did you get it to work in South Korea?

In US you can buy A1249 from verizon or apple. But you must buy the verizon model if you want to use LTE in Korea. If you buy ATT model you can only use 3G. Sprint model is also A1249, but you must get the carrier to unlock the phone. Verizon model is unlocked.

Model A1249 verizon and model A1249 international are exactly the same aside from the inclusion of a CDMA antenna. The LTE bands used by SKT and KT are on both phones. The only carrier you wouldn't be able to use this phone on in korea would be LG because they both use CDMA and the phone would try and revert to verizon. I think. The last part is speculation.

If you are a frequent traveler between the US, Korea, and Japan. and care about using LTE in all three places, the verizon model will do this. If you don't care about just using 3G, then any model of the iphone 5 is fine.

So far my experience with LTE is that it is very fast, but also expensive. I decided to switch to a 3G plan in korea because I can have unlimited data for less than $50 a month. I can always switch back to an LTE plan at a later date if I wish.

arepa058, I have not yet. I am still state-side. I will be going in a couple of months.

I'm really sorry. Both myself and the person who wrote the above article should be slapped! I wrote A1249. There is no such model.

Themodel number is A1429 and is the same verizon or international! I'm really sorry for the typo. please look at this link from apple for clarification.

http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/

Thank you

Thanks for the reply.

When you purchased the Verizon CDMA iPhone 5 (A1429), did you have to call Verizon and ask them to do anything before you left for Korea? I have KT service in Korea with an iPhone 4, but am looking to buy a phone I can use in Hong Kong, Australia, Korea, and eventually back in the U.S. (on Verizon's network of course). I have bought the A1429 but am wondering if I need to call them to unlock it or anything along those lines.

Thank you for your time! It's very exciting news that you got your phone to work robinsle!

The only thing you have to do is cancel your contract with Verizon and pay your bill in full. The phone is unlocked and requires nothing else.