Blackberry Work in Korea?
 

Hey everyone,

Does anyone know if any blackberries work in Korea? I will be going there for an extended time in early 2007, and would like to use a blackberry while there (I am officially a crackberry addict).

I know that KT Powertel just started offering the 7100i in Korea last spring, but haven't heard much about how good this network is. Couple questions for anyone who has recently been there or is in the know:

1) Would I be able to say port over the new 8703e from Verizon and have it work on their network?
2) Would the EVDO internet work?
3) Anyone know how good the KT Powertel coverage is?
4) Do any of the GSM based blackberries work (IE: Does Korea offer anything other than CDMA?)

I love my Blackberry (8700c on Cingular) and am not sure how the heck I am going to survive over there for 3 months without one!!

I tried a search on this topic and wasn't able to find any recent Korea-specific info.

Thanks guys and gals,

-Wangta

What kind of network does KT Powertel use? (CDMA, GSM, iDEN) If they're offering a 7100i, it sounds like it's a iDEN(Nextel) network. If that's the case, your 8700 won't work due to incompatibility between the device(GSM) and the network(CDMA or iDEN). Even if they were running a GSM network, your BB would need to be unlocked and have a KT SIM card in order to work on their network.

Thanks Pierre - I think they are using the same network as Nextel since they are offering "push to talk" technology there. But for the life of me, I cannot find out more about their network ( I can't read korean!). I already have an unlocked 8700c from cingular (have to travel to europe a bit) and its worked well, however I'm very confused when it comes to Korea. I'm currently nearing the expiration of my contract with Cingular, so was thinking of entering into a plan witih Verizon to get the 8703e, with the hopes that it works in Korea since they seem to use CDMA more than GSM. Actually, I wasn't aware that Korea used GSM at all.

I believe Korea, like Japan, uses a hybrid CDMA technology that is not compatible with normal CDMA phones/Blackberries. Your basic Verizon or Sprint device will not work in Korea, nor will GSM. You will probably need to get your device in-country.

Arg - thats the worst news on the planet. Korea is so advanced in terms of technology...but all i want is a blackberry!

Another discussion about Korea/Japanese Blackberries: http://www.blackberryforums.com/gene...pan-korea.html

Yeah, read that one - doesn't look too promising.

KT Powertel is a standard iDEN network. Whether or not a Nextel unit would roam over there is another story - I doubt it would. DoCoMo will soon be launching the UMTS device in Japan. I'm curious as to if SK Telecom will do the same in Korea - and also offer the 8707h.

No EDGE/GPRS
 

I checked an international coverage for South Korea and unfortunately there was no GPRS/EDGE coverage.

GSM World is a useful resource if you're wondering about GSM coverage in other countries.

Thanks fellas. Looks like I'm $hit outta luck using an 87XX model over there. This is truly strange - south korea, one of the most advanced countries in the world from a technology standpoint, doesn't have blackberries. Feel like i'm going back to the stone age. ARg!