Amazing! Two Phones in One!

It’s a T-Mobile phone with a U.S. phone number! It’s a KT phone with a Korean phone number! Stop! You’re both right! It’s two, two, two phones in one!

We knew that when we landed in Seoul we needed cell phones with a data plan that worked in Korea, so we could install the required COVID monitoring app at the airport. Luckily we already had T-Mobile (Magenta plan), which by default includes unlimited data (2G) and texting in most international countries including South Korea. Calls are $0.25/min, but there are easy ways for us to avoid this charge (see below).

It was quite nice to turn the phone on once we landed, and upon reconnecting to cellular service, get the T-Mobile “Welcome to the Republic of Korea!” text that confirms these coverage details. 2G data is pretty slow but usually enough for GPS navigation and checking email when Wi-Fi is unavailable.

If we want to call the United States and avoid the $0.25/min charge, we can just use FaceTime, Messenger, or WhatsApp to place calls using our unlimited data or Wi-Fi. We’ve also found the Viber app useful for making cheap (2 cents/min) Wi-Fi calls to a landline, great if you want to call someone without a cell phone.

Of course just because our phones can text and call in Korea does not mean that someone with a Korean cell phone can call or text us at our U.S. numbers. Most importantly, the delivery services we need to use to get food during quarantine require a local contact number (see my previous post about food delivery). Thus a Korean cell phone was something we needed pronto. Luckily, my iPhone 11 supports dual SIM cards, which means that I can set my phone up to have two phone numbers. The phone has to be unlocked, so I confirmed that mine was with T-Mobile support before moving forward.

Next, I ordered a prepaid Korean SIM card online. Until we establish residency here, this is our only cell phone option. Once the SIM arrived however, I opened up my iPhone and immediately noticed that the SIM card slot was only designed to hold one SIM card! What? Googling revealed that T-Mobile phones do not support two physical SIMs, even though the iPhone 11 does! Doh!

Thankfully, a bit more reading revealed an alternative solution: T-Mobile does not support the use of two physical SIMs, but it does support using an electronic SIM (eSIM) for your T-Mobile number. This then frees up the SIM slot. Thus, I placed a call to T-Mobile support, where they guided me through the fancy settings changes that converted my physical T-Mobile SIM to an eSIM. That freed up the slot for my new Korean SIM. A few minutes later— voila! Two, two, two phones in one!

One of the silver linings of the pandemic is that everyone has become more accustomed to using technology to stay connected. Thus, surviving a 14-day quarantine far away from friends and family has not seemed quite as daunting. Before we left, we had already navigated many months of staying in touch using FaceTime, Zoom and the good old-fashioned phone call. For the most part, those methods have continued as usual with adjustments to account for the 13-hour time difference.