Internet Connection

Your apartment will almost certainly be ready with a cable internet connection. In South Korea, an amazing 80% of households have a high-speed internet connection. In the U.S., the figure is only 25%. Average monthly fees for an internet connection at home are around 30,000 won. If you don't take your computer to Korea, there will probably be one (or more) at work with a high-speed internet connection for teachers to use.

If you don't have a computer and would prefer not to use the computers at work, there are lots of "PC Bang" around. These are public computer rooms, usually with 25-100 computers available. Prices are low — rarely more than 2,000 won an hour. These computer rooms can be noisy and smoky as they attract a lot of young people keen on checking out the newest and loudest computer games. Almost everyone in Korea lives within walking distance of one.

Telephone

Koreans are obsessed with mobile phones. For the vast majority of the population, having the most up-to-date model is one of life's main priorities. There are more active mobile phone accounts than Koreans over the age of 12 in the country. Prices for service have fallen dramatically over the past few years, making them about the same as in North America.

In many cases, there is no landline in a teacher's apartment. Instead the school director gives the teacher a mobile phone, already working with a phone number (the bills are the teacher's responsibility). Note that even with landlines, local calls are not free, though basic monthly service charges are minimal.

It is easy to buy phone cards that cater to the part of the world you want to call. Any corner store has a wide variety of cards on display. The rates are generally less than half that of the mobile companies or South Korean Telecom. I've used several different phone cards in Korea and never had any problems.

There are lots of public telephones in Korea, though fewer and fewer accept coins. You'll need a card more often than not. Happily, the cards are sold in denominations as small as 5,000 won; in contrast, one has to part with 1,000 Yen (C$13 / US$10) for the cheapest phone card in Japan.