Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Communications is an area in which South Korea excels, and even the most disillusioned
resident would find it difficult to complain about the state of the country's networking. This
is especially true when it comes to the Internet—South Korea regularly tops regional and
global broadband penetration tables, and in most homes connection speeds range from fast
to positively blistering. This is partly a function of demographics—a highly concentrated,
mainly apartment-dwelling population has made it easy to wire up most cities—but also a
function of a culture that has rarely failed to embrace technology with a vengeance, and
has since moved on to wholeheartedly adopt newer advances like next-generation wireless
standards and streaming television to mobile devices. A demanding customer base and keen
competition among Internet, mobile phone, and fixed-line providers has kept the quality of
services high and prices fairly low.
But foreign residents will also face some speed bumps on South Korea's information
superhighway. Unique technical standards limit the presence of non-South Korean manu-
facturers in the domestic cellular market, and some find their preferred models are unavail-
able here. Mobile phone companies are only grudgingly easing the requirements for foreign
nationals seeking standard payment plans or contracts, which basically seemed designed to
