Cheaper Cell Service

There has been a news article almost every day about cell phone service in Korea. Usually, the topic is the high cost Koreans are paying compared to other countries.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s report, titled Communication Outlook, which is published every two years, Koreans are being charged some of the highest cell phone rates in the 30-member organization.

According to the report, Korean mobile phone users who talked for an average of 246 minutes per month had the 16th highest bills among OECD member nations. Koreans who talked for 114 minutes per month had the 12th highest bills, while those who talked for 44 minutes had bills that were the sixth highest.

“We agree that cell phone rates in Korea are excessively high, as stated in the OECD report,” said Lee Tae-hee of the Korea Communications Commission. “We will try to make some policy changes to provide consumers with benefits that could offset the high rates.”

When I first arrived in Korea, I did notice that cell phone service was more expensive than in the U.S. My monthly bill in the U.S. was around $30-$60 a month depending on the plan I was using. However, in Korea, my bill varies between $40-$100 a month depending on how many calls I make. Most cell phone plans in the U.S. offer nationwide calling, which is not expensive when you consider the size of the country.

Here are some current plans being offered:

T-Mobile - The phone below is free ($0) with a two year contract. The cost per month is $39.99 for 1,000 minutes a month. If you pay an extra $5, you can send 300 text messages a month. In many cases, it's actually cheaper just to call someone than send a text mesage.

Verizon - The LG "Dare" phone is free ($0) with a two year contract. The cost per month is $60.

The features of this plan are 450 minutes of talking a month and unlimited text, picture, and video messaging. Therefore, you could send 1,000,000 sms a day. = 0

Finally, if you love talking and sending messages, T-Mobile offers an unlimted plan.

The plan offers unlimited calling and unlimited text messaging for $100 a month. This Samsung phone is free ($0) with a two year contract. The regular price of the phone is $499. If you want to talk on the phone for 24 hours a day, this is the perfect plan for you. =)

In my opinon, the best deals are the family plans in the U.S. Here's an example:

Sprint offers 2 Samsung phones for $50 (one time fee). The family plan is $100 a month. The features are:

2 Samsung phones

2 phone lines (separate phone numbers)

1,500 minutes per month (the family shares the minutes)

Monday-Friday after 7:00PM all calls are free. Calls are free all day on Saturday and Sunday.

Unlimited text messaging.

How much is your cell phone bill a month?

New Experiences

I enjoy new experiences. Today, was interesting. I tried to take the subway and after 20 minutes of waiting there was an announcement. I couldn't understand all of it, but I did hear something about a 40 minute delay.

So, I decided to leave and one of the clerks gave me one of these:

Anyone ever have this experience?

How to Look at Your Pay Stub

Before you proceed, hufs.ac.kr does not work with Internet Explorer 8. lol However, it will work with older versions of Explorer, Google Chrome, or Firefox.
First, go to http://www.hufs.ac.kr/ and click on the link that is circled below. It's to the right of "e-Class."
Next, you'll come upon this screen. Enter your ID and password.

After you have logged on, click on the link below "Welfare Information" on the right. I circled the link.

Finally, change the setting to 연수원 and then click on "급여조회." This will take you to your pay stub. You can change the month and year to view past stubs. If you have any questions, let me know. =)

Why is English so Difficult?

Aside from articles (a, an, the) and prepositions which a lot of people have problems with. I feel the major hurdle is the sheer number of words. If you're learning English, you will eventually get used to articles and prepositions. Words, on the other hand...

Take a look at the Global Language Monitor. There will soon be 1 million English words. According to the site, a new English language word is created every 98 minutes. lol

However, large English college level dictionaries (like Oxford) have around 600,000 definitions.

Comparable Spanish dictionaries have around 100,000 words.

Webster's estimates that 25,000 new English words are created every year.

Why are there so many words in English? One reason may be so many influences and origins. Oxford estimates that English was derived from the following:

French and Old Norman - 28%

Latin - 28%

German - 25%

Greek - 5%

Unknown origin - 5%

Proper names - 3%

The rest is from other languages including Dutch, Old Norse, etc.

Don't feel discouraged. You can communicate well with around 1,000 words.

I've been speaking English my entire life, but I'm still using the dictionary and learning new words. So, you're not alone.

This 13-year-old boy knows a lot more than me. >.<

By the way, five Indian-American kids reached the finals.

(I think India's biggest advantage over China is English fluency.)

*Bonus - A cheesy song called "Words."

Banking Hours

"Banker's hours" is an old-fashioned idiom meaning someone who has short work hours. For example you could say: "When did you start working banker's hours?"

Since banks in Korea are only open now between 9:00AM and 4:00PM, perhaps this idiom will be popular again.

You might say: "Andy, why do you need to go to the bank?"

"You can do everything online or through an atm."

True.

However, I usually go to the bank to exchange money. This cannot be done at an atm or online.

Currencies, like stocks, are always fluctuating. The Korean won reached a peak of around 900 won to 1 U.S. dollar a year and a half ago. Recently, it fell to as low as 1,600 won to 1 U.S. dollar. I like to take advantage of these currency swings. Why not? It's only a short trip to the bank.

Unfortunately, since banks are only open from 9AM-4PM, the only time I have is either lunch or Saturdays.

Bank tellers in Korea are all salaried employees. They work long hours after the bank is closed, sometimes until 9PM or so.

In the U.S., most bank tellers are part-timers: high school students, university students, house wives, etc. They get a wage of around $8-$10 per hour. When there's a rush of customers, a bank might have as many as 10 bank tellers working in the front. I know this because many of my friends in high school were bank tellers. They would work 2 hours a day after schoool from 4PM-6PM.

Because the banks are using a lot of part-time workers, the banking hours are much more convenient for customers.

Here are the open hours for my bank in California:

Mon-Sat 10:00 AM-7:00 PM

Sun 10:00 AM-3:00 PM

Yes. My bank is open 7 days a week and from 10AM-7PM Monday-Saturday.

Wouldn't you like it?

The Other L.A Team

Let's go Clippers. Let's go.

Yes. I know this NBA franchise sucks. However, I thought it would be interesting to present some facts and statistics of their futility.

1. The Clippers actually have to pay 710 AM to carry live broadcasts of their games. lol

2. Donald Sterling once hired a girlfriend/lover to be assistant general manager. "Patricia Simmons, a former model and occasional Sterling companion, who has what one San Diego newspaper described as 'no known basketball background.'"

3. From 1978-2008, the Clippers have only had 3 winning seasons.

4. Lifetime win-loss % = .362

5. 21 head coaches since 1970.

6. They are the oldest NBA team to never appear in the NBA Finals.

7. Only 3 teams have never won an NBA championship, Conference Championship, or Division Championship in their franchises history: Memphis Grizz, the Clippers, and Charlotte Bobcats.

8. Notable draft picks:

1982 Clippers #2 pick Terry Cummings (#3 Dominique Wilkins)

1989 Clippers #2 pick Danny Ferry (#3 Sean Elliot, #4 Glen Rice, #14 Tim Hardaway, #17 Shawn Kemp, #26 Vlade Divac)

1995 Clippers #2 pick Antonio McDyess (#3 Jerry Stackhouse, #4 Rasheed Wallace, #5 Kevin Garnett)

1998 Clippers #1 pick Michael Olowokandi (#2 Mike Bibby, #4 Antawn Jamison, #5 Vince Carter, #9 Dirk Nowitzki, #10 Paul Pierce, #32 Rashard Lewis) LOL

2001 Clippers #2 pick Tyson Chandler (#3 Pau Gasol, #10 Joe Johnson, #28 Tony Parker)

2002 Clippers #8 pick Chris Wilcox (#9 Amare Stoudamire, #10 Caron Butler)

2003 Clippers #6 pick Chris Kaman (#18 David West, #29 Josh Howard)

2004 Clippers #4 pick Shaun Livingston (#5 Devin Harris, #29 Jameer Nelson)

9. Ron Harper after being traded to the Bulls: “It’s nice to be back in the NBA again.”

10. Danny Manning before a Clipper home game at the Sports Arena: "Let's try to take the crowd out of the game early tonight."

11. Charles Barkley (with Houston at the time) after beating the Clippers: ``It's embarrassing the way they played. That team has to grow up and mature. The way they played is a disgrace,'' Barkley said. ``It doesn't matter if you win or lose, you have an obligation to the game. I'm disappointed in their effort and enthusiasm.

China

China is quickly replacing the U.S. as the consumer capital of the world.  

In March, the Chinese bought 1.1 million vehicles, while Americans bought fewer than 900,000. According to 2009 estimates, China's car sales could top 11 million.  That's a staggering amount for a developing country.   When you have such a huge market, there are bound to be some strong companies.  

There are two Chinese companies that I think are threats to LG, Samsung, and Hyundai.  

The first is Haeir.   They are a consumer electronics manufacturer with a wide range of products.  Haeir makes everything from refrigerators, washers, air conditioners, to beer dispensers and cell phones.   Although a lot of manufacturing is automated, the labor in China is still dirt cheap.   The average assembly line worker in China earns around $200 a month. Therefore, Haeir has an incredible price advantage over LG or Samsung.   

The second company is BYD.  BYD is one of the world's leading manufacturers of batteries. They sell cell phone batteries to Nokia, Motorola, and Samsung.  In addition, they are developing batteries to store solar and wind power.   Warren Buffet is so confident in this company that he invested $230 million for a 10% stake.   Also, since 2003, BYD has been selling cars.  They've already developed an electric plug-in hybrid.    The selling price of an F3DM will be around $16,000, which is cheaper than most gasoline-powered automobiles.   How can Hyundai compete with them? 

I believe this is a crucial period for several Korean firms.  Samsung dethroned Sony a few years ago.  Will Haeir dethrone Samsung?  

Will Hyundai Auto's fate be the same as the British brands in the late 1970s?   England used to be a top manufacturer of cars with brands like Jaguar, MG, Cooper, Triumph, etc.  However, the high cost of labor and hard-core labor unions spelled "death" for these once proud and successful companies.  A labor union strike at Hyundai Auto seems to be an annual event.   

Do you think these companies will survive?