Wesley's Tool-Box

On December 12, 2016, SK Telecom expanded its Smart Home suite by releasing a device set called Jikimi ("Protector") for basic home security. It consists of an SOS button that can notify either the police or someone you know, and a door sensor that can detect intrusion. They can be bought separately, and while the list price is KRW35,000 (US$30.70) for the button and KRW45,000 (US$39.50) for the sensor, it's currently being sold at a significant discount - KRW22,500 (US$19.70) and KRW24,000 (US$21), respectively. As far as networked sensors go, the discounted price is reasonable. I managed to buy a few of these shortly after they became available to gauge their usefulness.


Both devices come in an identically sized box roughly the size of a hockey puck. An instruction manual and two security stickers are included with each device. The stickers are meant to warn off would-be intruders. While I doubt they would be much of a deterrent, the large one refers to an actual NSOK security dispatch service for the SOS button which you can optionally enroll for an extra KRW40,000(US$35) per year. It's not available for door sensor users, but this sticker is included with that device as well.

SK Telecom, the biggest mobile carrier in Korea, is the parent company of SK Planet, which owns Korea's 2nd largest online shopping mall, 11st (11번가, 11th Street). So it was natural to see that SKT would come up with a clone of Amazon Dash, which simplifies online ordering with the push of a physical button. It's called "Smart Button Kkuk(스마트 버튼 꾹)", and became available in September 19, 2016, about 18 months after Amazon Dash's announcement.

Initially affiliated with about 60 items in 11st and given away for free with first 50,000 orders of the website's "Now Delivery(NOW배송)" service (this itself is 11st's version of "Fulfilled by Amazon"), it's now able to order from more than 140 items and shipped for KRW100 (US$0.09) when ordering certain specially marked items through Now Delivery. As of this writing, the stock of these buttons have apparently run out, but I expect it to be replenished soon.


As with other SKT Smart Home devices, the button comes in a brown box with standardized instruction manual included. Looking at the device, the red button with 11st's logo on the left side is what you use to both pair and eventually order items online. The body is elongated to the right to house the battery. Like Amazon Dash, a removable hook is provided so that it can be hung.

Lots of companies are hopping on the wave of Internet of Things (IoT) these days, each trying to build an ecosystem of their own. Major Korean mobile carriers (SK Telecom(SKT), KT, and LGU+) are no different, each setting up proprietary efforts. I used to largely ignore them because they required monthly fee, ranging from a few dollars per device to tens of dollars for "unlimited" (discounted with multi-year contract). With many non-carrier solutions usable without fees, I felt this to be undesirable.

However, SKT must have felt that this arrangement was hurting their chances for wide acceptance, because it began offering some of their affiliated products free of monthly fees, charging only a nominal (KRW 5,500, US$4.80) one-time fee included in the sales price since last October. I decided to take the bait and started integrating their home IoT products, sold under the "SKT Smart Home" brand, into my house. The very first one was a smart plug. The one you see here is the one made by Witty.


Over time, I installed several of these plugs around the house and some of them came from another company, Dawon DNS. Because SKT was selling them, lots of things were made to be nearly identical, namely the packaging and the functionality. The frugal-looking brown paper boxes contain the plug and the instruction manuals, all of which look almost exactly the same except for the diagram of the plug. Both companies' plugs are controlled by the one and the same official app, and works largely like as if they are the same product.

Even the price is similar, at around $22.50 to $26, which makes them one of the most inexpensive options. This includes the aforementioned fee, so the pricing is rather aggressive. The deal is made even sweeter by the fact that the plugs do not need any gateways or hubs to operate as some other solutions do (namely that of other carriers'). It will interface directly via Wi-Fi, so if you already have a wireless router at home there's no additional cost involved.