Prepaid Sim Card In Korea

Hi everyone

how was your weekend?

Last friday i went to Seoul for buying new prepaid sim card, right now i'm still using the foreigner simcard which is kind of expensive and can only be used up to 6 month.. My card still have few thousand won inside and still in the active period but i decide to purchase another one due to convenience issue, i will stay here in korea at least for the next 2 years and phone number always needed, first for the basic reason, communication, for bank verification, and for me its important to making membership card :p~ if you want to get the good deals, (korean companies do offers lot of benefits to their member) well, everybody loves discount including me heehee...

Somehow getting a sim card here in korea is little bit difficult especially for foreigner that didn't speak korean at all, but thankfully some mobile phone providers have at least 1 customer service that can speak english. Here in Korea its prohibited to use communication service under another person's name so you need to go to the service center by yourself but you can still go with your korean speaking friend to help you if you are in doubt kkk...

Some mobile phone may not works here in korea due to slightly different support from the mobile carriers, but as long as the device not locked to a carrier and support 3G/WCDMA data on 2100mHz it can be used here. I brought my Samsung Galaxy S5 from Indonesia and it works perfectly fine, same things happen with my friend LG's smartphone, as long its unlock theres no problem. Some website mention about the regional lock that require you to make phone call at least 5 minutes with your home country sim card, well both of us didn't do it, and it's still works. 

For tourist who will come to korea you can choose to rent a egg modem pocket wifi which will cost you $3.95 for unlimited data access and require booking in advance and security deposit which will be refunded to you after the modem returned, but if you stay at korea more than 2 weeks but still less than 6 months, i recommend you to get the EG sim card, its cheaper then rental a pocketwifi, you can purchase prepaid EG SIM card online with voice & data plan before you arrived in Korea at EG simcard and when you arrived at Korea you can pick up the card at the collecting place by showing your passport and confirmation number. Or you can purchase prepaid EG SIM card at convenience stores near incheon airport. I got mine at Funny Mailing at the first basement level across CGV cinema its located near the Transportation Center.

In Korea, there are three mobile telecommunications service providers: KT, SKT, and LG U+. These providers operate authorized service centers and phone retail stores called (공식 인증 대리점-gongsik injeung daerijeom), where you can subscribe to a phone service and purchase a mobile phone. For mobile phone subscriptions require proper identification and proof of residency. You can buy it with passport and an alien registration card. Length of stay that shown on the alien registration card will determine which subscription eligible for you. I have just received my alien registration card 5 days before i bought mine, thats why i have just buy it kkk...

I bought mine at KT Olleh store Jonggak Branch, which had the fluent english customer service name Hannah and her nice friend 이미영, i personally love their service and would like to recommend you to go there, as what i wrote before, i have using EG sim card before so my phone is registered under that company but hannah and her friend tried several tricky method to converting the registration and voila... they did a good job... <333  For the rates and plan you can refer to KT olleh.

To get to the store you can take subway to Jonggak Station (Line 1, Exit 12). after that you need to walk until the Jongno 2-ga intersection, you will see the KFC store keep walking, after you find the Giordano store turn right the store is on the first floor of the Jungchul Language Academy Building.

For budget traveller that plan to visit Korea in short of period or if you only visit Korea for a few days you can always use the free wifi, they are available almost everywhere, store like Starbucks, McDonalds, Smoothie King, Bus and even taxis offer free wifi, some of then are lock and the password are listed in the bottom part of the receipt . Here is some password for you to try, its not always works but well it worth to try.. i got this from Seoulistic website, you can check keith's site for another awesome tips about living in Korea

I hope this will help you who want to stay connected in Korea...

See ya~