For foreigners coming to South Korea, this can be one of the first questions that pop into your head but not always one that you pursue. For myself, this was a question that was very important since blogging and staying in tune with my social networks are very important to me.
Not only is staying online important to most of us these days, but so is the comfort of being able to contact someone in an emergency as well as having a wifi connection to be able to get directions when you are lost.
The one mistake you don’t want to make before coming to South Korea is assuming you will be able to survive by connecting to what ever free wifi you can get. You may have heard all the wonderful rumours that free wifi is everywhere in South Korea, which is true but there is a twist. The free wifi that everyone refers to is free wifi through service providers. This means you can connect in the subways for free, however you need to be on the network to do so.
My example is the most popular one that you will see everywhere in your wifi selection list and that is Olleh. You will see this service provider name everywhere in South Korea and they do provide free wifi almost everywhere except it is locked. The only way you can use that free wifi is if you have a phone contract or sim card with Olleh. See the twist? So it is free! But not free to just anyone!
This is where things can get tricky for a foreigner. You don’t want to keep your old phone because paying rates to use your phone overseas is way too pricey. It makes the most sense to just get a new phone in South Korea right? Wrong! You may also be thinking, oh well LG and Samsung make their products in South Korea so it must be cheaper to just buy a new phone there. This is also false. To buy a new phone here is the same as if you were to buy a new one in North America. There isn’t much of a price difference. If you bought a new phone here, you would also need to sign up with a Korean service provider which also is expensive. Their contracts aren’t cheaper either. Plus unless you can speak Korean fluently, you will need a Korean friend to help sign you up. As a foreigner in South Korea all this can seem like a lot more work and effort then you want to put in.
In some special cases if you are coming to Korea as an ESL teacher, your school may provide you with a phone or you may be able to convince them into getting you one so they can contact you. I know some people who have done this. However this isn’t always the case.
So what is the easiest way to get a cell phone in South Korea? Getting one through the Arrival Store!
The Arrival Store provides everything you can imagine could be hard to get at first in South Korea when you can’t speak Korea. They provide household items from kitchen wear to bedding and they even provide rental cell phones and sim cards! Pretty handy stuff!
We are going to talk about the cell phones of course. If you know how long you are staying in Korea for and it is 6 months, 1 year or 2 years, you may be interested in a contract or rental phone. The Arrival Store provides the most affordable contracts for the shortest length of times with no hidden costs. Great right! Whats the catch? They don’t always have the phone you want in stock and it is a rental.
“Well I already have an awesome phone from home, can I bring that and use it in Korea?” YES! I highly recommend you do this if you are happy with your current smart phone, doing this will save you money as well. All you have to do prior to coming to South Korea is cancel your contract with your cell phone provider in your home country and then ask them to unlock it for you. It is very important you get your phone unlocked so you can connect to Korean service providers with your phone.
If your already in Korea, brought your phone and didn’t unlock it, there are online services that can unlock it for a fee. This fee is usually just under $100.
Once you are all unlocked and on your way to Korea you can order a sim card through the arrival store and they can either have it waiting for you at the airport or they can mail it to the school you are working at! Very easy! The sim card only lasts 30 days and is pre loaded with around $25. You pay $39 for the sim card so overall you are only paying $15 a month for a working phone! If you use all your voice money by making calls or texting, you can add more money to your sim card within that month online, from your phone or through a local CU or seven11! The best part is that you can transfer you voice money into data money, then you can use data to text through apps like Kakao talk or Line. The best part is that they run you through Olleh network so you now can connect for free to Olleh! Meaning you don’t have to use any more money from your phone because no matter where you are you more or less will always have free wifi to Kakao message everyone or go on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram you name it! So you basically pay $15 a month for a full working phone with unlimited wifi and text through wifi apps. You can’t find anything cheaper in Korea.
You may be thinking, “well I text a lot and I don’t want to use an app to text”. No, no no. You want to use this app. Everyone in South Korea uses Kakao. You will realize this after being on the subway for the first time. Everyone has their phones out and is either watching SNL or are chatting on Kakao. Oh, did I mention you can also make phone calls on Kakao to other Kakao users? Ya awesome right?
The only thing you need to worry about is buying a new sim card every month. For that price, it is worth it. Your sim card comes with a phone number too so you don’t have to worry about that either! Setting up your sim card is very easy through the web site they provide as well.
So if you aren’t 100% on your length of stay in Korea, the sim card is your best option. If you are sure on how long your staying, you can still get the sim card because its such a good deal, or you can go with a contract, it’s your choice.
I went with the sim card. What will you choose?
I hope this was helpful to some of you who are curious on the topic. I have provided a link bellow to the Arrival Store so you can learn more about them and see your options. I wish you all luck in South Korea!
