How to Use Your Phone in Korea
Like a lot of things in South Korea, Koreans have their own way of handling phone and internet plans. While some of the ways things are done in Korea seem very old school — mobile technology certainly isn’t one of them. Korea has some of the best services on the planet. Whether you’re moving to Korea or just visiting, having data available is important; our guide will help you get set up before you get there.
Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links. When you click and make a purchase with these links, a small percentage of your purchase will go to us at no cost to you! For more information see our Affiliate Disclosure Page.
Unlike a lot of other things, phones and internet are handled pretty straight forward and they can be simple to set up. It can be broken down into two categories:
1. Before you have your A.R.C. (ARC — Alien Registration Card) -OR- if you are just visiting for a while and will never get an A.R.C.
2. After you have your A.R.C.
A little background: Korea takes their phone registration very seriously. It’s one of the ways used to identify people (kind of like your social security number or your driver’s license number in the USA). When you sign up for Korean websites, you have to put in your phone number and it searches an ID database to make sure the information matches. If it doesn’t match EXACTLY or it can’t find you, you can’t sign up.
Before you get your A.R.C. (or if you aren’t getting one)
One of the biggest tips we could ever provide to someone coming to Korea for the first time — especially if they are alone, don’t speak Korean or don’t know anyone who speaks Korean — is to get a temporary SIM card at the airport. However, this has to be set up at least 24 hours in advance! So make sure you do this before you leave.
We found an awesome website called Trazy.com that sells the temporary SIM cards provided by KT (one of the biggest phone/internet providers in Korea) that you can pick up at a kiosk right in the airport. Here are the steps to get going.
First, they have a lot of options and it can be confusing. They have data-only plans, data+voice plans, and data+voice+sms plans. We went with the data only plan because we weren’t going to call anyone. The vast majority of people in Korea use data messenger apps like KakaoTalk and Skype because text messaging costs extra (more on this in the after A.R.C. section below). Here are all the data plan options and information about where you can pick your card up.
TIP: On the top right of the page you can change the currency! No need to get hit with any foreign currency transaction fees if you can avoid it.
Pricing & Options
You can chose 1/5/10/30-day plans. If you are only in Korea for a short period, pick the most appropriate for you. However, if you are staying in Korea and getting your A.R.C., we recommend the 30-day plan. It can take a few weeks for you to get your A.R.C. and better to have extra time on your phone plan than run out. (We did 30-day plans and still didn’t have our A.R.C.’s yet so had to run to the airport for another 30-day card).
Now for the Price: not bad… by Western standards. As of this posting, it’s about 53USD for a 30-day, unlimited data card. The data+voice+sms plan is actually only about a dollar more, so if you want you can go ahead, it may be worth the extra dollar for you. We’ve bought both, one with and one without; it didn’t really make a difference for us. Comparing this to plan prices in America, it’s not a bad deal at all. Comparing this to plan prices in Korea, it is pretty steep. (More on Korean plan prices below).
TIP: If you get the data only card from the airport locations, it comes with incoming calls and SMS free. However, this is not the case if you pick it up at any University locations.
Once you’ve decided your plan and pickup location, hit that buy button. You’ll get an email confirmation which you’ll need to keep handy when you arrive. Either screenshot or print it so you can give them your reservation number.
Picking Up the Phone Card
When you arrive in Korea, you’ll get your bags and go through customs like any international airport. However, don’t go jump on a bus yet! The kiosk where you get your SIM card is located right there at the airport. Your reservation email will tell you where to go. At the Incheon Airport, the location changes based on the time. Either Gate 6 or Gate 10, but they are in the same general area. Incheon Airport has lots of maps in every gate area, so it’s easy to find the right place.
Once you get there, have your reservation email handy and your passport available. They’ll process things on their end and give you your SIM card. Pop it into your phone and turn it on. Within a few minutes, you’ll be fully connected and ready to go before you even leave the airport!
* Super Important Tips *
Your phone has to be UNLOCKED for you to be able to use the SIM card. Many phone providers “lock” your phone when you purchase through them so that you can’t use other phone providers unless you ask them to unlock it. Most won’t unlock it unless you own the phone outright. In America, this is legal to do so long as you are making payments on the phone. Once you’ve paid it and you own it, they are required to unlock it upon request.
Also, make sure your phone can be used internationally. Nearly all modern phones (let’s say within the last few years) are able to utilize the network communication protocols used in different parts of the world, but some older phones (or maybe some lower-end models) only have one fixed communication protocol programmed into them. Do some research here just to cover yourself.
Seriously, this was a lifesaver for us and it was worth us paying off our phones before coming. Being able to have Google Translate, KakaoTalk, and map apps like KakaoMaps and NaverMaps is worth gold. (In fact, if you’re planning a trip to Korea, these are the apps you need.) Everything would have been much harder for us had we not done this. There are other companies and providers that do these temporary cards, but we liked Trazy best because it was simple, we could pick our currency, and they actually have a lot of really good deals on other things to do in Korea!
After Getting Your A.R.C.
Getting your A.R.C. is a long process, it can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months depending on your timing and luck (ours was the latter). However, once you have your A.R.C., a lot of doors open to you in Korea. Particularly phones, internet, and banking. They might be the most important things to figure out in Korea. Fortunately, of the three, phones and internet are pretty easy to handle.
We went with KT because we liked their temporary card that we bought through Trazy. We have never had any issues with speed (we’ve put this to the test with the hotspot; using 2 phones, 2 laptops, while downloading updates — it never even slowed down). There are other options, too, like SKT. We’ve heard good things about them all, so it’s really down to whatever plan you like best.
KT has a “foreigner-friendly” website that has some basic information on what’s available, but it hasn’t been updated since 2013… So you’re better off just using Google Translate on their native website to look up some prices (if you use Google Chrome, it should translate automatically).
KT also has “global” stores all over Seoul where they have English-speaking staff. Can’t vouch for those either, because we haven’t been to one.
Local KT stores — there are LOTS of them. Like, 3–4 in a 5 block radius of our apartment. Some locations have employees who speak English, some don’t. We had a Korean friend go with us and that made it very easy to do. If you don’t have someone who can do this, you can go to one of the global stores OR just hop around until you find a store that has someone with decent English (this won’t be that hard to find really, many people in Korea have some English ability).
Phone Plans & Cost
Honestly, the process in the store is still a little fuzzy for us. They didn’t really even ask us much. For phones, they asked how much data we wanted. We went with a 3GB monthly data plan, with 100 minutes of talk and 100 text messages (both only count for outgoing).
This may not seem like much, but we chose this option for two reasons. First, not many people actually use text messaging and phone calls, most people (and even some businesses) use the KakaoTalk app, where you can make calls and text for free using data. Second, wifi is abundant. Almost every place you go to in Korea has wifi. The providers (KT, SKT, etc) even have wifi on the subway. So if you pay attention to your off-wifi data usage, you could get away with even less data. We even know some people who just never bothered to get phone plans at all and survive off the wifi. We aren’t that brave, though.
So how much did it cost? 33,000KRW; right now that’s just over 28USD per month per line.
One thing that is really neat with KT is their rewards app. They nearly match your bill in rewards cash. For example, ours gives us about 28,000KRW per month. These can be used for discounts at partnered places, like coffee shops and movie theaters. So if you use the app and do your normal outings at partnered places, you end up only “paying” about 5,000KRW a month for your phone plan!
Internet Plans & Cost
Internet was an even shorter conversation. They asked if we wanted wifi (I’m guessing they just meant a router?). We said yes. Pretty much end of conversation. No mention of speed or limits. Turns out they are really stingy on text messages and phone calls, but not about internet usage. I started to ask questions through our friend and they were both confused about why I was asking what internet speeds and packages they offered. It’s just expected that your home wifi is going to be amazing. When we asked if it could handle streaming video games, the KT employee just laughed and said, “of course!”
So I just let the KT employee decide and it’s apparent that was the right decision. I still don’t know what “package” we got, but it’s fast. Like speed tests in the 500Mbps download range and downloading games from Steam has hit 40+MBps. Upload speeds have hit 100Mbps, too. Now, these do fluctuate, but I’ve never seen the download speed lower than 100Mbps. Price: 23,000KRW or about 24USD a month. Last time we had an American internet plan it was 100Mbps at about 45USD a month.
So our total cost per month for 2 simple phone plans and amazing internet: 89,000KRW which is about 75USD.
The Details
Now for the fine print. We had to sign a 3-year contract to get these prices. However, the representative at the store said after 1 year we can cancel with no penalties. So if we decide to do something different when our current teaching contract is up, it shouldn’t be a problem. We will update when that time comes.
We’re no experts on all the ins and outs of Korean technology, but we hope this helps make your trip (or move) a little easier!
Enjoyed this story? Click the ❤ to help others find it!
Originally published at https://roguetexans.com on July 17, 2019.
