Staying Connected in Seoul

It is recommended to check first the roaming rate to South Korea by your mobile service provider. Most roaming charges are heart attack inducing but sometimes telco companies have service agreements with each other for roaming service. This means that customers can get cheaper price for roaming. There may be certain conditions like only selecting a particular telco in South Korea to be eligible so make sure to check the fine prints.

UPDATE: Maxis customers in Malaysia can refer to this page. For RM 33/day users can access unlimited data provided by SK Telecom. Celcom customers have to pay a higher price at RM 38/day for unlimited data provided by Korea Telecom (KT). Refer this page for more info and T&C.

source: maxis

South Korea uses WCDMA technology for its mobile phone service. This means that until recently phones are locked with specific telcos and are not sim-card based. To stay connected tourists have to rent phones from phone rental companies and pay for days used in addition to the minutes used for calling. Phone rental companies may be hard to find in Seoul so it is a good idea to rent it at the airport.

source: s roaming

Recently telco in South Korea has started to offer sim-card to cater for the visitors market. Due to South Korea's strict identity regulation these sim cards can only be gotten from their official sales offices. Please visit this site and read this post for further information.

South Korea is famous for being the world's most widely internet-connected country. Wi-Fi is available almost everywhere even in subways. However while most cafes and restaurants provide free Wi-Fi to its customers (and you can piggyback on these connections if you are somewhere nearby), the most widely available Wi-Fi access points are those provided by telco companies and to connect to these Wi-Fi you need to be subscribed to their service first.

UPDATE: You can now easily subscribe to Wi-Fi service provided by olleh by buying the temporary Wi-Fi ID through convenience stores in South Korea. More info available here: Olleh Wifi

source: olleh wifi

With internet connection, you can use VoIP (Voice Over IP) applications to make your phone calls. One popular application is Skype. Get some Skype credits and you will be able to call phone lines.

To sum this entry up, there are four options for staying connected in Seoul: roaming with your mobile service provider, renting a phone, getting a prepaid sim card or signing up for Wi-Fi access. Good luck!