There are few ways to stay connected to the world and, more important, your family and friends when you travel to Korea.
You can rent your SIM card from Olleh KT which requires you to stay in Korea for at least 3 days before you can apply for it and to return the SIM card at the end of your trip, before you leave Korea.
Or you can rent a phone at Incheon Airport after landing, last time I checked the price was 5000 KRW/5 USD a day. The renting-plans got me confused right from the start, but if youโre interested you can check it out here.
Me and my friend even tried to buy KT Olleh 1 day wi-fi but it just didnโt work out. The payment didnโt go through no matter how many time we try with different credit cards so we just gave up in the end.
Before coming to Seoul I did a lot of research to find an easy way to keep me connected to the internet world throughout the trip, I came across Evergreen Mobile twitter page and decided to give it a try.
EG SIM card website: http://www.egsimcard.co.kr/eng/main/index.asp
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/egsimcard
Twitter: https://twitter.com/egmobile123
I bought two SIM cards, one for me and one for my sister, we faced some problems trying to insert the SIM card too so I hope what I share below will be helpful.
Getting a SIM Card
First step, get yourself an account on EG SIM website, this is something that can be done easily. I wasnโt be able to register at first though, I tried to do it with both Firefox and Google Chrome but still no result so I ended up using Safari on my phone and only then it went through.
They just launched their offline buying places around the time I visited Korea so I donโt have a chance to check them out but you can find the list here: Buy EG SIM CARD Offline
After that just sign in and go to Buy Online to order your SIM card, remember to choose the right card type and the data plan you want. You can choose to whether pick the SIM card up at collecting locations or have it shipped to you (with extra EMS fee of course). After clicking buy youโll have to submit a photo of your passport and others info about your phone, it all comes with clear guidelines. Pay with your credit card and youโll receive a confirmation email from EG and itโs done!
To collect the SIM card, check out there collecting places list: Where to Collect EG SIM CARD
Connect your phone
I chose to collect my card at K BOOKS, Incheon Airport Exit 7. The staff at the book store gave us a list to sign our names on and we got our card. My sisterโs SIM card worked fine after a few time of turning her phone on and off, mine wasnโt. It just refused to work so after the 10th time I reached the staff at K BOOKS for help but she canโt do much either. Her English was limited so she called EG for us and the staff on the phone asked me to turn off my phone so she can check the SIM card. We struggled for about an hour at the airport till EG staff on facebook replied my message and asked me to check APN settings as in this link: About using EG SIM Card
AND IT WORKED! Yay!!!!! So if you have any problem trying to connect your phone just ask them, it might take time but they faced every kind of problems before, itโs best to take advises from them, isnโt it?
When your data usage are getting low youโll receive SMS remind you to top-up in both Korean and English:
Top-up
To top-up your account balance, check out this tutorial from EG blog: How to top up with EG card?They have all the details and pictures for you to follow.
For 2 weeks, I spent all 1GB with my wi-fi completely turned off (yes, I didnโt use wi-fi at all while you can get free wifi at your hotel room, subway stations and cafรฉ and restaurantsโฆ I just wanted to see how much I would spend).
This is my experience, hope itโll be helpful for your trip!
75 Responses
Hi, after getting the data plan loaded in the sim card, can we use the phone as portable hotspot / tether? to share the data connection with other phone device…
Yes of course you can.
how to active 1gb data? thankyou very much for your info !!
You choose the date package when you order the sim card and it’ll be automatically active when you start using the sim.
If you buy it from a offline store the staff will do it for you ๐
my phone is 3G.. can I use this sim card ?
If your phone is unlocked of course you can ๐
paying 25,500KRW already include the 1GB data? or we have to pay more?
Pay 25,500KRW you will get 20,000KRW in your account. If you choose 1GB data 16,000KRW will be deduct from that 20,000KRW.
Thanks for all this info! I am going in a few weeks, and was thinking Olleh…but it is pretty pricey for the time I am staying. I think I might check out EG
You’re welcome! ๐
if you activate yourself, do you just follow the steps here?
http://www.egsimcard.co.kr/eng/activate-eg-sim-card/activate.asp
Yes that’s right ๐
thanks for quick reply ! i plan to collect at ICN Airport: K Books like you did. will they set it up for me? or what you had to do to activate it ?
K Books is just a book store and there is no EG staff there so if the sim doesn’t work you’ll have to contact them yourself, the staffs at K Books don’t really know anything about EG sim card (and the girl I met had really limited English too).
If you don’t need to have sim card right away I suggest to buy it from an offline selling point of EG instead. I came to their location at Myeongdong with my friend 2 months ago, it only took us less then 5 minutes to get the sim card; you don’t need to order it online first and they open during weekends too.
Did you had to use the app for the data activation ? or it will automatically activate if i select the data plan when i order online?
After getting the sim card and place it inside your phone you’ll have to activate it (they have introductions come along with the sim card for you)
You don’t have to activate the data plan, your phone will automatically connect to internet once you restart it
thanks! so they will automatically deduct the data plan cost from your current balance?
Yes they will. If you get the sim card from one of EG locations they will set up everything for you
thแบฟ cรณ dแปch vแปฅ wifi trแบฃ phรญ nร o tแปt khรดng bแบกn ฦกi gแปฃi รฝ cho mรฌnh
sao sim bรชn Hร n lแบกi ฤแบฏt vแบญy nhแป, cรณ loแบกi prepaid nร o rแบป ko bแบกn ฦกi?
ฤรขy cรณ thแป coi lร loแบกi sim trแบฃ trฦฐแปc duy nhแบฅt hiแปn nay hแป trแปฃ trแปฑc tiแบฟp cho ngฦฐแปi nฦฐแปc ngoร i tแบกi Hร n Quแปc bแบกn แบก
What were the rates for EG sim card regarding international phone calls? I am planning to make calls to the US.
You can check the rates for international phone call here ~> http://www.egsimcard.co.kr/eng/about-eg-sim-card/charges.asp ๐
I have an older 3G Samsung, NOT unlocked but have instructions and code, will these sim cards work with 3G?
I’m afraid it won’t, because they stated on their website that you need to get your phone unlocked before coming to Korea in order to use their sim card. Maybe you can try rent a phone instead? ๐
thank you! ๐
Hi, is the simcard 4G ,and good enough for video streaming?
You can use the sim card with 4G LTE phone and it’s good enough to watch Youtube videos ๐
hi, when I tried to check online purchase, there’s EG Sim Card for 20,000KRW. Aside from this, do I still need to buy standard sim for 5,000KRW? If I want 1GB of data, I have to pay addition 16,500KRW? So, all in all, I have to pay 41,500KRW?
Hi,
When you purchase a EG Sim Card you will have to pay only 25,500KRW for a normal sim card.
20,000KRW is kind of default card value that they ask you to pay upfront.
Basically after paying 25,500KRW you will have 20,000KRW in your voice valence ๐