Essentials of living in Seoul - Mobile Line! Yeoboseyo? 여보세요?

Yeoboseyo 여보세요 (Yoboseyo) is the Korean way of saying "Hello" when they pick up the phone. It is a short form of yeogi boseyo, literally meaning "Please look over here". 

Unlike in Singapore where prepaid sim cards can be easily purchased from convenience stores and mobile stores, getting a Korean phone line may be a hassle.

Korea does not use the sim card system. The phone number is linked to the IMEI number of the phone, and the phone you purchase may expire after a certain period of time.

However in recent years, Olleh offers prepaid sim card to foreigners. You need to be in Korea for at least 3 days before you can purchase the sim card using your passport though. That's the time it takes to process your immigration records.

Do also note that you can only purchase the sim card on weekdays!

Refer to the link below for the list of Olleh global stores specially catered for foreigners.

http://www.ktexpatblog.com/

Wifi dongle
Most tourists will rent the Olleh egg (wifi dongle) from the airport. It costs 8000KRW/day, and it's probably the most convenient way for foreigners to get connected to the virtual world.

For long term stay, I'll suggest the following since it's the most cost-saving.

1. Prepaid mobile
You can choose the amount of credit and validity period. I chose the 30,000KRW for 180days, even though I know I'm probably not going to finish it. My plan started 2 months ago and so far I've only used 5,000KRW.

2. Prepaid data
When I was doing my research a few weeks ago, I didn't know of the prepaid plan so I was waiting for my alien registration card before I would go and get a postpaid plan. Thankfully my friend told me about the availability of prepaid data plans.

Extracted from the Olleh website

I got the 11,000KRW plan for 500mb of data, valid for 30 days, and there's free access to Olleh wifi if you get the plans above 8,000KRW. Olleh wifi is available in many public places, so 500mb of data is about enough. I used up my data within 25 days and since I set up the automatic recharge (linked to my shinhan bank account), it was hassle-free.

For automatic recharge, you can go to the Olleh corporate store to apply. I used my check card (debit card) so I didn't have to fill up any forms. If you don't have a check card, you'll need to know your account number and to fill up the application form. You can also choose when to recharge your data (when you're left with 100mb, 50mb, 20mb or 10mb).

All in all, I will be paying 30,000KRW for mobile and message for my entire stay, and 11,000KRW every month for 500mb and free wifi. I think it'll the best deal for me since I seldom talk on the phone. The mobile plan is really for emergency use.

There's also SK Telecom and LG, but since they don't offer sim cards foreigners, you will need to buy a local phone to get a Korean mobile number.

Hope this was helpful!