Using your 3G phone in 한국!

Li'az was diligently shouldering over her avalanche of workload when she heard someone calling her name. Crawling out from underneath the mountain of books, she dragged herself into light and wondered out loud.

"Mom?"

.:o0O0o:.

Thanks to my lovely 어머니 who is more diligent than me when it comes to researching about such things, I got another piece of good news to share!

Not long ago, tourists can't really use their hand phones in Korea, they would either have to rent one at approximately $3/day; $1/min- or buy one like the locals. Even the locals themselves do not have a SIM like we do, and that's why you see them throwing the entire hand phone away when they decide to switch phones (because the no. is pre-installed into the phone itself)! (if the info. I get is reliable) 

But now, we can basically buy a prepaid SIM card at some local store and insert it into our 3G phone! Here's the link (sorry, it's entirely in Chinese and I've no idea how to get the info in English ><):

http://www.hostelseoulkorea.com/在韓國使用自己3g電話-買prepaid-simcard/

Oh here's an English link!:

http://www.hostelseoulkorea.com/travel-blog/

Quoting from the kind blogger who posted the original content for people to share:

***(Credit goes to the original author)

" I’m writing this to share with people who might have the same question as I did.
KT Olleh (or Korea Media rules) has changed since January 2011, you can read about it here.

Venue: KT Olleh Square at Gwang Hwa Mun (Gwang Hwa Mun Station, Line 5, Exit 2)
[Note: or any GLOBAL KT OLLEH outlets] But KT Olleh Square is recommended because they are like the main branch and they have English-speaking staff.

What do you need to bring:
1. Passport (Very Important) and yes, you can get it with just your passport. (Insist that you can, give the staff the webpage from their own website. Don’t let them push you to another outlet.)

2. Your phone (Make sure that the phone is already in use in Korea). Your phone must also not be LOCKED (i.e. You can remove your SIM card from your phone)

3. Make sure you have your IMEI and Serial number of your phone. (I know iPhone has it in the phone settings, so there’s easy. Other phones, please make sure you have these information handy.)

4. Cash (Foreign credit cards are not accepted.)

Cost: 5,500KRW for the SIM card.
Top-up starts from 2000KRW.

A top-up of 10,000KRW should last you for a week.Please go before 6pm, in fact go early. The processing takes some time BUT it shouldn’t take a day.
NOTE: The SIM card/number would only be valid for 3 months. If you are going to stay in Korea for more than 3 months, you would have to go to the shop to validate your visa so you can continue using the number beyond 3 months."

Adding on here's some more info from the first link:

• Incoming call: free 
• Outgoing call: W4.8/Second
• Short texts: W22 ; 
• Long texts: (>80 words): W33
• International call: 00727 + 852(country code, eg: HK) + TEL : W395/Minutes

" 如果你韓文不錯的話，去任何一個KT service centre都可以買得到
不然的話，個人強烈建議去以下這兩間，因為有職員會講中、英文
(1) 光化門 :Line 5 Exit2, 轉右就可以看到olleh square
(2) 弘大: line 2, Exit 9對面
準備事項:
1. 3G手機(2G不行)，不支援韓文字體的話，訊息會變成怪獸字~~
2. 電話的IMEI no
3. 護照
KT的”免費英語服務熱線” : 0161583
可以查詢simcard的餘額
如果只是send text msg的話，一個W33, W5000/W33 = 151個msg
哇！ TaebaK! "

I shall end it here, thanks to the kind bloggers who shared the info, I have lesser things to worry now! 안녕! :) - 12:01AM