Prepaid SIM plans from the LG, SK and Olleh
 

What are the best options for low voice, data intensive prepaid SIM plans from the big 3 Korean mobile networks?

I'm planning a trip and have some friends there who would be willing to buy a prepaid SIM for me.

However, I have almost no knowledge of the plans there.

There's an EG solution, but data caps at 1 GB and it's most likely more expensive as it's geared towards visitors and tourists rather than the local population. I'd like to avoid this solution if possible.

Any knowledge would be greatly appreciated!

Wow, first post sine 2010!

See below for another recent thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/korea...endations.html

That thread is all about EG SIMs, T-Mobile Simple Choice and Egg Rentals, none of which I am interested in.

I am trying to start a thread focused on prepaid plans that locals use.

I think Olleh (KT) has the following

Prepaid Standard: 0 won base fare
2GB Prepaid Data: 22,500 won for 30 days

Does anyone knows how much a sim costs?

This may help:

http://blog.thearrivalstore.com/life...s-south-korea/

I read that the KT Olleh SIMs took about 3 days to get after you arrived in country. Don't know if that's true, so if someone could confirm.

SK looked like it had a good deal for 2 GB for around 25000 won. Seems to be the best I've seen so far, though I'm open to better options too.

If you need something data intensive, just rent an Egg from Olleh. It's much, much simpler for you. Your friends can only get the sim if they're Korean. Foreigners here, generally, aren't allowed to have multiple sim cards with lines floating around (it's tied to our visa restrictions). For instance, I have a postpaid contract, so my sim is in my phone. I can't add another "line."

The cost of the egg is 5,000₩ a day. There is a deposit of 150$? 200$? By credit card, but it's fully refundable.

Also, my boyfriend just paid 9,000₩ for his SIM at Olleh to go in his old iPhone (lost his S5).

Just looked up rates (you can, too.. Google KT expat blog). Foreigners receive the same rates as Koreans, so I trust these rates. It said a 4GB prepaid card was 38,000₩ and a 1GB was 16,000.

If you go for the Egg, it's unlimited data.

Also, unfortunately, Korea doesn't work as simply "buy a card, pop it in and go." It has to be registered. That's where the pain in the A comes from. That's why I always say just get the Egg. My friend got an Olleh card when he visited. He wasted an hour at the store waiting. Egg, boom, done in 10.

Yeah, that's a bit more costly to do. I'll be there for 2 weeks, so that would get expensive.

I also did that the last time I was there. It wasn't an egg, but it was a U+ access point with LTE. It didn't seem to work half the time if I was in a busy area (Namdaemun, Itaewon, etc). It seemed to not work most when I needed it. Could have been the network, but between that and the battery not lasting terribly long, it didn't work out.

U+ is like the Sprint of Korea. It's not nearly as good as KT or SK. Everyone with the Egg has always had good results and a strong charge.

And yes, two weeks does add up. One thing you could do is get an Olleh WiFi unlimited card for three days. It's 9,000₩ and they have them at all convenience stores. Just log in with that card at an olleh Hotspot. That could hold you over until the end of the 3 day period. Olleh has a MASSIVE wifi network, way ahead of any other carrier. Of course, subways, but also bus stops, Starbucks, doctor's offices. You name it, they're there.

As an another option, I used PocketWiFiKorea.com in April 2015, very good, shared among 5 devices
http://pocketwifikorea.com/

$3.95 USD/day

You pick up and return at ICN airport departure hall (2 people on a bench with luggage full of MiFi hotspots, LOL, like some illegal trades)

Yeah, that was in 2012. I was in Seoul the whole time so it sort of worked. I had a hard time trying to find any sort of service. I ended up going back out to ICN and U+ was the first one that offered a solution that worked. I've since switched to a GSM carrier, and it seems easier to get a SIM card in Korea now.

How is it in the more rural areas, like Pyeongtaek, Asan and Cheonan? I'm only going to be in Seoul the first night, so after that I'm heading south.

U+ ended up waiving the equipment fee for the 2 weeks I was there, and I think I paid like 5000 won per day plus tax. It ended up being around $75 US by the time I was done.

It will work there. There's great coverage in those areas with LTE still. Also, I wouldn't really consider those too rural haha. If you look at this map, you can see that even 평택 (Pyeongtaek has a red 4G bubble around it (as does Cheonan and Asan).

http://wibro.olleh.com/ktwibro/map/4gzone.php

Does the phone physically need to be there or can you just give the store a IMEI number?