Here is a great and simple method for accessing Wi-Fi hotspots throughout Korea if you're already a paying customer using a local SIM card but your phone was purchased abroad.
As you may know, you can bring a (unlocked) phone from home with you to Korea and just sign-up with a local telecom to get service via a SIM card. Usually this entitles you to use that company's various Wi-Fi hotspots in public places like malls, railway and bus stations, and of course on trains/subways/buses themselves. Usually (depending on your plan, but if you pay more than say $15/month then you likely get access) your use of these hotspots is free and unlimited so it's worth taking advantage of them. I know guys who eek by on 500MB plans and just use the ubiquitous Wi-Fi.
But if your phone wasn't purchased from your telecom provider, you may not automatically have access to those hotspots. This is almost always true with Android devices bought outside Korea. In my experience iPhones seem to automatically authenticate (maybe later versions of Android do too?) and don't have this problem.
Even if you buy a second-hand phone inside Korea that was originally on your teleco's network, you may run into this problem. In the past it's involved having to contact your teleco and enabling the service (either by visiting an English customer service store or having a Korean buddy call them). I never had this problem, but I've been told you would have to provide your phone's MAC address in some cases but generally they could enable the authentication on their end.
This brings me to an overlooked trick I first saw linked on Reddit by u/asiawide. This is for accessing Olleh's network of Wi-Fi hotspots but I'll assume it would work on SKT too.
Source: https://smok95.tistory.com/m/242
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| Typical Wi-fi authentication error using a foreign or second-hand phone. Image: Only YOUng |
Background
As you may know, you can bring a (unlocked) phone from home with you to Korea and just sign-up with a local telecom to get service via a SIM card. Usually this entitles you to use that company's various Wi-Fi hotspots in public places like malls, railway and bus stations, and of course on trains/subways/buses themselves. Usually (depending on your plan, but if you pay more than say $15/month then you likely get access) your use of these hotspots is free and unlimited so it's worth taking advantage of them. I know guys who eek by on 500MB plans and just use the ubiquitous Wi-Fi.
But if your phone wasn't purchased from your telecom provider, you may not automatically have access to those hotspots. This is almost always true with Android devices bought outside Korea. In my experience iPhones seem to automatically authenticate (maybe later versions of Android do too?) and don't have this problem.
Even if you buy a second-hand phone inside Korea that was originally on your teleco's network, you may run into this problem. In the past it's involved having to contact your teleco and enabling the service (either by visiting an English customer service store or having a Korean buddy call them). I never had this problem, but I've been told you would have to provide your phone's MAC address in some cases but generally they could enable the authentication on their end.
Using SIM card verification
This brings me to an overlooked trick I first saw linked on Reddit by u/asiawide. This is for accessing Olleh's network of Wi-Fi hotspots but I'll assume it would work on SKT too.
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| Steps for SIM authentication. Image: 홍미노트2,3 올레와이파이 인증문제 해결방법 |
- If you've already tried connecting to the Olleh Wi-Fi network and get authentication errors, disconnect and "Forget" the network.
- Select the Olleh Wifi network again
- It will ask for authentication
- Under "EAP Method" choose "SIM"
- Connect
That's it. Super easy and no reliance on calling customer service.
Works for MVNOs too
The really nice thing is that in this guy's example, he's using a Hello Mobile SIM. That is a MVNO (이동통신망사업자) company run by CJ that piggybacks off the KT network. If this works for him, it makes sense this would work for other MVNOs like EZmobile, Unicoms, KT M mobile, Evergreen, etc. Many of those include Wi-fi hotspot access for the mother network, so if you're using one of these make sure you're getting your fair use of those hotspots.
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