WireLess in South Korea is such a changing phenomenon you might notice some current service NOT included, but chances are those new ones won’t last long .

[ INDEX ]

  • WireLess Internet Sharing at home & office
  • WireLess Access Points throughout the city
  • Planes, Trains, Bus and Automobiles
  • WireLess Dongles for NoteBooks
  • Internet Connection on Cell Phones

 

[ Internet Sharing at home & office ]

SET-UP : Internet connection line comes into your home or office (whatever kind it may be : network cable, TV cable, phone line or even your electric plug)
and you connect this to a (Wired) Router to split the connection so that your PC as well as your LapTop can connect to the Internet . Routers mostly used today has 4 slots, where you can connect 4 computers or LapTops simultaneously .

a WireLess Router however, has all the 4 slots PLUS one or more antennas on top so that computers or LapTops nearby, even in other rooms, can connect through this Router (without any network cables, hence wireless) at the same time .

basic Routers normally with 4 slots mostly for home-use cost about W30,000 while those with more slots often for office-use cost more .
high-rise apartments as well as office buildings in South Korea built after the Millennium has the fastest network in the World built-in along with state-of-the-art security systems .
“always” on-line AND “fast” connection is taken for granted in Korea now, that even smaller hotels won’t charge you extra . cheaper motels on the other hand, even have a computer below that desk ! and like neighboring Japan : motels here are synonym for Love Hotels with afternoon-rates .

here you might think : what if our neighbor catches the signal an “rides on it”

the protection comes in any combination of two :

  1. you don’t reveal your ID on your sharing device, and you set your roaming device to search for that specific ID that only you know,
  2. you make it necessary for any connecting device to input your pre-set password before taking on the band-width,

 

[ WireLess Access Points throughout the city ]

some prime real estate locations as well as traffic-concentrated intersections smack in the core of metropolis around the Korean Peninsula – but in reality on the two North-South realms of old SEOUL and KangNam – is the thing Wi-Fi addicts could only dream of in even the most advanced city-nation on Earth . to pin-point you the perfect example, there are essentially two places advanced-trend companies go to test their latest innovations :

  1. SEOUL City Hall between the American Embassy, right next to KT Telecommunication Head-Quarters and MyeongDong,
  2. KangNam between SEOUL Subway Line 2 KangNam Station Exit 10 or 11,
    and Subway Line 9 ShinNonHyeon Station Exit 5 or 6( those who have been here long enough will realize the two locations above, have one thing in common : the mammoth Kyobo insurance buildings are located on each, boasting their book-store chain with the largest English and Japanese selections )

but my favourite spot to linger among the stuttled coffee shop chains, is the now-quiet (since a bulk of prime business have moved to KangNam, South of the Han River after the 1988 SEOUL Olympics) road starting from the East-end of City Hall and reaching North, over three large buildings-blocks through the beginning of re-constructed ChunGaeChun stream and onto the historic JongGak Temple  .

still NOT all free Wi-Fi spots are really FREE, for some you have to sign-up . as a rule -of-thumb SKT the fore-going Korean carrier has more zones throughout the Peninsula, while the rosen-with-iPhone KT has more in concentrated areas around the Capital .

most of the coffee shops offer Wi-Fi to customers, and their passwords are usually noted on top of payment receipts .

 

 

[ Planes, Trains, Bus and Automobiles ]

as of Spring 2013 a good percentage of bus and subway carriages have FREE Wi-Fi, but depending on the number of people riding in it : it wouldn’t be worth the mention as you can see from daily view : almost every-one is toddling their smart-phones .. en route

Wi-Fi, FREE (Jesus was it 200MB on a single ride ?) on First Class and paid for Second, is still a joke on Korea’s belated bullet train KTX, as cut-offs are notoriously constant . more-over the coin-operated computers between a few carriages don’t connect fluidly neither -_- on this note, I should add portable WiBro-to-Wi-Fi Eggs don’t work better on speeding environment neither . I know because I have had projects in SEOUL and Busan or Pusan since the turn of the Millennium //

 

[ WireLess Dongles for NoteBooks ]

this is added for purely nostalgic recollection, as you had to carry this USB-sized dongle on transportation, to connect your laptop (before the coming of the notebook) to connect to the internet . Yes they were modem-slow but kept the connection steady over a few short generations mid-2000’s .

 

[ Internet on Cell Phones ]

this is the only reliable option to connect to the internet if you are constantly on the move . more-over being an expensive one with the coming of LTE and no-more unlimited data-transfer payment plans . would only be disrupted when KTX goes through a tunnel – and quiet many Korea has in the mountainous region the East Coast .

 

 

always connecting, connected and connecterest,

– Korea Tech Blog, February 2009 –
(Updated January 2012 and May 2013)