FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Are there prepaid SIM cards in Korea/Japan?
Old Aug 9, 2006, 10:43 am
  #12  
Indurain
 
Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: SNA, LAX
Programs: UA 1K, SPG Plat, Hertz P Circle
Posts: 1,628
I think there are two main points here:

1. Avoid roaming fees by using a local number (ie pre-paid SIM)
2. Keep and be able to use your permenant number for contact

Korea has CDMA, and even 3G should be the CDMA version (CDMA2000?). Therefore they do not offer pre-paid SIM cards for sale. What they do offer is rental cell phones that work on the CDMA network, or rental phones that are dual-mode CDMA/GSM which will let you roam on the CDMA network using your GSM number.

When I was there a few months ago (pre-World Cup) I rented a dual-mode phone from a booth at the arrivals level of ICN. I don't remember the company, but the girls were in Red Devils gear hyping up team Korea for the World Cup. The phone was by LG and worked pretty well with my SIM, so well that I wanted to buy one but could not find any store that carries it. The total fees for the 1 week rental was about $3 USD, but the real cost was in the roaming fees with Cingular, which is corporate so I have no visibility. My colleague rented a pure CDMA phone from another booth nearby, and I think she ended up paying about $40 USD for the week (she made lots of calls home).
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