Mobile phone in South Korea

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There are two kinds of mobile phone in Korea: PCS and cellular phones. PCS phones are generally cheaper than cellular phones. Subscription fees and charges vary according to the telephone companies. Foreigners over 18 years old are required to present their alien registration card, passport and Korean credit card when making an application.

* Note: some companies require foreigners to have a Korean guarantor.

People who travel for a short period of time can use mobile phone rental services. It is required to pay a rental fee and a refundable deposit along with the actual phone charge. There is no minimum amount for the phone charge, and since it is paid from the prepaid card, so there is no need to get a bill later. The phone charge gets deducted from the prepaid card when a call is finished, and users can buy another card or recharge their cards when they used up all amount of the prepaid cards. Users should pay attention to the validation period of the prepaid card because a card cannot be used after the validation period is passed.

PCS phone service providers
* Korea Telecom Freetel 016 Rental

Security deposit for a PCS phone is 50,000 won, and the hand phone rental fee is 2,000 won for one day and 30,000 for one month (plus VAT). Only domestic calls are available with this phone service, and 60 won is charged per 10 seconds. There are three kinds of prepaid cards (016 Free Card) based on the price-5,000/10,000/30,000 won. Purchasing and recharging cards can be done in n016 branch stores. The validation periods for prepaid cards are 15 days for 5,000 won prepaid card, 30 days for 10,000 won and 90 days for 30,000 won. To rent a hand phone or get more information, you can call the Korea Telecom Freetel Central Office at 02-3277-7016 or their Gangnam branch at 02-554-2016. A person who applies for a rental hand phone must be present at a branch with 1 copy of passport, 1 copy of the Alien Registration and a credit card issued by any domestic credit card company.

- 016 PCS: KTF Tel. 2016-1114
www.ktf.com/eng/main.jsp
- 018 PCS: KTF Tel. 3418-0180 (Information in English)
www.018.co.kr/eng/main.jsp
- 019 PCS: LG Telecom Tel. 1544-0019 (Information in English) http://www.lgtelecom.com/eng/index.jsp

Cellular phone service providers
* Yellow Pages Ltd. Cellular Rental

Besides the security deposit, users are to pay 8,000 won per day when renting a phone for 3 days, and 220,000 won for 3 months. Both domestic and international phone calls can be made, and 390 won is charged per a minute. A prepaid card must be purchased to use a hand phone. The prices of prepaid cards are 20,000/30,000/50,000 won. The validation periods are 90 days for 20,000/30,000 won prepaid cards and 150 days for 50,000 won prepaid cards. The remaining amount of the prepaid card can be refunded when returning the hand phone. For application or purchase a prepaid card, please call 02-7250-411. Or you can also visit their web site, http://yellowpages.co.kr

- 011 & 017: SK Telecom Tel. 680-8690
www.sktelecom.com/eng/main.html www.011e-station.com (Korean)
- Rental service providers
- Yellowpage Korea Co., Ltd.: Tel. 725-0411 Fax 969-0018
www.yellowpages.co.kr/cel.html

Brian 19 May 2007, 05:42 - Report