Renting a cell phone in Korea

Any SK Telecom provider will rent you a cell phone.

    Whether you are having family members or friends come visit you in Korea, or you are taking a vacation to Korea, it is always nice to have a cell phone. Because Korea's cell phone companies are so strict here (there are only about 4 servers), it is almost impossible to bring a phone from a foreign country while using your service from home. Yes, this means that your cell phone probably will not work if you bring it to Korea, even if you plan to pay international fees. Believe me, I called my server T-mobile back in 2009 before I came on a 2 week trip here. They told me that the fee was 99 cents a minute and that I could get service in the city of Seoul just fine. However, upon arriving in Korea this was not true. Don't learn the hard way, and plan ahead to rent a cell phone. The only two companies to rent cell phones from are SK Telecom and KTF.
    One of the easiest ways to rent a phone is by getting one in the airport. The following airports in Korea will rent you a cell phone: Incheon International Airport, Gimhae International Airport, Jeju International Airport, and the Gwangju International Airport. The fees vary by location, but they are about 3,000 won per day with a charge of 100 won per minute (about 10 cents a minute). The company will give you a cell phone and charger, and you must return the phone in order for your payment to be stopped. Otherwise they will charge you in full for the phone. Visit Dynamic-Korea to see specific directions and numbers for each phone rental location in the airport. You can also reserve the cell phone in advance by following their booking instructions, however it might just be easier to pick one up in airport if you have time.
    If you landed too early in the morning or late at night to rent a phone from the airport, another option is to find a private cell phone vendor in the city and rent from them. I found one conveniently located across from the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon. The store name is called IDEA and they have SK Telecom serviced phones that you can rent. You must give them a 50,000 won deposit for the cell phone, and you will receive the deposit back when you return the phone. A 20 day rental will cost you 40,000 won, and you can pay as you go at any SK Telecom location. The lowest amount you can put on the phone is 13,000 won which will be more than enough money for 20 days in Korea.
   Once you have your cell phone rented you should take advantage of the free Korean translation service. Simply dial your area code plus 1330 and you will be connected to a free bilingual translator who can help guide you to tourist sites, or direct your cab driver. Visit the 1330 website to learn more about this service.

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  Gone Seoul Searching by Marie Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at goneseoulsearching@gmail.com.