Global SIM card for South Korea
 

Good afternoon everyone:

I have spend some time wondering around the site, and a lot of you seem to have much more experience than me in this regard, so I figured I would ask a question.

I am looking to buy a SIM card so that I can roam in South Korea. I understand that I need a mobile that does 3G 2100 and I do have one, however, my current provider will charge me 3.00$ / min to roam in South Korea and picking up a local SIM is impossible (at least to begin with).

So, what I want:

- FREE incoming
- Reasonable rates back to Canada for calling and SMS

What I would like:

- To be able to use data (in small amounts)
- An incoming number that is cheapish to call from Canada

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Currently, Story Telecom is on the top of my list with their product TravelTalk SIM, has anyone had any experience with them?

Cheers!

dr torch,

It sounds like we might be a good option for you as we have excellent rates in Asia. We offer free incoming calls in S. Korea and it would be $0.45/min USD to call Canada. GPRS data is available and we have local Canadian numbers that you can add to your account to forward calls to your international number (it costs you $0.35/min USD to receive calls through the local Canadian number).

I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thanks,
James

Hi:

Thanks for your reply. I compared your rates to Story Telecom. I guess my main concern is this:

Your outgoing rate from Korea -> Canada is $0.45 / min
Story Telecom's outgoing rate from Korea -> Canada is $0.17 / min
(both rates in US$)

Can you explain to me while there is a huge difference there?

You can check Story Telecom's rates here: Story Telecom - Cost effective roaming - free sim card - cheap international calls

Thanks.

dr torch,

I'm not very familiar with Story Telecom, so just make sure to read all the fine print to find out whether they charge connection fees because some companies do, we do not. Usually with a rate that low it means there are connection fees involved.

Thanks for the reply.

They claim no connection fee, however they say:

I have absolutely no idea what the sms protocol for placing phone calls is?

warning: then don't post about them

This is from story telecom website. It looks a bit strange and might increase the cost significantly
The bottom line is you never know for sure the cost before making the first call in a country:

Unfortunately, how the call is sent to us is controlled by the mobile network your phone is connected to and is out of our control.

It seems they are probably talking about a choice between USSD and SMS triggering of callback, which is an issue that actually affects all global SIMs, some using one or the other or both, and may vary for visiting different countries or networks, often without the customers knowing which is in use.

James, this is SPAM to me and I asked you yesterday to NOT spam on this forum. As I wrote you in private, and now in public, we accept sellers to write here only for helping their customers if they have problems with YOUR product. We cannot accept promotional messages like the one I'm quoting here. This is my first and last warning, the next one will be a ban.

The story telecom rates are interesting. some countries have riddiculously high rates, others (e.g. south korea) have very low rates. Makes it look a bit suspicious to me... Correct me if i am wrong.