Roaming Cell Service In Korea And Japan

[PvtDick]

Most people know that Japan and Korea are the only two major countries in the world where you can't use a standard tri-band GSM phone. AIS users going to these countries can borrow a phone from the counter at Don Muang airport to use while they're away, but I've been traveling so often that it's gotten to be a drag.

Can anyone tell me: if I pick up a cheapo $100 handset in Seoul or Tokyo and slap my AIS SIM card in it, will it work?

[britmaveric]

Japan doesnt have sim cards - found that out when I stayed there for 4 months. They have proprietary system. You show them sim cards and you'll get a dumb founded look. You'll need to buy a handy there or rent one.

Edited April 8, 2005 by britmaveric

[PvtDick]

Really? Never knew that. So what is that phone they lend you at the airport? You put your own SIM card in it, and can use it to make and receive calls in Japan. So there must be SOME sim-card equipped phones capable of being used in Japan. So where to buy one?

[britmaveric]

I just googled this -

If you want to use your local SIM card in Japan and your operator is an inbound roaming partner of Vodafone or DoCoMo, bring or rent an unlocked W-CDMA(UMTS) 3G phone and you can roam with Vodafone or DoCoMo network.

Didnt seem to work few months back - always try when I pass through Narita. My carrier is Vodafone so....indeed curious.

[PvtDick]

Interesting; thanks for that. Was your phone a "W-CDMA (UMTS) 3G" model?

[britmaveric]

Quad Band 3G - has cdma, but perhaps not same!

[grahamb]

Not sure about AIS but DTAC roams on Vodafone Japan and NTT DoCoMo FOMA (DoCoMo's 3G service). When you borrow a DTAC phone at the airport, it is a 3G phone that takes your SIM card. A lot of their information shows the old phones they used to use which were Japanese phones where you redirected your calls - you didn't insert your SIM card. If you have your own 3G phone (Nokia 6630, etc.), I assume you could just use that in Japan. You'd be lucky to find a 3G phone for US$100 though!

Korea is a bit different. One or two of the networks there are supposed to be setting up WCDMA networks (GSM version of 3G rather than the CDMA version of 3G they have now). WCDMA is the same as Vodafone Japan and NTT DoCoMo so in theory, you could roam the same way there. However... I don't think those networks are up and running yet.

The only alternative for SIM roaming in Korea that I found was to rent a phone at Incheon airport. There are a couple of desks there that rent out modified CDMA phones - they work on the Korean networks but accept SIM cards so you can have your usual number, etc. I've never tried that with my DTAC account but when I tried it with a European SIM it didn't work (even though they were supposed to have the agreements in place). A colleague from Hong Kong was able to get it to work with his SIM though. As far as I know, that service is only available at Incheon airport and they only rent the phones; I don't think you can buy them.

Britmaveric: What model is your phone (name/number)? If it is a Vodafone quad band model with CDMA, it is probably WCDMA so it should work in Japan. However, the phone may not be configured to pick up the WCDMA network - if you bought it in a country that just has GSM, it may be set to use GSM only. I expect you can change it in the settings.

[astral]

Watch the roaming costs, can be horrendous.

[grahamb]

Watch the roaming costs, can be horrendous.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Very true but strangely, I noticed that roaming with DTAC in Japan was cheaper than roaming in most other Asian GSM countries... Not sure if that is the case now but it was about 6 months ago when I checked. I think the Japanese networks were keen to get people using them.