As more people are heading abroad for the Lunar New Year holiday, ways to save on roaming fees are attracting attention. Since roaming charges can vary depending on the carrier, country, and duration of travel, it is essential to carefully compare plans and conditions.
◇ Daily roaming charges are cheapest with KT, while duration plans are cheapest with LG Uplus
On the 25th, ChosunBiz analyzed the overseas roaming plans of the three major mobile carriers, finding that KT offers the cheapest daily roaming data rate (daily plan), while LG Uplus provides the most affordable duration data plan.
KT's daily data charge of 1,625 won per 100 megabytes (MB) is approximately 39% cheaper than LG Uplus, which charges 2,640 won per 100MB, and 18% cheaper than SK Telecom, which charges 1,980 won per 100MB. This change was prompted by KT's recent launch of the 'All-Day Roaming Plus Plan' (800MB/day for 13,000 won) that doubles the data volume for an additional 2,000 won.
For duration plans that provide a specific amount of data over a set period, LG Uplus offers the lowest prices among the three carriers. When converted to data charges per gigabyte (GB) over 30 days, LG Uplus is at 5,500 won, SK Telecom at 6,500 won, and KT at 7,333 won.
◇ SK Telecom customers enjoy free outgoing calls with the ‘A-dot’ app
All three mobile carriers common for incoming calls while roaming overseas are free, but outgoing calls carry a uniform charge of 119 won per minute. This means that calls made to Korea and local voice calls incur the same cost of 119 won per minute, regardless of the distance, such as calls to the United States (long distance) and Japan (short distance).
Just six years ago, voice call charges were 1,970 won per minute for the United States and 1,190 won for Japan, but now the rate is uniformly 119 won per minute, irrespective of distance. However, SK Telecom users can make voice calls for free using the ‘A-dot’ phone app.
◇ Duration plans are advantageous for trips longer than 4 days
If planning to travel abroad for more than 4 days, duration plans are more favorable than daily rates. Daily roaming plans that offer 500-800MB of data typically cost around 10,000 won (9,900-13,200 won) from the three carriers, while duration plans provide 3-6GB of data for about 30,000-40,000 won (29,000-44,000 won).
Using a duration roaming plan for 4 days will reduce costs compared to daily plans, and you can use about 1.8-4GB more data. For example, a SK Telecom subscriber applying for a duration plan that provides 6GB over 30 days will incur costs of 39,000 won. This is 600 won cheaper than using a daily plan that costs 9,900 won for 500MB for four days, with 4GB more data provided.
However, if you are planning a short overseas trip of about 2-3 days, daily plans are cheaper. Using SK Telecom's daily plan (500MB/day for 9,900 won) for two days will cost 19,800 won. In contrast, the cheapest option in SK Telecom's duration plans is 29,000 won (providing 3GB for 30 days). In this case, opting for a daily plan instead of a duration plan will save you 9,200 won.
◇ Using the same carrier offers group savings
When traveling abroad, using roaming plans with family or friends can further reduce communication costs, provided that everyone is with the same carrier. SK Telecom allows only family members to share roaming data, whereas KT and LG Uplus permit friends as well as family. The maximum number of individuals for roaming data sharing is four for SK Telecom and KT, and five for LG Uplus.
It is also important to consider the promotion conditions of the carriers. Recently, SK Telecom decided to offer four times the data to customers who have not used its roaming service for the past 60 months. For instance, if a customer signs up for a duration plan that uses 6GB for 30 days (39,000 won), the data provision increases to 24GB.
Those aged 34 and younger can also benefit from youth discounts. SK Telecom offers a 50% discount on roaming fees for subscribers under 34, while KT reduces roaming charges by 5,000 won. LG Uplus provides an additional 1GB of data to subscribers under 34 on duration plans.