Roaming in the Far East (South Korea) on PAYG phone - It set itself up automatically.

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I have an old iPhone on 02 Pay as you Go, which I brought to Seoul, South Korea simply because I was using it, right up until I boarded my flight from Heathrow.  I then turned it off, until I return home to England in two weeks.

Here in Korea, I always rent a mobile phone at my arrival airport because it is cheaper and much less hassle than setting up your UK phone to work here (with associated roaming charges, which I have heard are enormous).

I then turned on my iPhone two days ago, simply to use the alarm clock feature on the phone.

When I woke up, I noticed that there was a message from 02 Roaming, saying "Welcome to South Korea"  etc, etc, Enjoy your trip!.  The message said I could not make calls, but I could recieve them, and I could also send/recieve texts.  My iPhone had also automatically connected to the phone network provider SK Telecom.  I did not do anything.  All of this was automatic.

My phone is Pay as you Go.  Will I get sent a bill for this?  I did not want it, have not requested it, and only want to use my iPhone as an alarm clock (which it does brilliantly).

Answers to this would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Michael Livingstone

[jonsie · Accepted solution]

No you won't receive any bill. O2 just inform you that you ate connected to the South Korean network.  All customers using an o2 phone overseas get the message. 

[MI5]

As you are on PAYG you will not be billed at all as any usage would come out of your credit.
If you turn a phone on for just the alarm clock you need to turn on airplane mode to prevent any phone access to any network, anywhere.

[Bambino]

Instead of the cost of renting a phone, why don't you just get a local Pay & Go sim and swap it? If your O2 sim isn't in the phone you won't get those messages. You'll be on a South Korean network and you can use a phone you're used to.

[jonsie]

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@Bambino wrote:

Instead of the cost of renting a phone, why don't you just get a local Pay & Go sim and swap it? If your O2 sim isn't in the phone you won't get those messages. You'll be on a South Korean network and you can use a phone you're used to.

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Good advice as long as the phone is unlocked.