These days, there are lots of options as far as making cheap International calls.
But most of them involve using specialized service, equipment or fees.

What if you just want a hassle-free way to make calls back home with your cellphone while you're out and about in Itaewon or at your work?

There are a couple of services that offer 'free' international phone calls to some countries-- US, Canada, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Britain*, Taiwan*, Germany*, Netherland*, Australia*, Ireland*, Spain*, New Zealand*, Sweden*, Belgium*, France* and Russia*. (List applicable for 1600-0030, countries denoted with *, you can only call land lines)

Feel like there's going to be a catch?  Not if you know how this all works.

Everytime you make an international call with one of these services, you will be charged at regular domestic mobile call rate, which depends on your mobile rate plan.

The operator of the service makes money from the difference in commission they receive from mobile phone companies such as SKT and KTF (yes, they pay commission to others for calls you make to some numbers) and the cost of the call they are charged with by the network operator.  You are basically calling an Internet phone network operator to make your call with your cellphone.  Since they get paid commission for each minute/second of your call, as long as they can connect your call to the destination number at cheaper rate, they will make money and you win with the convenience you enjoy.

I have personally been using one of these services for a few years now and have never had any problem using it.  The call quality is about what you'd expect from other Internet calling services around and I have never been charged any extra fees for any international calls.

Now, I am not getting paid or promoting this service for any personal gain. I have found this service very useful when I'm away from my computer or a free wifi connection with which I use Skype to make calls to US and Canada.

So, if you think this might be a convenient option for you, read below for the instructions on how to make calls.

There are a couple of companies that provide this service and they're simply identified by the phone numbers you call to make calls.

1600-0030 (homepage: http://1600-0030.co.kr/)

1688-0044 (homepage: http://www.1688-0044.co.kr/)

Instruction (let me use 1600-0030 as an example)

1. Dial 1600-0030 from your cellphone

2. Wait til you hear the automated message

3. Dial the country code+area code+phone number+#

     ex. If you're calling US - San Jose - 555-5555, you'd dial 1-408-555-5555#

4. You're done.

Sometimes, it's incredibly difficult when you're outside to remember the number you have to call, so what I do is store the entire sequence on my phone.

Every phone gives you the ability to insert a pause when storing a ph0ne number.

So, if you happen to want to store the above number, you can store it using the below number sequence.

16000030(pause)14085555555

Check your phone's manual on how to do this.

The other operator 1688-0044, I believe, works the same way.

Well, if I've made any sense, you should give it a try and let me know if you run into anything better.

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