The short answer
You hold a Rogers plan and a ticket to Seoul, and the choice is whether to roam or buy a travel eSIM first. South Korea is on the Rogers Asia Travel Pass, which I read on 10 November 2026 at C$30 for 3 days, C$55 for 7, C$70 for 14 and C$90 for 30. For a trip past a day or two I would buy Ringo Light and keep my own SIM in for calls and texts.
Unlimited data at full speed for 2 weeks at $23.99 or 30 days at $35.99, nothing renews. Airalo asks $49 for 15 days and $69 for the month.
10 GB for 30 days at $14 and 25 GB at $25, on LG U+ and SK Telecom with 5G.
Unlimited for 3 days at $11 and 20 GB for 30 days at $28, on SK Telecom, KT and LG U+.
Days, not gigabytes, no daily cap stated for your own phone, on SK Telecom and LG U+. $27.50 for a week.
Prices read on 10 November 2026: Airalo, Holafly, Nomad, Ubigi, Rogers, Ringo Light, European Central Bank on their own sites or listings, Ringo Light from its catalogue. All in US dollars unless stated. Treat every number as a snapshot.
See the full price index for every country.
Travelling further? Compare the best eSIM for Asia and the eSIM for Asia-Pacific.
The prices, charted
US dollars, 10 November 2026. The rivals sell 15 days, Ringo Light 2 weeks. Ubigi's 15 days is 30 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps. Nomad sells no 15-day unlimited.
The 30-day plan at each brand. Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed. Ubigi's month is 60 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps.
Holafly sells no buckets. Ringo Light sells no bucket either: its 2 weeks is unlimited and lasts 2 weeks, not 30 days.
Side by side
Swipe to compare →
Get Ringo Light for South Korea, from $9.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
- 3 days $9.99
- 2 weeks $23.99
- 30 days $35.99
We sell data eSIMs for now to fund the full Ringo service. Ringo is self funded. Every plan bought here pays for the build of one plan that works everywhere.
Want to keep your own number abroad?
That is the full Ringo service: one plan that works everywhere, with your own number included.
It is a separate product from Ringo Light and it is still being built, so it is not on sale yet. Join the waitlist to hear when it opens.
What to do in South Korea, and what your phone needs for it
Eight places most trips to South Korea include, from Seoul down to Busan, Gyeongju and Jeju. Google Maps gives only partial directions in Korea, so I would switch to Naver Map or KakaoMap, and whichever plan you pick, the tip under each place is where your phone matters.
Roam with Rogers, or buy an eSIM
On 10 November 2026 I read the Rogers roaming page and its pass FAQ, which lists South Korea under Asia. The Asia Travel Pass is C$30 for 3 days, C$55 for 7, C$70 for 14 and C$90 for 30. The International pass, which also lists South Korea, is dearer at C$45, C$75, C$100 and C$120, so for Korea alone I would take the Asia pass. At the ECB reference rate of 10 November 2026, C$1 = $0.707, the Asia passes come to about $21, $39, $50 and $64.
Rogers also lists an International daily rate of C$18 a day, about $13, for 180+ destinations including Asia, though South Korea is not named on that daily page itself. If every day were charged, 3 days would be about $38, 14 days about $178 and 30 days about $382, so I would not roam by the day.
Ringo Light is $9.99 for 3 days, $23.99 for 2 weeks and $35.99 for 30 days, unlimited data at full speed. A long weekend is $9.99 against about $21, two weeks $23.99 against about $50, and a month $35.99 against about $64. Among the travel eSIMs, Rogers' 30-day Asia pass at about $64 is under Airalo at $69 and Holafly at $73.90, and above Ubigi at $49. For 15 days, Rogers at about $50 is level with Airalo at $49 and Holafly at $50.50, and above Ubigi at $34.
What Rogers wins is real. Your Canadian number keeps ringing, calls and texts come with it, nothing needs installing, a phone with no eSIM slot works, and the charge lands on the bill you already pay. Rogers says the pass has no data bucket of its own and uses the data in your plan, so a small plan is a small allowance in Busan too. For a night in transit, I would not bother with an eSIM at all.
Networks in South Korea, and the Rogers pass terms
South Korea has three networks: SK Telecom, KT and LG U+, with fast 5G in the cities on all three. Airalo rides SK Telecom, Holafly SK Telecom and LG U+, Ubigi LG U+ and SK Telecom, and Nomad all three. Ringo Light uses a local partner network. For Seoul, Busan and Jeju I would not pick a plan on network.
Rogers' Asia pass starts at 12 a.m. Eastern time on the date you set and ends at 11:59 p.m. on the last day, so you pick the start date with the time difference in mind. You can buy it up to 60 days ahead, you cannot backdate it, a started pass is not refundable, and you cannot renew it, though you can buy another to begin when the first ends. Calls and texts to another country carry long distance charges. The pages I read state no hotspot rule and no roaming speed.
The travel eSIMs here are data only, with no Korean number. Some Korean services ask for a Korean number for a text code, and neither a travel eSIM nor the Rogers pass provides one.
If you want a data bucket: Ubigi
- Ubigi, $14 for 10 GB. The cheapest 10 GB for 30 days, and 25 GB for $25, on LG U+ and SK Telecom with 5G.
- Nomad, $18 for 10 GB. On sale, regular $20. Its 20 GB is $28, on all three Korean networks.
- Airalo, $19 for 10 GB. Its Jjang plan rides SK Telecom, with 20 GB for $30.
- ✓Ringo Light, no buckets. Its 2 weeks is unlimited for $23.99 and its 30 days unlimited for $35.99. For 10 GB over a month, Ubigi at $14 is the better buy, and the 10 GB buckets at $14, $18 and $19 all cost less than the Rogers 3-day pass at about $21. I would buy Ringo Light for unlimited, not for a bucket.
What Ringo Light is
Ringo Light is Ringo's own data eSIM, and I write for Ringo, so weigh that. It is sold to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere with your own number ported onto it. For South Korea it sells three trips: 3 days at $9.99, 2 weeks at $23.99 and 30 days at $35.99, all unlimited data at full speed. Nothing renews. The eSIM arrives by email in seconds and installs in one scan, no app. One payment, and the trip ends when it ends.
It sits next to your own SIM, so your Rogers number keeps working for calls and texts wherever your plan or a pass covers them. I would check how Rogers bills the day before I leaned on that.
The card to buy it is further up this page, just after the side-by-side table.
Pick by trip
Ringo Light unlimited, 3 days, $9.99, against about $21 on the Rogers 3-day Asia pass. Nomad is $11.
Ringo Light unlimited, 2 weeks, $23.99, against about $50 on the Rogers 14-day Asia pass.
Ringo Light unlimited, 30 days, $35.99, against about $64 on the 30-day Rogers pass. Ubigi at $49 for 60 GB at full speed if you move big files every day.
Ubigi 10 GB for 30 days at $14.
Skip the eSIM and use your Rogers plan, or Wi-Fi at the airport.
Keep your own SIM in beside the eSIM. Rogers carries calls and texts on your number and the travel eSIMs do not; the full Ringo, which Ringo Light funds, ports the number you have.
Frequently asked questions
How we compared, and our sources
Airalo, Holafly, Nomad, Ubigi, Rogers, Ringo Light, European Central Bank, Ringo Light
We priced Airalo, Holafly, Nomad, Ubigi and Ringo Light for South Korea on 10 November 2026, all on the same day, in US dollars. Each rival's price comes from its own website where it showed dollars, otherwise from an esimdb.com listing, and every source and its date is listed below. Ringo Light's prices come from the catalogue our checkout charges.
We compare the trips people actually book: a week, two weeks and a month of unlimited data, and a 10 GB bucket. We read each brand's fair use and speed rules and quote them as the brands state them. We did not run speed tests, so this page makes no speed claims for any brand.
Ringo Light is our own product. We put it in the table on the same terms as everyone else, and where a rival is the better buy the page says so.
Left out: Saily. I could not read its prices for this country on 22 October (saily.com and esimdb.com refused the fetch), so it has no bar in the charts rather than a guessed one. Left out: Bell and Telus. I read only Rogers' own pages on 10 November 2026, so I priced Rogers alone. If you are on Bell or Telus, read its roaming page for South Korea before you compare.
- Airalo: www.airalo.com/south-korea-esim?currency=USD, unlimited read on the site in dollars, 10 November 2026; buckets from the esimdb listing dated 4 October 2026
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-south-korea/, read on the site in dollars, 10 November 2026
- Nomad: www.nomadesim.com/south-korea-esim, read on the site, plan data in dollars, 10 November 2026; 10 GB on sale at $18, regular $20; networks from the same page
- Ubigi: cellulardata.ubigi.com/rates-and-coverage/south-korea-data-plans/south-korea-unlimited-30-days/, 30-day unlimited page read on the site in dollars, 10 November 2026; 7 and 15 day, 10 GB and 25 GB plans from the esimdb listing dated 4 October 2026
- Rogers: www.rogers.com/mobility/roaming, Asia Travel Pass at C$30, C$55, C$70 and C$90, the International Travel Pass and the International daily rate of C$18, and the pass FAQ at rogers.com/mobility/roaming/faqs-about-travel-pass listing South Korea under Asia and International, with the pass start, billing and no-separate-bucket terms, read 10 November 2026
- Ringo Light: ringoesim.com/south-korea, the catalogue the checkout charges
- European Central Bank: www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/policy_and_exchange_rates/euro_reference_exchange_rates/html/index.en.html, euro reference rates of 10 November 2026, the latest published that day, used for the dollar figures (C$1 = $0.707)
- Ringo Light: our own catalogue, the prices the checkout charges on 10 November 2026.
Written and priced by the Ringo team. Prices change often; if you spot one that has moved, tell us through the contact page and we will update the table.
