Russians who often move around the country are interested in one question - whether roaming within Russia has been canceled or not. In fact, he disappeared at the end of last year. The state, represented by the Federal Antimonopoly Service, managed to achieve its goal - intranet roaming disappeared. But on the other hand, he partially remained.
On May 27, 2021, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree abolishing roaming throughout the country. Starting from June 1, Russia will have uniform prices for calls in all regions, including outside the home region.
Incoming calls for subscribers located in Crimea and Sevastopol will be completely free. Outgoing calls will be charged according to the operator's tariffs.
MTS
Inbox. As soon as you arrive in another city, all incoming calls from local numbers in that region automatically become free for you. And if they call you from Moscow, then be prepared to pay 5.5 rubles per minute for an incoming call.
Keep in mind, this may even apply to calls to a dacha if it is located in another region! I once called my parents and in half an hour 165 rubles were written off from their balance.
Packets and outgoing. The remaining minutes and SMS from the package automatically begin to apply to all calls and messages to numbers in the region of your stay, as well as for calls and SMS to MTS subscribers in any Russian region.
But if you call another operator not from the region where you are, then please pay 5.5 rubles per minute or 2.95 rubles per SMS.
Internet. Perhaps mobile Internet is the only option that received advantages rather than disadvantages after the “cancellation” of national roaming. Now if you have 2 GB of traffic, it will automatically be spent in any other region.
Options. MTS has two options “Home package Russia” and “Home package Russia+”; when you connect them, all incoming messages become free for the duration of the options.
The first costs 15 rubles/day, and the second 100 rubles/month. And for those who do not use package tariffs, the option “Russia is like home everywhere” is suitable for 7 rubles/day. When you connect it, all incoming calls also become free, and outgoing calls will cost 3 rubles per day.
Peace to the one who enters
The flight Moscow - Simferopol is filled to capacity and there are no empty seats. This is not the first time that the Nasonovs from Surgut are flying to Crimea. They know firsthand that the peninsula has its own mobile roaming service, having learned from bitter experience.
“To be honest, in 2015, when we first flew to Crimea on vacation, it was an unpleasant surprise for us,” recalls the Siberian. “Then in a week four thousand flew off the account.” It’s not that it was a lot of money for us, but it was somehow unpleasant. So what to do?
The couple heard about the cancellation of roaming from June 1, although they did not delve into the details. “I was not particularly interested in Crimea in this regard. We booked our vacation back in March, and didn’t think about it then,” Nikolai admitted. “I know that roaming will be canceled in the regions of Russia.”
The largest mobile operator on the peninsula, (mobile operator WIN-mobile), declares that it is ready to provide communications to guests of the peninsula. “Technically, it is possible to provide communications with all Big Four operators and even with smaller companies,” said Vladimir Zaitsev, General Director of K-Telecom. — We have cooperation agreements with all major operators who have stated that they are ready to make changes to tariffs in accordance with the law. There will be no charge for incoming calls,” explained Vugar Mehdiyev, head of the antimonopoly control department of the Federal Antimonopoly Service for Crimea and Sevastopol. — The FAS believes that measures have been taken to implement the legislation, and we will monitor the situation. We believe that operators will compensate for the abolition of national roaming by more active consumption of services.”
That is, an incoming call in Crimea will be as free as in the “home” region where your SIM card is registered. Regional authorities advise guests and residents of the peninsula to immediately report interruptions in mobile communications or abuse by operators.
You can report problems with communication by calling the hotline of the head of the Republic of Crimea: 0-800-506-0001 (from landlines) - multi-line phone, toll-free.
And call 8-800-506-0001 (from mobile phones) - free multi-channel phone.
Quality: from 2 G to 4 G
In turn, Crimea promises to improve the quality of communications. For example, in the new building of the Simferopol airport, until recently there were “blind spots” where communication was lost. The complex is served by one base station, experts say, and its capacity was increased by the beginning of this season. They promise to completely solve the problem by mid-June, when a massive influx of vacationers begins in Crimea.
“Miniature base stations are being installed in the terminal building,” said the K-Telecom manager. “This will allow us to provide high-speed mobile communications, including in the LTE standard. And this will also provide an opportunity to expand the Wi-Fi network, but this will be handled by the building owner.”
By mid-July, the quality of communication on the Crimean Bridge will also change. By this time, the installation of the base station on the Tuzla Spit should be completed. The process would move faster, but interdepartmental approvals take too much time, operators complain. To install one tower, signalmen need about one and a half to two months, and the preceding routine of interdepartmental approvals can last for six months or more. However, in the coming months, communications on the bridge itself and on the Tavrida highway will become more stable.
“Crimean residents may not feel this, because the network is still working uninterruptedly there, but we will feel it when we need to provide communications to a much larger number of people during the summer peak,” says Sergei Zyryanov, Minister of Internal Policy, Information and Communications of Crimea.
The Tavrida highway under construction is currently completely covered only by 2 G communications. The construction of 3G base stations here is yet to come. New base stations will also appear on the route from Simferopol to Yalta. According to the republic's mobile operators, with the exception of new buildings, 3G coverage of the peninsula is close to 100 percent. It is not available except on the tops of the Crimean mountains and in nature reserves, where there are very few visitors, which means that installing base stations will not be profitable.
But in Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yalta, Evpatoria and Kerch, as well as in the most popular coastal villages among tourists, there is already a 4G connection.
Check connection
Tatarstan. The press service denied information that appeared in some media and social networks that their subsidiary TMT did not have time to prepare for new changes. “Your Mobile Technologies” owns the “Letay” brand, which provides cellular communication services in the Republic of Tatarstan. From June 1, the company's subscribers can receive incoming messages absolutely free.
Sevastopol. Sevastopol operator Sevmobile has officially canceled national roaming from June 1. “In accordance with legal requirements, when traveling within Russia for Sevmobile subscribers, all incoming calls will be free,” a company employee told an RG correspondent.
However, SIM card owners who were interested in the abolition of roaming were told in a call on June 1 that nothing would change for them: when traveling to other regions of the country, incoming calls remain paid, their cost depends on the tariff plan. Subscribers were offered to activate an additional service, in which incoming calls when traveling around the country would be free, its cost was six rubles per day.
RG checked this situation as well. As they explained to us, this was a mistake; the call center workers did not have complete information. The network of this operator operates only in one region - Sevastopol. Residents of the city say that they use Sevmobile mainly for mobile Internet while in their region. When traveling outside of Crimea, Sevmobile SIM cards often end up outside the network, so you have to switch to the services of other operators.
Chechnya. Vainakh Telecom JSC stated that, like other cellular operators, now the company’s subscriber, being in another region, will be able to receive calls for free. Thus, the company disabled intranet and national roaming.
“We do not have our own cellular network in other regions of Russia, only in Chechnya. When traveling to another region, our subscribers connect to the Megafon or Beeline network and use their database. But incoming calls are now free,” the operator’s company told RG.
But the reason why subscribers were not informed about the changes was not given by Vainakh Telecom JSC, citing the internal work of the company.
*This is an expanded version of the text published in the issue of “RG”
Beeline
Inbox . Just like with MTS, when traveling to another city, all incoming calls from numbers in that region become free for you, but incoming calls from other regions will cost 5 rubles per minute.
Packets and outgoing . The validity of packages of minutes and SMS applies to calls and messages only to numbers in the region of your stay. If you try to call home, you will pay 12 rubles per minute, and an SMS will cost you 2.95 rubles.
Interestingly, subscribers of the “Everything” tariff can make free calls to subscribers of the same tariff line.
Internet . Just like MTS, there are no restrictions imposed on the mobile Internet from the package and this is a big plus.
Options. Beeline has two options for long-distance calls: “Calls within Russia” and “Calls within Russia+”. The first gives free incoming calls from all Russian numbers when you are in your home region or while traveling to another city.
The option also gives you 100 minutes of long-distance calls to numbers of other operators for a month. Connection costs 30 rubles, an additional charge of 5 rubles per day is charged.
The second option, despite the “plus” in the name, in fact turns out to be much simpler: for 3 rubles/day you get free inboxes from all numbers of other operators.
How to activate roaming
You can activate Megafon roaming on the page describing the “All Russia” function:
- Click "Connect".
- Enter your number.
- Confirm the action with the code from SMS.
Activation is available on the official website in the additional services section. Or you can dial the command *105*1418#; via SMS “YES” or call 05001418.
The first connection is free, and the second connection costs 30 rubles. Before you activate roaming on Megafon, check your balance, since to activate you must have enough funds in your account to pay for the first day of use and the connection fee.
The “Worry-free vacation” option can be activated in your personal account.
Megaphone
For this operator, I will not make a division because of this news. The fact is that from July 1, Megafon is changing its intercity conditions, so there is little point in describing the current tariffs.
Here's what will happen: calls and SMS to local numbers will consume your packages of minutes and SMS, and incoming calls from other cities, including home (if you're on a trip) will be considered long-distance calls and will cost you about 5 rubles per minute. At the same time, the operator writes in the news that if you have a package for long-distance calls, incoming calls will not be charged.
Let's see how it will be in practice, but for now it’s quite vague.
Megafon has the “All Russia” option; when activated, all outgoing calls and SMS (if you do not have a package tariff) to any Russian numbers will cost 3 rubles. Subscription fee for the service is 7 rubles/day.
Cancellation of roaming with other operators
Operators Danycom and Tinkoff Mobile fall into this category. They have never had and do not have roaming in Russia. They provide minutes and data packages that are valid throughout the country. This ensures their popularity - their services are used by people who do not want to overpay for communications while traveling.
Roaming has been canceled almost completely. When we forget about regional differences remains unclear. The FAS has no requirements on this issue.
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Author
Vyacheslav
For several years he worked in mobile phone stores of two large operators. I understand tariffs well and see all the pitfalls. I love gadgets, especially Android ones.
Tele 2
Inbox. All Tele2 package tariffs have preferential conditions: any incoming calls from any Russian region are free. If you have a tariff without a monthly fee, then be prepared to pay 5 rubles per minute for an incoming call.
Packets and outgoing . When traveling to other cities in Russia, packages of minutes and SMS begin to apply to local numbers of the city you arrive in. But a call to another region will cost 2 rubles/min, SMS - 3.5 rubles/min.
Internet . With the Internet everything is simple. It is valid throughout the country without any restrictions.
Options . Tele2 has the “Zero Everywhere” option, which is useful for those who have a tariff without a monthly fee or without a package of included minutes. For 3 rubles/day you will receive free incoming calls from all numbers, and outgoing 2 rubles/min, SMS - 2.5 rubles/min.
In fact, on the free plan you will receive the same conditions as on the package ones.
How to disable roaming
You can deactivate the function in your account in the “Services and Options” section. USSD command *105*1418*2# is available. You can send the message “STOP” to the technical number to control the function - 05001418. Make sure that the favorable conditions are no longer needed before turning off roaming in Megafon.
Disabling “Worry-Free Vacation” is possible in your personal account.
Iota
Yota has a completely transparent policy regarding long-distance roaming. When traveling to other cities for less than 30 days, all incoming calls from any Russian numbers will be free, and minutes from the package will be spent on all outgoing calls to any Russian numbers. Mobile Internet also operates throughout Russia.
If you travel for more than 30 days, then the operator apparently suspects that you are trying to cheat with tariff plans and will offer you local tariffs.
General situation for operators with roaming in Russia
The home region is now more correctly called the connection region. Local call tariffs apply here, and calls to other regions are long-distance. As soon as a subscriber travels to another region, it becomes his home region - calls to the connection region and other regions of Russia become long-distance, and at the location - local.
A typical example is that a Moscow subscriber travels to the Krasnodar region. He uses a tariff with a package of local calls - within Moscow and the Moscow region. When you are in Krasnodar, everything changes places - the package of minutes will be valid for calls within the Krasnodar Territory, and calls to Moscow will be charged as long-distance.
People with tariff plans that include packages of minutes within Russia are the luckiest. They can move freely throughout the country and call in any direction - including their location and home. As for mobile Internet, its cost remains the same on all current tariff plans of Russian operators.
Inboxes in all parts of Russia remain free under any conditions - the era of paid inboxes is over.
Beeline: roaming in Crimea 2021
National roaming is available for Beeline subscribers on the peninsula. There is no need to connect anything: the phone will register with the partner network automatically.
- Incoming calls are free.
- Outgoing SMS - 2.50 rubles.
- Outgoing calls to Russian numbers - 2.50 rubles.
- Internet - the first 1 MB is free, then unlimited Internet is provided for a day (249 rubles per day), the first 100 MB are provided at maximum speed, then the speed decreases to 128 Kbps.
Please note that many connections are not provided in Crimea. The same applies to Internet traffic packages. Check these points with the call center to avoid paying extra.
Find out how much communication services will cost on the Beeline website.
MTS mini
| 7 GB of Internet traffic in Russia | 500 rub/month. |
Subscribers of all tariff plans have access to the “Internet-Mini” option, valid in Russia. It allows you to access the Internet even outside your home region. An MTS client receives 7 GB of Internet traffic per month for 500 rubles.
To activate the service you need to enter the command *111*160#.
How things really are
The April abolition of roaming did not become a reason for innovations in August. The reason was the requirement of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation that paid incoming calls should be removed along with the abolition of roaming, but the mobile operator made an “error” for which it would be subject to a corresponding fine.
Many people believe that customer care is nothing more than nice words. After the introduction of paid incoming travel in other regions during the summer season, the mobile operator made good money.
Those services that were widely used to provide free incoming calls when traveling were moved to the archives immediately after the full abolition of roaming. They are now closed for connection. For more information on innovations related to roaming, call the service center at tel: 0611.
