The Crimean Peninsula is one of the most popular tourism destinations in Russia. Our compatriots are attracted by the opportunity to save money on vacation and eliminate the “paper” hassle with visas and international passports.
An important thing on any trip is mobile communication. I would like there to be a network in the mountains, and for the Internet to work stably - all this with a minimum payment. In this article we will tell you what cellular communication is in Crimea 2021 , and everything about the mobile operators operating in Crimea and compare them.
MTS: communication in Crimea
Most Crimeans use MTS, and this despite the fact that there is no “own” MTS on the peninsula.
As for roaming tariffs, the best option is Smart group tariffs. On the Smart mini tariff you need to activate the “Everywhere at home” option. The service will cost 100 rubles. per month. This is exactly what I did before the trip (my number is Moscow).
MTS prices for roaming in Crimea
Before the trip, I signed up (for points) for a month (less than that is impossible). And I used the connection at the home rate, nothing extra was written off. Communication worked everywhere, and we climbed to various corners of Crimea. The only thing is that my mobile Internet was turned off and I didn’t check how it worked. In all other respects, no complaints against the operator.
On Smart and Smart Unlimited tariffs you need to activate the All Russia Smart service. It also costs 100 rubles. per month.
On the Smart+ and Smart Top tariffs, you won’t even have to connect anything additional; billing will be carried out according to the tariffs of your home region.
Why are there difficulties canceling roaming?
The operators themselves do not want to cancel roaming on the peninsula, despite pressure from the FAS. In fact, their networks are absent here, which is due to the fear of sanctions from Western countries for working on the peninsula.
“As the experience of Russia shows, large companies told us that if roaming goes away, they will suffer huge losses. But in fact, due to the fact that their revenue increased from the increased number of subscribers, they only benefited. Their incomes actually increased even after taxes. This will happen here too. Especially because Crimea turned out to be so attractive for Russian tourists that already this year a record number of people will come to visit you,” noted the head of the FAS, Igor Artemyev.
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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.
Megafon in Crimea
Megafon offers an option called “Crimea”. When you activate the option, incoming calls will be free, outgoing calls will be 5 rubles/min, SMS will be 3 rubles, Internet will be 5 rubles/1 MB. The cost of the option is 15 rubles per day. So, in fact, it’s not very profitable. However, if you are traveling for just a week, it will cost relatively little.
Without connecting the Crimea option, all incoming and outgoing calls cost 9.99 rubles/min, SMS – 4.90 rubles, Internet – 9.90 rubles/1 MB.
Roaming prices in Crimea Megafon
On the second phone on our trip to Crimea there was just a Megafon and it didn’t work. Immediately upon arrival at Simferopol airport, this annoying nuisance was discovered. Why the SIM card did not work at all remained a mystery. But we didn’t find out anything on the spot, because there was MTS at home tariffs, and, as a last resort, Beeline.
Dear Peninsula
VimpelCom (operating under the Beeline brand) is changing prices for roaming services in Crimea and Sevastopol from June 17. The operator will increase the cost of a minute of outgoing calls and one SMS message from 2.03 rubles to 2.5 rubles.
Internet tariffs are also changing. Now the first 3 MB per day costs 2.03 rubles per 1 MB, and then the subscriber is given 110 MB per day at a price of 203.39 rubles. After they are completed, 2.03 rubles per 1 MB are again debited.
But from June 17, by default, subscribers will be connected to an unlimited tariff for 249 rubles - however, at maximum speed they will receive only 100 MB, and then the speed will decrease to 128 Kbps. However, you can separately activate an option that allows you to get 100 MB for 99 rubles per day. Per-megabyte pricing will cost more than before - 2.5 rubles per 1 MB.
roaming
Photo: TASS/Elena Afonina
VimpelCom explained that previously per-megabyte pricing was automatically in effect, which was inconvenient for customers.
“Our experience of similar tariffs in countries with foreign roaming shows that such tariffs are more in demand by customers,” the company added.
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MTS said it does not comment on the plans and declined to comment. And Tele2 said that they do not plan to increase roaming prices in Crimea and Sevastopol.
The press service of Tinkoff Mobile noted that, according to company policy, changes in tariff plans are not commented on before they come into force.
The change in prices for roaming with Crimea and Sevastopol depends on agreements with partners, commented Peter Kushikov, director of development and product management at Danycom. According to him, at the moment the operator has not received any notifications from partners about changes in the cost of services for its subscribers.
Scartel (operating under the Yota brand), Sbermobile and VTB Mobile did not respond to Izvestia’s requests at the time of publication.
Due to the threat of sanctions, the situation with roaming in Crimea has always been special - there are no networks of the Big Four operators (Beeline, MTS, Megafon and Tele2) on the peninsula. De facto, all Russian cellular companies operate there in national roaming mode and have agreements with local players, explained iKS-Consulting analyst Maxim Savvatin.
Crimea
Photo: IZVESTIA/Alexander Polegenko
Putin signed a law abolishing national roaming fees
Despite the abolition of national roaming, outgoing calls in Crimea are more expensive than in Russia as a whole, and there is also a separate charge for mobile Internet at a cost comparable to international roaming services, he added.
According to Maxim Savvatin, all operators may adjust tariffs in Crimea before the summer holiday season, taking into account the fact that cellular companies are faced with a drop in revenue from international roaming due to quarantine. As a rule, the Big Four operators adjust their tariffs and options virtually synchronously - with a gap of several weeks, if other factors, for example, FAS regulations, do not interfere, he added.
— Operators will strive to compensate for the shortfall in income from international roaming services and, most likely, will increase prices in Crimea before the summer holiday season. Traffic on the peninsula will increase significantly; this summer Russians will go on vacation mainly to domestic resorts,” the expert explained.
Beeline in Crimea
Beeline for roaming in Russia offers an excellent My Country option. Connection is only 25 rubles. one-time fee, and all incoming, outgoing and SMS for 3 rubles. But this option does not apply to the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol.
Beeline doesn’t offer anything interesting specifically for communications in Crimea. The best option is the All group tariffs. At the most economical ALL 1 tariff, for example, incoming calls will cost 1.5 rubles/min., outgoing calls – 4 rubles/min., SMS – 4.95 rubles, Internet 9.95 rubles/1MB. At the same time, everything is spent outside the package, that is, it is paid additionally.
Communication prices in Crimea Beeline
I can say that the Beeline SIM card worked fine, although we didn’t use it, but kept it just in case. But she was always in working order and caught the net.
Outgoing calls from Crimea
This is no longer very similar to the abolition of intranet roaming. For example, for Tele2 subscribers the cost of a call, SMS and one megabyte of Internet costs three rubles. Yes, I really wrote the cost of one megabyte.
Beeline has a different price: 2 rubles per minute, per SMS and 2 rubles for the first 3 MB of Internet traffic, and then 200 rubles for a 110 MB package.
A MegaFon representative said that for outgoing calls the situation will not change and everything will be calculated according to the old tariffs.
Tele2 in Crimea
Tele2 operator offers to activate the “Like at home in Crimea” option for holidays in Crimea. The service costs 6 rubles/day. When you activate the option, all incoming calls will be free, outgoing calls will be 5 rubles/min. SMS will cost 3.5 rubles, Internet – 5 rubles/1MB. Plus, you will need to pay a one-time connection fee of 30 rubles.
Roaming prices in Crimea Tele2
Share your feedback and tips in the comments to the post. The pro-Crimea.rf project is always glad to see responses from readers.
How to call Crimea from a mobile (cell) phone
- In order to make a call from a mobile phone, you first need to press the “+” - this is a prerequisite for making an international call.
- Dial Ukraine code - 38.
- Next, we dial the city code or mobile operator, and then the number of the mobile phone we need.
On the official websites of Russian mobile operators there may be various promotions related to price reductions for incoming or outgoing calls to Crimea from Russia, changes in the cost of a GPRS service package or SMS messages. If you keep an eye on the emergence of new promotions, you can make profitable and cheap calls to Crimea at a low cost.
Connection
Subscribers who connected to Megafon after March 12, 2021 do not need to do anything. In this case, the service is active by default. The rule applies to the “Per-second”, “Go to zero” and “Turn on!” tariff lines.
The company will transfer the remaining clients to the category of users automatically or leave them with the same set of options. The latter will have to connect “Unlimited incoming” on their own. Information on whether it will be possible to add the option to an existing number is in your personal account.
There you can also activate the unlimited free incoming service. Follow 5 basic steps.
- Go to the website https://megafon.ru and in the upper right corner click on the “Personal Account” box.
- On the page that opens, fill out the forms with your number, password and log in.
- In your personal account, scroll down the page to the “.
- “Unlimited incoming calls in Crimea” is second in the “Across Russia” list. Find the “Connect” button opposite the corresponding line and click.
- On the next page you will have to click the green button again as confirmation.
Upon completion of the operation, you will see information about the result on the monitor screen and receive confirmation on your mobile phone.
If you do not have a personal account, please contact the contact center to connect. For people who are in Russia at the time of the call, you need to dial 0500 from MegaFon or 8 from other operators. From abroad, call.
The virtual assistant on the other end of the line will answer first. To switch to a live operator, press the two or other number on your phone that corresponds to the statement “I am already a subscriber.” After the operator answers, confirm your identity and ask to add the option to the number.
Shutdown
The answer to the question of how to disable “unlimited inboxes in Crimea” on Megafon is almost identical to the previous one. Method 2:
- Independently in your personal account;
- call to the contact center.
In the second option, perform the same actions as when connecting, just ask to remove the option. In your personal account, log in, scroll to “Services” and go to the “Services and options” section. Find the one you need in the list, click on the “Disable” button in the same line and confirm your intentions on the page that opens.
Tele2
As the press service of the operator stated, Crimea is becoming an increasingly popular travel destination for Tele2 subscribers. At the end of the summer of 2021, the number of operator clients who visited the republic increased by 67% compared to the same period in 2017. At the same time, voice traffic in this region showed a twofold increase following the results of last summer.
It is worth noting that from May 31, 2021, the mobile operator Tele2 has canceled fees for incoming calls for private and corporate clients of the company coming to Sevastopol and Crimea. The remaining parameters for the provision of services when users are on the peninsula have not changed. A minute of outgoing calls to any numbers in Russia, 1 megabyte of Internet traffic and sending one SMS will cost 3 rubles .
The cost of mobile Internet can be reduced by connecting the additional option “Internet on the Peninsula”.
“When traveling around the republic, Tele2 subscribers can continue to use high-speed mobile Internet at competitive prices. The “Internet on the Peninsula” option allows our clients to freely use data transmission services in the territory of Sevastopol and Crimea and not be afraid of unexpected communication costs. The subscription fee is 300 rubles per day and is debited from the client’s account only in the event of actual access to the network. If the client does not use the Internet while traveling, no fee is charged for the service,” Tele2 representatives clarify.
It is worth noting that within the “Internet on the Peninsula” option, the first 200 MB for one day are provided without a maximum speed limit, then with a limit of 128 Kbps until the end of the day. Details about use can be found at the link.
Tele2 operator tariffs for Crimea and Sevastopol:
Operator "Motive"
Like all cellular companies, the Ural operator Motiv, from May 31, 2019, abolished fees for incoming calls while roaming in Russia. Now, when traveling around the country, the company's subscribers receive all incoming calls for free. Crimea is no exception to these rules.
“Staying on the territory of the Republic of Crimea, subscribers of the Motiv mobile operator have the opportunity to communicate on very favorable terms. The cost of outgoing calls to landline and mobile numbers both to your home region and to any other region of Russia is from 3 rubles per minute of conversation. Sending SMS – from 3 rubles . Using mobile Internet starts from 3 rubles per megabyte ,” notes Ekaterina Khvorostova, commercial director of the Motiv telecommunications group.
It is worth noting that the specific cost of communication services in Crimea and Sevastopol for Motiv subscribers depends on the network to which the subscriber is connected locally. Thus, it is most profitable to use the network of the Win Mobile operator (“K-Telecom”). But if your phone connects to the networks of Krymtelecom or KTK Telecom (Volna Mobile), then communication services will be almost three times more expensive. For this reason, we recommend being vigilant and setting up manual network selection specifically for the K-Telecom network.
Tariffs of the operator "Motiv" for Crimea and Sevastopol:
