Still more useless Russian-esque questions

[yurodivy84.livejournal.com]

I promise I'll stop soon; I'm in a LiveJournal-trolling phase and also want to get rid of any lingering questions before I run off to Russia.

Which mobile-phone service (in Moscow and/or Russia in general) (e.g. MTS, Bilaijn or Megafon) would you prefer for a pay-as-you go SIM, and why? In fact, what IS "pay-as-you-go" po-russki?

(Spasibo bol'shoe za terpimost')

Comments

[natha1ie.livejournal.com]

In Moscow there's 3 big company in GSM-900,1800: МТС (Мобильные ТелеСистемы), БиЛайн and Мегафон. There's another one - SkyLink - CDMA standart, if I'm not mistaken.
First mentioned 3 all have pay-as-you-go services. Prices are mostly similar.

Pay-as-you-go could be без абонентской платы.

[yurodivy84.livejournal.com]

Yes; my question is, then, which would you personally prefer?

[natha1ie.livejournal.com]

I've got free cell-phone number (I work in MTC), that's why I have no preferences.;-)

You can visit web-sites to see details. They have both Russian and English versions.
www.mts.ru
www.beeline.ru
www.megafon.ru

[msk01.livejournal.com]

Megafon is the cheapest one.

[misino.livejournal.com]

I prefere Tele2 because it's cheap enough for a poor student;)

[alamar.livejournal.com]

I doubt it would work in Moscow.


For a best coverage in Moscow, choose either MTS or Beeline (debatable).
For cheapest price, choose Megafon. Quality is fine.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

There is no such network in Russia.

[misino.livejournal.com]

Oh, really? then where do you think I live?! maybe in Moscow there's no such network, but in Saint-Petersburg it is rather popular. http://tele2.ru/ - take a look.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Alright, I take "Russia" back and put "Moscow" instead :) Moscow has only three GSM networks (MTS, Megafon, and Bee-Line,) plus CDMA-based SkyLink with its poor coverage (but cheap mobile Internet service) and obscure Corbina with minimum coverage.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Megafon has good coverage in St.Petersburg (where it's originally from,) but among the three main cellular networks in Moscow, its coverage is the worst (though their rates are the lowest.) I use MTS since 2000. It's OK. Never used Bee-Line, but their cheapest pay-as-you-go plans cost pretty much the same as MTS' cheapest pay-as-you-go plans (no idea how they are now called; I'm on the same plan for 7 years and do not keep up with how they are marketed.) MTS' and Bee-Line's coverage across the country is very satisfactory (unlike Megafon.) If you have Moscow-based MTS #, or Bee-Line #, and travel outside of Moscow Oblast, you pay a bit more than when you're in Moscow, but still not much, and the roaming rate is pretty much the same across Russia.

[ex-roumor.livejournal.com]

all of them are just ugly money suckers.

megafon -> has poor coverage outside teh moskva. and pricy roaming rates >..<
beeline -> its fine.
mts -> used to steal money from users accounts but seemes cool now.
skylink -> you will have to buy a phone from them or use what they told you(like in the usa)
corbina -> is based on beeline's Gms service.

you know we are strange here in moscow. loyalty to certain provider is like second religion ) so choose carefully

[ex-beark.livejournal.com]

Beeline is most expensive GSM operator in Moscow.

[jerom.livejournal.com]

Afair, corbina is based on МСС network, NMT.

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

I had Megafon when I was in St. Petersburg, and it was great. I also had it in Moscow, but I had to buy another SIM card for 500 rubles. The best part is that when you do buy one for 500 rubles, they automatically put 500 rubles on your account. So it's like the SIM card itself costs nothing. Also, Beeline and MTS also have better coverage, but by that they mean that it works in the metro. And, honestly, the metro is no place to be calling someone, because it's so loud and you can't even hear the person you're talking to anyway.

Also, I totally agree with roumor. It IS a second religion. I'm a hardcore Megafoner.

[drmastermind.livejournal.com]

From my experience living in Russia twice, the difference between the big 3 is negligible. The most important thing to look at is the 'тариф' or tariff plan. Depending on what you want, each of the big 3 has something to offer you.

Personally, I hate the тариф plans because they are intentionally confusing and the big 3 change their main plans every few months.

If someone could find a site that takes all the information from the big 3 and lets you compare them in one place, that'd be great! I haven't the time or energy to try and keep up with them and their eternally changing plans.