Hi all,
we've been in Russia for a couple weeks now and we've been testing out the 3G infrastructure to keep in touch with internet. Here's what we've found out, and a few questions that maybe some Russians or others can answer, which could help the next visitors.

First off, there is plenty of 3G coverages from the major network operators (mts, megafon, beeline), but (as you can expect from such a large country) only in major cities and towns. Even 4G in large cities. Most of the large highways are pretty well covered by 2g (voice/edge) networks, but that's not the point here.

We've started by buying a beeline SIM card, easy enough, just show up in a shop with your passport and a few rubles (350, ~6€ for 3GB and some minutes of voice, not bad) and after 5 minutes you're connected.

http://moskva.beeline.ru/customers/products/mobile/services/details/highway-3gb

All good, but after a day or so, we've been disconnected. Of course we were out of reach of a telecom shop by that time, I guess that's the point.. and 1 or 2 days, we were back online. So question :

1. is there some kind of temporary activation on a new SIM that gives you access for some hours until the papers are processed ?

Then there's the pay-as-you-go price. On paper, 350 rub for 3GB (per month) sounds easy enough to understand, only after a week and 2.5 GB or so, we were out of credit and disconnected.. (*102# to get your credit). So we popped in a kafe, most have an ATM-like machine where you can top up your phone. We put 100 rub in the machine and we were back online. So :

2. How does this pay-as-you-go scheme work ? we have hardly used voice at all

Then I went out and bought another SIM for my phone, so we have a backup. It was in Chelyabinsk, I went to a shop and chose megafon just to test out something else. They have a 3g data-only plan for "planchett" (tablet), 4GB for 250 rub (4€), can't go wrong with this, can you ? well.. as before, it worked right away, then it died, then it wouldn't work anymore at all. What the *ç%? we showed up in a shop in Barnaul, and after much russian blabla (we don't speak russian, so that doesn't help), we found out that the SIM was locked to the Cheliabinsk area ! dead SIM after a couple days. Bummer. In addition, the prices differ from one place to another. Here are the plans for Moscow:

Интернет / �МегаФон� Московский регион

3. So here's the scoop : there's not always roaming over all Russia, better ask before you purchase a SIM. Actually, to be fair, they may well have told me that and I didn't get it. As people who've already been to Russia know all too well, 99.999% of the population speaks only Russian.

4. When I needed to input may phone number in the top-up machine, I naively typed in the one that's printed on the SIM package they sell you. Wrong. It's written +7 (909) xxx xxxx. But what you need to type in (and dial, I guess ?) is 8 909 xxx xxxx. How does this work ?

Here's our experience. I hope some others can fill in the blanks and make more sense of this. But overall, our beeline card has been working flawlessly since then wherever there was 3G (H+) coverage, which is many places, even here in Aktash in remote Altaï. And it's plenty fast.

On the other hand, we've found very few WiFi hotspots, much fewer than in other countries like, e.g., Ukraine or Turkey.

Cheers,
Laurent

La Mongolie en 4�4 | Partir. Découvrir. Raconter.

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2- and 4-wheeled explorer and photographer
Overland Aventure

Interesting write up.as you can imagine, there are many many tariff plans in Russia, and in most of the regional cities, most people want the cheapest plan, which only covers their region, so by default that is probably what they will propose. To get wider coverage, you can try to ask for a "federalny"(federal) plan, but I'm not sure they'll get what you mean. Best to name your last city in Russia (let's say Vladivostok) and add a "do" and an "a", like this "do vladivostoka". This means "to Vladivostok." Note that "do" is pronounced like "doe",not "do" they still might not understand your pronunciation but it will be fun trying...

I've had slow but adequate wireless Internet access in small towns on the shores of lake Baikal and on the road of bones.very useful. Get a Russian SIM if you come to Russia...

will be interested in replies here.. I'm in Russia in august from Novosibirsk to Vladivostok

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Mark
http://chasingdreams2014.blogspot.co.uk/

Can't help, but will also keep an eye on replies (if I can), as I bought a Megafon SIM yesterday. Am currently in Moscow, but will be moving on (by train) today, aiming to arrive - hopefully with my bike - in Irkutsk on 13th.

I'm currently using the phone as a wifi hotspot, and was about to rave about the internet speed I'm getting - but may be I'll reserve judgement.

Thanks, lbendel.

If you don't speak Russian, beware what you buy. You may think the SIM works everywhere but that's not the case. The most attractive plans on all the majors are limited to the area of purchase, they are not national for internet. I have a MTS SIM on their "Smart" plan which works nationwide and for RUB300 per month gives 3gb data plus domestic calls and SMS.

I couldn't find anything of similar value on Beeline or Megafon, in fact, I couldn't find anything nationwide on Megafon but maybe I didn't look hard enough. I'm sending this using the MTS SIM from our overnight stop about 50km from Tulun, a medium sized town 350km from Irkutsk and I have an excellent HSPA connection.

Hope this helps

Just to update, my Megafon card and internet access are still fine in Omsk. The deal wasn't as good as yours though, as I paid 500 roubles for a month. On the other hand, since 500 roubles equates to about £6 at tourist exchange rates, I'm not complaining.