Russian Women Discussion
RWD Discussion Groups => Trip Reports => Topic started by: Jamesukjames on December 07, 2018, 12:45:25 PM
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I have a UK mobile running a Tesco sim which is o2. It's worked fine in Cyprus and Egypt but not in ukraine. What s the best sim card for belarus and Ukraine ?
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In Ukraine I have used Kyivstar, in Belarus I think I went with Life. Kyivstar seemed to be ok in major cities but had poor coverage on the highway.
Just pick any provider that has a booth at the airport. So other alternatives may be Vodafone in Ukraine and MTS in Belarus. As I have previously recommended, always get a local sim on arrival at the airport. It's dirt cheap.
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I have a UK mobile running a Tesco sim which is o2. It's worked fine in Cyprus and Egypt but not in ukraine. What s the best sim card for belarus and Ukraine ?
My O2 sim picks up KyivStar in major cities with £2/minute roaming charges offered! Tesco is probably not recognised in Ukraine as an O2 sim card.
My wife gets good coverage with her Vodafone Ukraine sim card. Never had any problems with my (now expired) PayG local sim card from Vodafone Ukraine.
Get the best local sim card for your planned location ... Vodafone covers the Sumy area.
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Would a UK vodaphone work in Ukraine ? Or am I better buying local. I have more time to buy a phone and sim in the UK and contract. Am I better just buying a pre paid sim. The only calls I need to make are a few minutes telling g f where I am and how my travel is working. At g f house I just use my UK phone for what's app on her internet
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Buy a local sim.
I highly recommend having a dual sim slot phone.
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Vodafone UK has roaming charges as Ukraine is not in their Europe Zone.
Get a local Vodafone sim for Ukraine, which has different rules ... http://www.vodafone.ua/en/privatnim-klientam/za-kordon/roaming
Vodafone UK recognised my Ukraine sim, but did not allow its use without signing up for roaming (see above).
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Buy a local sim - every time - if the UK providor hasn't cgot a calls / data package arrangement
If you have a friend in Ukraine get them to buy you the sim(s) before you arrive as they cost most at the airport and the deals are worse
Applies to Russia, too
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Ok, this is what I faced as well - the uncertainty and fear associated with getting a SIM card in another country, especially Eastern Europe.
IT IS SO EASY!!!!
Just walk up to one of the 3 kiosks at Boryspil - KyivStar, Vodaphone or Lifecell, and ask them for an unlimited data plan prepaid SIM, with or without voice (your choice). The cost? A whopping $7 US equivalent, good for 1 month. The girl/guy will even install it and configure settings for you.
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Buy a local sim.
I highly recommend having a dual sim slot phone.
+1
Highly unusual in the UK ( that's Britain ) market - where many of us have plans that include the phone ((
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In the US I carry two phones, one for business and one personal. I don't take either with me to Russia. I buy a local phone, as does my wife and every few years we upgrade. This way we're guaranteed everything on the phone will work in Russia and our business and personal phones stay in the US and are not at risk of being lost or stolen.
A problem Americans face that might not be true in Europe is that on occasion US customs will seize a device, phone, computer, etc, and you won't get it back for weeks or months later. Why risk this? Simple buy a phone in the FSU.
http://www.engadget.com/2018/08/31/new-lawsuit-shows-your-phone-is-unsafe-at-american-borders/
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In the US I carry two phones, one for business and one personal. I don't take either with me to Russia. I buy a local phone, as does my wife and every few years we upgrade. This way we're guaranteed everything on the phone will work in Russia and our business and personal phones stay in the US and are not at risk of being lost or stolen.
A problem Americans face that might not be true in Europe is that on occasion US customs will seize a device, phone, computer, etc, and you won't get it back for weeks or months later. Why risk this? Simple buy a phone in the FSU.
http://www.engadget.com/2018/08/31/new-lawsuit-shows-your-phone-is-unsafe-at-american-borders/
That's very good advice Dave. I did the same during my Lviv trip earlier this summer. Having a separate dedicated travel phone with stuff on the you can limited to the essentials with a bit higher security settings than you have on your personal day to day phone is the way to go.
I bought a Motorola (dual sim) phone out there for about £60-70. So way better than running around with a phone that costs a few hundred pound. Guy in the shop advised me to go for a western brand make as it's easier to repair in the west and probably more reliable. So good choice I think. Anyway he set it all up for me in the shop with a one month Lifecell sim with more than enough data for the week, a clear protection case & screen protector that he put on nicely for me.
It's something I wish I had done from the word go, it would have saved me so much hassle. I find either Airport or City centre best as one of the shops will likely have an English speaking guy. Odds I guess ate probably greatest at the airport. You need someone pretty fluent, unless you speak fluent Russian or already know the model you want as it can all get a bit too technical for non fluent speakers and you could end up with odd stuff happening.
Once you have the phone just a case of load on the apps you want and adjust the Ukraine to English setting, etc.
In Minsk, Belarus I went for Life (not the same as Lifecell) as thd MTS was closed as late in the evening so they only had Life open, they were find though. Lifecell in Ukraine are usually a good deal. A travel phone will also be better for loading the sim on as the guy will probably need to access the Internet on your phone in order to do it so avoids all your private stuff accidentally being gone into.
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I have insurance and it is a pain in the neck to swap the home sim to a cheap dual sim phone AND keep your home nation whatsapp, viber, et al settings .... even if you do have backup enabled - to keep old messages
I'm hardly on a US 'watch list' - even if I mock 'Trampu' and so I use two phones :
1/ my home one for whatsapp / viber et al and calls to /from home - if the nations are included in the roaming plan - and if not I use a MiFi device with a local data sim
2/ second phone has two local sims to allow local calls within the networks I'm most likely to use ... as in Russia internetwork calls aren't cheap
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OK -- a mixed lot of comments above bordering from ridiculous to useful!
Buy a LifeCell sim - cost minimal and very cheap to use UAH 225 per month gets you a lot of calls and sms --plus data that should be far more than you can use.If you need help--LifeCell has stores all over with tech help-- and I have used that help for both phone and computer and can only say they have always been terrific.
On phones -- I have written many times and say it again -- dual sim phones are the normal way for the large majority of the world !
Use the country you are in sim--plus your home sim to stay in contact.
The phones today are amazing compared to not long ago-- MOST IMPORTANT --you can buy a phone for a fraction of the price of the big 2 that can do near enough the same-- and in many ways are better.
Example Xiaomi -- the current models are now available in Ukraine and the just superceded models are on sale .. for $150 or less -- you can buy a great phone that chances are is better than what many of you already have .
The new models-released from about July -- Pocophone ( great reviews) is more money -but still a bargain price, MiA2 ( cheap on the Lite version) and Mi8 Lite also well priced. The 5 & 6 are both quite cheap currently in Ukraine.
I can't recall the name of the store I saw the full range --but they were actually set on English in the displays -- but they were in a number of the bigger chain stores.Stores tend to be in bigger shopping centres and part of a chain-- so likely to be a lot of places.
Xiaomi is a Chinese company very well known outside of the western world --- anyone wanting to argue with me--read the reviews and comparisons.
These phones are can easily replace a top of the range Samsung-- at a 1/3 of the price or less.
Even cheaper-- Cubot . maybe less than $100 or thereabouts
These phones will do more and better than most need -- but the biggest is the ever evolving off line translation that has improved so much it is hard ti imagine earlier times.
A ps -- I think LifeCell has cheap roaming for nearby countries like Belarus.
ps2 ---- get the data plan as per my comment above -- and if a new phone ( or your old one) all the viber,what's app etc etc etc will work everywhere . Many of the functions that historically were computer only are mostly capable of being done on the phones I named( yes-I do know others can do ) to the point you could almost not need computer while travelling ( I still prefer for many functions -- but I can see the day coming where I will not need to carry)
ps 3 Xiaomi can be bought online -- from many places
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+1
Highly unusual in the UK ( that's Britain ) market - where many of us have plans that include the phone ((
That is the case in a number of countries where the carriers rule the roost.
It is basically a rip off !!
As an example -- in my home country -- my uncontracted system -- I pay $10 a month for unlimited calls & sms and a slab of data ( much more than I actually use)
I started buying phones outright years ago -- it saves a lot of money ( read above the real cost of a decent phone)
By way of comparison -- major company offers locked in phone deal for 2 years at $99 -mmmm
My point -- if call/access costs like that are possible in Australia -- the UK -USA contract costs are highway robbery !!! Basically paid by the naive and/or ignorant consumer !