In Cyprus with five SIM cards: whose roaming is cheaper



    With the introduction of special roaming tariffs and options, mobile operators unanimously began to assure that communication in roaming has ceased to be a luxury for ordinary tourists. Billboards, banners, leaflets and television commercials promise to talk abroad "for zero" rubles almost all over the world. The finally arrived season of May holidays and summer vacations inevitably raises the question of the actual cost of calls and other communication services in roaming on the agenda. All this led me to take advantage of my own vacation for good purposes and to conduct a small study on the topic of a general reduction in international tariffs by operators and the actual, rather than the advertising cost of roaming calls.

    Going on vacation to Cyprus, I decided to experiment not only in holding my breath underwater duringfreediving , but also at the same time compare the SIM-cards of different operators, put on the balance of each 700 rubles and make a number of outgoing and incoming calls. And to find out as a result, with which of the operators I will “stretch” longer. The report will turn out to be quite voluminous, but that is what the approach to the experiment chosen by me requires.

    To begin with, even before leaving, I called all the operators and asked directly: what needs to be done in order to save as much as possible in roaming. MTS, MegaFon and Beeline talked about the presence of each special additional services that can minimize roaming costs. MTS suggested connecting the option “Zero without borders”; MegaFon - "Around the World"; and Beeline - "Multipass." In addition, I learned that all the Troika operators, having found your device abroad, send an SMS message to it with information about all available ways to save on calls in your country of residence. Once in Nicosia, I did not fail to take advantage of all the offers of operators to minimize my communication costs.

    A few words about the other participants in the experiment. For several years now, during my trips abroad, I have taken with me a travel SIM card specially designed for that, and if necessary, stay in touch by the usual number, set up call forwarding from my Russian operator. Before the introduction of the roaming tariffs of the Big Three, the savings were more than tangible. So, incoming calls to the tourist number and then cost me zero rubles. Now I have to check whether it is possible to talk with a travel agent cheaper; if so, to what extent, or did the rates of travel agencies with heavyweight operators more or less equal. Having found on the website the difference in tariffs for a couple of directions to your usual Simtravel cardI added a map of the tourist operator Teletai. I did not notice significant differences in tariffs of other tour operators operators, therefore I limited myself to the above two.

    Both operators, Simtravel and Teletai, also offered me to additionally connect the “European” package, which reduces the basic tariff in European countries, including Cyprus. However, it makes sense to connect it when you travel for at least a week and make many calls to the EU countries, my trip lasted only 3 days, and I did not spend money on connecting any additional options. As for the “troika” operators, communication in the normal mode without connecting the services offered by them for communication in roaming would obviously leave me without a means of further existence.

    So, I arrived at the place in the entourage of a secret agent from some comedy: hung with phones and gadgets. 3 days passed in a fun company of five SIM-cards with 700 rubles on each balance. Below I summarize the general results of the experiment by day, by minute and by all operators. However, for the purity of my experiment, I will also draw up a general table and attach to the review details of the conversations.

    1st day


    On the first day, I made six outgoing calls with an average duration of 3 minutes from each SIM card: 2 calls to the phones of my native operator in Moscow and St. Petersburg (that is, from Beeline to Beeline MSC and St. Petersburg, from MTS to MTS MSC and SPB, etc.); 2 calls to city numbers of Moscow and St. Petersburg; 1 call to a city number in Belarus; 1 call to the number of the non-native operator (for example, from MTS to Telety or Beeline to Megafon). In addition, I received incoming calls. Total for the first day came out:

    Outgoing calls only
    MTS: 13 minutes and 676.40 +19 rubles. connection of the service + monthly fee 19 rubles / day = 714.40 rubles.
    MegaFon: 18 min. and 447 rubles. + 15 rub. connection of the service + monthly fee 09 rub./day = 471 rub.
    Beeline: 20 minutes and 300 rubles. + 0 rub. connection of the service + subscription fee 10 rubles / day = 310 rubles.
    SIMTRAVEL: 20 min. and 187.55 rubles. (no additional services).
    Telecast: 18 minutes and 167, 40 rubles. (no additional services).

    Accounting for all calls (both outgoing and incoming)
    MTS: 19 minutes = 714.40 rubles.
    MegaFon: 25 min. = 513 rub.
    Beeline: 28 minutes = 350 rub.
    SIMTRAVEL: 23 min. = 187.55 rubles
    Telecast: 21 minutes = 167.40 rubles.

    2nd day


    On the second day, I made outgoing calls again. But now a little different. 2 calls to the number of the local operator (Cyprus), calls to the numbers of non-native operators and city phones of St. Petersburg. All conversations lasted approximately 2 minutes. I made 6 calls from each SIM card (as on the previous day). Inboxes were also accepted. Total for the second day dripped:

    Only outgoing calls
    MTS: according to the results of the first day, this participant dropped out of the marathon, as the balance went to minus, and the number was blocked.
    MegaFon: 12 min. and 72 rubles. + monthly fee 09 rub./day = 81 rub.
    Beeline: 12 minutes and 180 rubles. + monthly fee 10 rubles / day = 190 rubles.
    SIMTRAVEL: 12 min. and 122.76 rubles. (no additional services).
    Telecast: 14 minutes and 107.26 rubles. (no additional services).

    Accounting for all calls (outgoing and incoming)
    MTS: balance minus 14, 40 rubles.
    MegaFon: 15 min. = 99 rub.
    Beeline: 17 minutes = 215 rub.
    SIMTRAVEL: 19 min. = 122.76 rubles
    Telecast: 17 minutes = 107.26 rubles

    3rd day


    On the last day, I decided to check the cost of calls to any other region of the Russian Federation besides Moscow and St. Petersburg and called my friend in Pyatigorsk on MTS, as well as his city number. Then, from each SIM card, I made a call to a landline phone in Moscow and finally managed to make another call from MegaFon to Beeline, after which there was no longer enough funds on the balance for outgoing calls. With SIMTRAVEL and Telety, I made several outgoing calls to the numbers of my native operator. I planned to make four calls from each number lasting 2 minutes each, but in fact somewhere it turned out more, somewhere, on the contrary. As a result, for the third day it turned out:

    Outgoing calls only
    MegaFon: 12 min. and 72 rubles. + monthly fee 09 rub./day = 81 rub.
    Beeline: 7 minutes and 105 rubles. + monthly fee 10 rubles / day = 115 rubles.
    SIMTRAVEL: 22 min. and 182.90 rubles. (no additional services)
    Television: 13 min. and 97.65 rubles. (no additional services).

    Accounting for all outgoing and incoming calls
    MegaFon: 12 min. = 81 rubles. (there were no calls on this day)
    Beeline: 9 min. = 125 rub.
    SIMTRAVEL: 27 minutes = 182.90 rubles
    Telecast: 13 minutes = 97.65 rubles (there were no calls on this day)

    To summarize and see what was enough for 700 rubles in the case of each of the operators, and how much money is left on the balance after 3 days of communication in roaming:



    What conclusions can be drawn from the experiment?


    MTS
    On the first day, the first participant, MTS, dropped out of the improvised marathon. Later it became clear from the obtained detailing of the conversations that the balance of MTS “killed” the call to Belarus, and in general outgoing calls for 59 rubles in the first minute of this operator to the indecent road compared to even colleagues in the shop (Beeline, MegaFon). VAT deserves special mention - in its reports MTS indicates the cost of calls without VAT, which makes it appear that there is still money on the balance when in fact it is already minus on the account. In addition, the report does not show charges for connecting extra. options.

    For 2 minutes 46 seconds of a conversation with Belarus, I had to lay out 387 rubles. (including VAT) or 327, 97 rubles. (without VAT). But even if we call exclusively on Russian numbers, then the first minute of an outgoing call from MTS will cost 59 rubles. (including VAT) or 50 rubles. (without VAT). It is worth calling your loved ones for a minute to let you know that you have flown and everything is fine, and you immediately get money. Suppose that the next minutes are already 8.90 (price including VAT), but who cares. As a result, a three-minute telephone conversation will cost you 76 rubles 80 kopecks (including VAT).

    As for incoming calls, they are really free. But this zero costs 19 rubles. per day (subscription fee for the service “Zero without borders) plus connection to the service 19 rubles at a time.

    Megaphone
    Roaming MegaFon works on the principle of call-back (callback) in the same way as in the case of tourist SIM-cards Simtravel and Telety. This means that when you dial the number you want to call, the operator accepts the call request and sends an SMS that the request has been accepted. If it succeeds in connecting, an incoming call from the called subscriber is received on the phone of the caller. If it was not possible to connect, then an SMS arrives that the subscriber is not responding.

    This technology can significantly reduce the cost of not only incoming but also outgoing calls. However, unlike the same call-back travel codes, MegaFon only works for calls to Russia. If you try to call Belarus or another country outside the Russian Federation, the call will be carried out as usual and the conversation "will cost a pretty penny." In my example, a conversation with Belarus, which lasted 2 minutes 54 seconds, cost me 357 rubles. But all incoming and outgoing calls for calls to Russia or the host country cost 6 rubles per minute, which is quite acceptable. However, as in the case of MTS, you still have to pay for zero - a subscription fee for the Around the World service and a one-time connection fee of 15 rubles are debited daily 9 rubles. MegaFon employees assured me that the monthly fee is deducted daily, but in reality it turned out to be different. The subscription fee was deducted from me as soon as I arrived in Moscow, in one amount. In the provided report there is no data on charges for connecting options and a monthly fee.

    Beeline
    Beeline, frankly, has the most adequate report. It shows all the costs. Every day, a subscriber who is connected to the Multipass service is charged 10 rubles, the connection to this service is free, which is undoubtedly pleasant. The operator reports that with the Multipass service, the incoming minute costs 5 rubles, and the outgoing to Russia, to local numbers and numbers of other countries - 15 rubles per minute. The report shows that it is. calls are made as usual.

    Tursimki
    SIMTRAVEL and Teletai clearly lead in my marathon. The disadvantage of tourist sims is that they can be used only abroad, they do not function on the territory of Russia. Plus - all incoming calls to them in my case were free of charge in fact and by default, you do not need to connect any additional options for this, and the subscription fee is also not charged. Calls from tourist packages are carried out according to the Call-back principle described above.

    If during the trip I need to receive and make calls from my usual number of the Russian operator, but at the same time use the capabilities and tariffs of Simtravel or Telety, I just connect the service of storing the Russian number. In fact, I bind the number of my SIM card to the number of my home operator, so that when making a call, the subscriber on the other end of the wire sees the number that he knows - my number. At the same time, it is possible to reach you either by the number of a tourist SIM card, or by a regular Russian number. It is curious that several Russian numbers can be attached to both travel sims at once.

    In the case of tariffing and activation of the “Save Russian Number” service, there are two important nuances. The first one is that the cost of incoming calls to a Russian (!) Number becomes paid for you and is 0.15 cu per minute for Simtravel and 0.49 cu / min. at Telety. That is, even taking into account the connected Russian number, the cost of an incoming call from my Simtravel (4.65 rubles) is cheaper than the same Megaphone or MTC with 6 for one and 5 rubles for the other for incoming, respectively. If you linked the SIM number to the Russian number, but at the same time they call you exactly the number of the SIM card, then no additional charging will occur. Outgoing calls are not affected by the “Save Number” service. However, the binding of a regular number to a tourist SIM which is worth paying attention to) can only be carried out on the territory of the Russian Federation, that is, before you cross the border. Connection details are best read on the websites of the companies themselvesSimtravel and Telety . The cost of an outgoing call from a Simtravel travel agent as well as from Telety is 8.99 rubles / minute, but it does not depend on whether I call to Russia or to some other country (with rare exceptions, such as a call to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines from the Czech Republic for 0.44 cu). Only Megafon is comparable with this cost with its 6 rubles, but, as I said, Megafon has a single tariff not only for outgoing, but also for incoming calls.

    Tursimki are also notable for the fact that both Simtravel and Teletai offer cheap communication within the network, which is beneficial if you are not the only one on the trip. At the same time, subscribers can be in different parts of the world and still pay 7 rubles. 44 kopecks per minute of conversation.

    I did not immediately understand why the prices for calls from Simtravel and Teletie are indicated in USD. - as it turned out, conversion to rubles depends on the method of replenishing the balance. Now the minimum replenishment rate is 31 rubles. for 1 cu (when replenishing with a card).

    PS


    I hope my mini-study will be useful for you when choosing the operator with whom you want to spend your vacation. But do not forget that all the events described above took place on the territory of Cyprus, and in each individual country the operators may have different tariffs and conditions. But in my purely personal opinion, based on a comparison of tariffs in Cyprus with other countries, this report reflects the average hospital temperature for at least the EU countries and currently popular tourist destinations such as Egypt, Turkey, etc. Identity of tariffs for these countries on the websites of operators and comparing the declared tariffs with what I eventually observed during the “Cyprus” experiment, suggests that the situation is likely to be very close to the above.

    Also take into account the fact that I tried to put all operators on an equal footing. There may be minor inaccuracies in the calculations, but you can check everything yourself by looking at the details and reports from the operators participating in the experiment on google documents:

    SIMTRAVEL | Beeline | MegaFon | MTS | Teletai Cheap

    calls to you! :-)

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