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Needing MegaFon SIM card Goto page 1, 2  Next

Way to Russia Talk Lounge Forum Index -> Moscow

Author	Message
daz1401 Frequent Guest Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 14 Location: BARNSLEY, South Yorkshire, UK	Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 12:19 am    Post subject: Needing MegaFon SIM card Hi, I am coming to Moscow for 9 days in July. I am wanting to purchase a MegaFon 'Ediny' SIM card for use in my existing mobile phone. I hold a British passport and have a tourist visa. I have heard that there can be problems purchasing SIM cards in Russia and that they have to be registered with the Russian government. I am really needing a MegaFon SIM card to call people in Moscow and also here in the UK as my current operator charges an absolute fortune when roaming. I am wondering how much these MegaFon cards cost and if they're available at Sheremetyevo II. Any help anyone can give me will be much appreciated. Thanks
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wwwadim Lounge Lizard Joined: 15 Apr 2005 Posts: 145 Location: Moscow Region, M-7 Highway, Noginsk	Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 12:09 pm    Post subject: Re: Needing MegaFon SIM card daz1401 wrote: Hi, I am coming to Moscow for 9 days in July. I am wanting to purchase a MegaFon 'Ediny' SIM card for use in my existing mobile phone. I hold a British passport and have a tourist visa. I have heard that there can be problems purchasing SIM cards in Russia and that they have to be registered with the Russian government. I am really needing a MegaFon SIM card to call people in Moscow and also here in the UK as my current operator charges an absolute fortune when roaming. I am wondering how much these MegaFon cards cost and if they're available at Sheremetyevo II. Any help anyone can give me will be much appreciated. Thanks Yes, MegaFON SIM Cards are available everywhere you want. At Sheremetyevo 2 you would looking for it in the mobile centers as "Svyaznoy" or so one. The cheapest contract SIM card with MegaFON costs 100 rubles or 3 dollars.
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Intourist Talk Show Host Joined: 21 Dec 2004 Posts: 245 Location: Moscow	Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 2:09 pm    Post subject: They sell the Megafon starter kits in a lot of places, some of which will ask you for your visa registration (like the Svyaznoi phone stores) and others that won't (like the Perekrostik supermarket). Just depends on where you buy it.
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daz1401 Frequent Guest Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 14 Location: BARNSLEY, South Yorkshire, UK	Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:02 pm    Post subject: Thanks for your help. Do you know the address of Perekrostik supermarket and what the procedure is for buying a SIM card from a MegaFon office? Thanks
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wwwadim Lounge Lizard Joined: 15 Apr 2005 Posts: 145 Location: Moscow Region, M-7 Highway, Noginsk	Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 7:33 pm    Post subject: daz1401 wrote: Thanks for your help. Do you know the address of Perekrostik supermarket and what the procedure is for buying a SIM card from a MegaFon office? Thanks If you want to know everything about MegaFON you could visit http://megafonmoscow.ru/english/ - their site. There you can find out how, where and when you can buy their SIM card. But why MegaFON? As for me I had had not pleasure of using this operator. If you are going to St. Petersborg you can buy MegaFON, but if you are going to stay in Moscow and suburbian you should use some other operator. For example, Beeline or MTS. It is only my opinion.
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init6 WayToRussified Joined: 01 Jun 2005 Posts: 363 Location: Москва, Россия	Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 8:45 pm    Post subject: Any particular reason why Beeline/MTS is better than MegaFon in Moscow? As most know, I'll be in Moscow, but I was going to buy a MegaFon SIM for my phone since I thought they had the largest coverage area in Russia (and I intend to travel outside of Moscow). Just curious!
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daz1401 Frequent Guest Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 14 Location: BARNSLEY, South Yorkshire, UK	Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 1:24 am    Post subject: I've been to http://www.megafonmoscow.ru/english/ and that doesn't give any information for foreigners wanting to buy a SIM card, only about roaming on their network with your existing operator. I've even e-mailed them twice but recieved no reply. The reason I'm wanting a MegaFon 'Ediny' SIM card is because it's the cheapest and will allow me to make calls back to the UK for only 3 rubles a minute which is nothing really. I think MTS and beeline charge a lot more than that.
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wwwadim Lounge Lizard Joined: 15 Apr 2005 Posts: 145 Location: Moscow Region, M-7 Highway, Noginsk	Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 1:49 am    Post subject: init6 wrote: Any particular reason why Beeline/MTS is better than MegaFon in Moscow? As most know, I'll be in Moscow, but I was going to buy a MegaFon SIM for my phone since I thought they had the largest coverage area in Russia (and I intend to travel outside of Moscow). Just curious! Yes. One important thing is a low quality of connection. Difficult to dial to megafon number and bad coverage area. It is hardly to hear voice over phone. Of course there is whole Moscow is covered by Megafon, but it is often no more than 4 of 5 points of level of a signal even in the center. At the same time in that place other cell operators could provide their signals better. The marketing politics of MegaFON is directed on youth. Cheaper tariffs, more prepaid minutes for the same money. Most of the users of Megafon are young people under 22-23. Students, Schoolboys and girls But in fact Megafon appears more expensively. Most of their tariffs has a limit - month. If you paid you money 30 days ago and could not waste all sum your money could be nulled. For example, I paid 30 dollars 1 june 2005 on my account tariff. 31 june 2005 I spent only 10 dollars and I have 20 dollars at my balance. If I wouldn't buy the special card called "karta prodleniya" (card of prolongation) - 3$ and activated her I will lose my 20 dollars. It is a strange politics of Megafon. No Beeline either MTS has it. Secondly, I use HTTP-Internet over GPRS. Megafon tariffs on GPRS - 0,45$/1Mb traffics, Beeline/MTS - 0,23$/1Mb. 2 years ago I used it and my traffic was 100-150 Mb per month. Using Beeline as a provider of GPRS I saved over 100 dollars per month. Megafon was established in Sankt Peterburg, Beeline and MTS - in Moscow. Using Megafon (GSM 900/1800) is excellent in St Peter-g + Nothern part an South of Russia (Sochi) + The Urals Beeline (GSM 900/1800, DAMPS) in Moscow and Suburbian + Central Russia + Povolzhie. MTS (GSM 900/1800) - Moscow, Moscow region, Central Russia (Tula, Tver, Vladimir, Lipetsk...) SMARTS (GSM 900/1800) - Povolzhie, Volga river SkyLink (CDMA 2000) - Moscow and suburbian. These are popular mobile companies in Russia. Marketing positioning: Megafon - for young people, the cheapest tariffs Beeline - democratic, using by everybody, liberal outlook on life, vide variety of addititional services MTS - conservative, for elite, buisnessmen, high quality of voice connection, expensive tariffs, often money disappears on accounts (they are stolen by operator) SkyLink - Unlimit voice connection for 50-70$ per month (federal or city number phone), high speed mobile Internet. If you buy Megafon you will have the kind of phone number: 8-926-XXX-XX-XX Beeline: 8-905-XXX-XX-XX or 8-903-XXX-XX-XX or 8-901-XXX-XX-XX MTS: 8-916-XXX-XX-XX or 8-917-XXX-XX-XX or 8-910-XXX-XX-XX Skylink: 8-501-XXX-XX-XX
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wwwadim Lounge Lizard Joined: 15 Apr 2005 Posts: 145 Location: Moscow Region, M-7 Highway, Noginsk	Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 2:07 am    Post subject: daz1401 wrote: I've been to http://www.megafonmoscow.ru/english/ and that doesn't give any information for foreigners wanting to buy a SIM card, only about roaming on their network with your existing operator. I've even e-mailed them twice but recieved no reply. The reason I'm wanting a MegaFon 'Ediny' SIM card is because it's the cheapest and will allow me to make calls back to the UK for only 3 rubles a minute which is nothing really. I think MTS and beeline charge a lot more than that. Yes, maybe MegaFON for you would be better choise because of the calls to UK. But I have the point of view at mobile operators as a resident of Russia (and the most russians too) and I don't need to call overseas or in Europe.
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Brent Lounge Lizard Joined: 05 Jul 2003 Posts: 91	Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 8:36 pm    Post subject: When I bought my mobile phone in Russia, I tried to buy a MegaFon SIM card, but the shop refused because I did not have a Russian passport. I had to get a Russian friend to fill out the forms and get it for me.
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Intourist Talk Show Host Joined: 21 Dec 2004 Posts: 245 Location: Moscow	Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 1:04 pm    Post subject: Daz, You can find Perekrostik supermarkets all over the center. There's on on Tishinskaya ploschad between the Mayakovskaya and Belorusskaya metro stations, and there's one at Novoslobodskaya metro as well. In general, I feel MTS has the best coverage. Megafon is relatively new and hasn't had the time to expand outside the center that MTS and Beeline have. I've often had trouble dialing Megafon numbers from my office, for some reason. I've never had similar problems with MTS or Beeline. In Megafon's favor, a lot of people feel their pricing plans are a bit more competitive than the others', but I can't really comment on that, never having had a Megafon account. I've used MTS for 9 years and never had any complaints in regards to reception, roaming or service.
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waytorussia Frequent Guest Joined: 17 Mar 2010 Posts: 14	Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 6:00 pm    Post subject: You can buy Megafon SIM card at any telecom shop. The thing is that there are tariffs which require signing a contract, and some contracts are pay-as-you-go. The contract tariff don't have any long-term commitment (1 month notice), but it requires that you have a registration stamp in your passport. The Megafon tariff that allows to make phonecalls abroad for 3 Rubles is the contract one, where you pay about $40 per month. You will need your passport and visa registration to subscribe to it. If you just have a tourist visa, some resellers might refuse to make contract with you, because they are penalized by operators if they sign short-term contracts. They need to be sure you'll be using it at least for a year. So, if you want this cheap tariff, you should ask a Russian person to purchase it for you. As a tourist you can easily get pay-as-you-go SIM. They are available from self-service machines and telecom operators. You will usually NOT need even to present your passport to get one. However, with these tariffs, you can't make discounted phone calls abroad. One solution could be to purchase a phone card (available online at http://phonecards.waytorussia.net) and then use it with your mobile. This way you would pay only for the locals calls you make plus a small fee on the card (6 cents a minute = 4 pence = 1.5 Rubles).
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daz1401 Frequent Guest Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 14 Location: BARNSLEY, South Yorkshire, UK	Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 6:03 pm    Post subject: RE: MegaFon/MTS pre-paid SIM cards Thanks for all the info, especially the phone cards I'm a bit confused about the contracts you've talked about. I've e-mailed MegaFon and they've said 'Ediny' SIM cards cost about 150 rubles and include 100 rubles of calling credit and that I need to have the migration card stamped with the registration before I can purchase one. So do I still need to sign a contract? If so then $40 a month is too much as I'll only be in Moscow for 9 days. I really need to make cheap international calls and the phone cards are appealing. A friend is going to get me a MTS SIM card on the Jeans 0.07 tariff (because of the network quality and signal in a lot of the Metro stations), so I could use that with the phone card, but is this tariff subject to a contract? I still wouldn't mind getting the MegaFon 'Ediny' card though as it's worth a try for 150 rubles. Please get back to me. Many thanks
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daz1401 Frequent Guest Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 14 Location: BARNSLEY, South Yorkshire, UK	Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 6:52 pm    Post subject: RE: MTS pre-paid SIM card I've decided to purchase a $5 Jupiter phone card. I'm not bothered about MegaFon now, it's a MTS Jeans 0.07 pre-paid SIM card I'm wanting. I've got a friend who can get it for me, but I'm going on the 1st and she might not be able to get it to me until the 4th which is like the middle of my trip as I'm coming back on the 9th, so that's a bit late, so I'd rather get it myself after I've registered my visa if that's possible. Is the Jeans 0.07 tariff subject to a contract? Thanks
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waytorussia Frequent Guest Joined: 17 Mar 2010 Posts: 14	Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 3:51 am    Post subject: No, better get Arbat card -- it works better from Russia. The contract you're talking about is NOT subject to contract.
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