Way to Russia Community and Forum

If you have a question or want to help someone, please, go to
Way to Russia Forum on our Facebook page.
 
We also invite you to join our Facebook community, where you can meet other travelers and read interesting news on topics ranging from visa regulations to culture and music.
 

 

We are currently moving the old forum to Facebook, so what you see below functions as an archive.

If you have a question, please, post it on
Way to Russia Facebook Discussions Page

FAQ   Search   Memberlist   Usergroups   Profile   Log in to check your private messages   Chat   Log in

How much do phone lines and other consumables cost in Russia

Way to Russia Talk Lounge Forum Index -> Russian Contexts, Myths and Truths

Author	Message
terencej Just Starting Joined: 12 Mar 2006 Posts: 2 Location: Glasgow, Scotland, U.K.	Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 11:13 pm    Post subject: How much do phone lines and other consumables cost in Russia Alright folks?. This is my first post. I'd been interested in going to Russia on holiday for a long time so through my friends girlfriend (who is from Russia but studied and ended up staying in the U.K.) i ended up speaking with a girl in Murmansk not my ideal location but what the hell you've got to travel to places other than Moscow and St Petersburgh and it seems to be cheaper to fly to Finland then to Murmansk than fly to St Petersburgh direct. Anyway the girl in question doesn't have a phone line so has to use and internet cafe or a friends house. This is naturally making it difficult to arrange to meet while i am in Murmansk I was wondering is the phone system primitive in Russia?. She reckons it is prohibitively expensive on a marketing assistant's wage to pay for an apartment and a phone line. Is this true?. Is life really this hard for folk?. I couldn't imagine life without my 5 meg broadband link let alone a phone line. How much do these things cost to install and run for heaven's sake?. Assuming she earns about $250 US a month (is that about average in Russia) and Apartments cost $150 to rent how much is a phone line. I have heard a rumour that even installing one costs nearly a months wages. I just want an idea of just how well off/hard up folk are in Russia. Any ideas of what to do in Russia and what to say to russian folk would be appreciated as i'm travelling by myself but don't want to sit in every night like a hermit....
Back to top
vitalsigns Lounge Wizard Joined: 25 Dec 2004 Posts: 2784	Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:28 am    Post subject: There's an installation charge that some low income russian families cannot afford when it comes to owning a phone line. The phone charges are not high, yet, if it is a low income family/person (a retired grandmother, for instance, whose income is $70 a month) they will not be able to afford it. Do they teach you at schools over there to put a dot after a question mark?. (just like that). Interesting if they do.
Back to top
mediashark Moderator Joined: 04 Nov 2004 Posts: 1599	Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 2:31 pm    Post subject: The problem with land lines in some smaller cities is that the system is very old, and it takes a long time to get a line registered and installed. Even in a big city like Moscow doing things like changing a land telephone number is really a hassle or impossible altogether. (That's why you see so many people with cell phones. All you need is a handset and a sim card.) My in-laws were in a communal apartment, and there was a shared line that couldn't even receive international calls, so we bought them a private line. When we wired the money via western union it was the town's first ever international transfer. Yes, people can be really poor that all can afford is a bit of food and a room, especially in small towns away from big cities like msk and spb and things like telephone lines may not be affordable or just be the bottom of their list.
Back to top
terencej Just Starting Joined: 12 Mar 2006 Posts: 2 Location: Glasgow, Scotland, U.K.	Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:35 pm    Post subject: Thanks folks for your info. The girl i'm talkign to says it's prohivitively expensive in Murmansk and that a single girl (such as she is) simply cannot afford to rent an apartment, put food on the table and buy decent clothes and have a phone line as well. I never asked her about a mobile. The problem "over here" is that in U.K. schools there is differnet ways of doing things regarding language. Some folk say it's ok to put a full stop after a question mark some say it isn't. up until recently it was very bad form to start a sentence with the words 0 and, but & because, though now it's becoming more accepted. Thanks for the advice
Back to top
Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First

	Way to Russia Talk Lounge Forum Index -> Russian Contexts, Myths and Truths	All times are GMT + 3 Hours
Page 1 of 1