Crimean mobilization
I must immediately calm down the citizens who were alarmed by the word “mobilization.” In this case, we will not talk about the mobilization of Crimeans into the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation with the aim of suddenly seizing the strategic reserves of Ukrainian mother-in-law’s lard, but about the state of affairs with mobile communications on the Peninsula. Until recently, the situation caused numerous rumors and complaints from both Crimeans and compatriots from the mainland.
As you know, Russian cellular operators, although they work in the Crimea, do not work in exactly the same way as throughout the rest of Russia. The main factor preventing Russian mobile operators from working normally in Crimea is, of course, the fear of falling under the so-called “international sanctions”.
However, someone is afraid, or doesn’t really want to, but Crimea, people live in it, the destination among mainland Russians has been at the peak of attendance for three years now, and, therefore, the Motherland demands a connection!
It was difficult for Russian mobile communications to enter Crimea - the equipment was partially looted and partially damaged by the junta looters fleeing Crimea. And most of all, the equipment was outdated even under Tsar Gorokh.
Until the beginning of August 2014, the MTS-Ukraine operator worked more or less normally on the Peninsula, and Crimeans, by inertia, still used the services of the most popular cellular operator in the East of Ukraine and Crimea; even those who purchased new SIM cards in advance. And then MTS-Ukraine suddenly stopped providing communication services to Crimean residents, not forgetting to first collect prepayments from subscribers. Well, yes, Crimeans are no strangers to the antics of the vengeful Ukrainian mother-in-law.
Thus, by the end of the summer of 2014, almost the entire Crimea switched to the WinMobile cellular network (aka K-Telecom), which, in fact, is the secret “daughter” of the Russian MTS in Crimea, although the MTS management is still sluggishly rejecting kinship. It is interesting that the newly-minted company did not have to spend money on advertising and other related activities: Crimeans simply had no other choice at that time. In addition, Win got more than 1100 base stations and frequencies on which MTS-Ukraine operated.
At first, the level of “encryption” of MTS’s presence in Crimea reached the point that the first batches of SIM cards were sold pristine white, without any inscriptions or logos. At the same time, however, they had Krasnodar numbers, and having established a connection with the base station, they were displayed on the screens of mobile phones as WIN|MTS RUS.
No matter what numerous talkative “experts” say about the unprofitability of cellular operators in Crimea, the figures from Ukrainian statistics speak for themselves. At the beginning of 2014, there were about 2.5 million mobile subscribers registered in Crimea. The penetration depth reached 120%. This means that many Crimeans had two or even three mobile operator cards in use. Taking into account the check of 25-50 hryvnia for users of prepaid services and 35-100 hryvnia for contract employees, with an average subscription fee of 50 hryvnia per month for 2.5 million users, and for the sake of convenience, converting hryvnia into “dead raccoons”, an appetizing $15 and a quarter of a million is danced out . Per month. At the current exchange rate in Russian rubles it comes out to a billion and a quarter. We multiply it by 12, write the result on paper and quietly enjoy the magic of numbers...
Let the one who says that this is not a tasty morsel throw a stone at me!
As for the quality of mobile communications in Crimea, about which many critical copies, both Crimean and Varangian, have been broken, this is a special conversation. As was well known back in Ukraine, Crimea developed according to a residual principle, if the word “developed” is even appropriate here. The same applied to the promotion of mobile technologies to the Peninsula. For the most part, the equipment of Ukrainian cellular operators in Crimea was outdated, providing the 2G communication standard that had long since become fossilized. Relatively new equipment was installed at the stations of a subsidiary of Ukrtelecom, a state monopolist in the field of landline telephony services. When leaving Crimea, Ukrtelecom dismantled equipment where it could.
Actually, the full brilliance of the poverty of Ukrainian “investments” in Crimea was revealed during the sabotage of the Mejlis’s tricks on the main power line at the end of 2015. If in the large cities of Crimea mobile communications during the “blackout” worked at the very least, with interruptions, but in rural areas the connection was dead. Accordingly, the main load fell on the equipment inherited from MTS-Ukraine, which the old woman could not cope with.
In addition to modernization and other large-scale technical work to improve the operation of mobile communications and services in Crimea, the Federal Communications Agency, the Ministry of Communications of Russia, as well as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Sergei Aksyonov had their say, bringing the “big three” mobile operators to life, both in terms of tariffs and to launch special services so that people in Crimea do not feel like foreigners or outcasts.
People planning to visit Crimea often ask about the best rates. Young people are also concerned about the availability, quality and prices of mobile Internet.
Megafon offers its subscribers the “Crimea” option: a daily subscription fee of 15 rubles. Incoming calls are free, outgoing calls are 5 rubles/minute to your home region, SMS is 3 rubles, Internet is 5 rubles/1 megabyte.
If you do not enable the option, then incoming and outgoing calls will cost 9.99 rubles, SMS – 4.90, 1 megabyte of Internet traffic – 9.90 rubles.
Beeline does not provide special options for Crimea. However. Beeline has canceled international roaming in Crimea since June 20, 2016, so prices for calls, SMS and Internet depend on the tariff plan chosen in your home region.
For example, according to the “All for 500” tariff, issued in Moscow, the first minute of an incoming call costs 3 rubles, the next are free, outgoing calls cost 3 rubles/minute; SMS – 3 rubles, Internet – 3 rubles/1 megabyte.
The cheaper tariff “All for 300” does not provide any benefits in Crimea with prices for all of the above services at 9.95 rubles. Some other Beeline tariffs may offer completely free incoming (incoming only!) in Crimea.
At the beginning of 2016, information appeared about the start of sales of TELE-2 SIM cards in Crimea, however, it turned out that if the cards were sold, they were sold by subcontractors of the operator and under “gray” schemes. Moreover, until April 14, 2016, TELE-2 extended all options intended for traveling around Russia to Crimea, but now in the Republic of Kazakhstan and Sevastopol there is a basic tariff: 5 rubles / 1 minute for outgoing and incoming calls; 5 rubles/1 megabyte and 3.50 per SMS.
TELE-2 has the option “Like home in Crimea”: connection cost – 30 rubles; subscription fee – 6 rubles/day. This service resets the cost of incoming calls; all other prices remain at the level of the base tariff.
Since, as has been absolutely established, MTS operates in Crimea, visitors have two options: buy a local SIM card directly in Crimea or use a SIM card purchased in their home region.
MTS in Crimea belongs to the region “Krasnodar Territory and the Republic of Adygea” and offers several Smart tariffs, including Internet packages, unlimited calls to MTS numbers in the region, packages of minutes for calls and SMS packages.
For 200 rubles (Smart mini tariff) per month you can get 1 GB of Internet, 1000 minutes for calls within the network in other regions and 200 SMS in the region within the network. Calls to phones of other operators will cost 12 rubles/min, and SMS – 1.95. All incoming calls are free.
If you have to call numbers of other operators, you should choose Smart (300 rubles per month) or Smart “Unlimited” (12.90 rubles/day in the first month and 15 rubles in subsequent months). There, the packages will be larger and more profitable, and the cost of outgoing packages to other operators outside the region will be 3 rubles/minute.
In addition, there is a “Resort” tariff: incoming calls are free, outgoing calls to all numbers in Russia - 3 rubles for the first minute, 50 kopecks. from the 2nd to the 10th minutes, from the 11th minute - again 3 rubles. SMS – 50 kopecks; Internet – 9.90 rubles/2 megabytes, but you can connect additional options.
For example, connecting the “Like Home Everywhere” option for 30 rubles +5 rubles/day allows you to call within Russia for 3 rubles/minute, incoming calls are free.
The new Smart tariffs (except mini) are actually valid throughout Russia with some changes (less package of minutes), the cost of a minute over the package is 1.50 rubles in the home region and 3 rubles in other regions, calls to all MTS numbers are free; incoming calls are free. At the same time, the Internet package remains the same as at home (services are provided to the subscriber under the same conditions).
And yet, for those who are not used to throwing money away, you should think about buying a SIM card from WinMobile, the Crimean “daughter” of MTS.
The Crimean operator has developed a special tariff for vacationers “At Sea”: 3 rubles/minute of any outgoing call and 10 rubles/100 megabytes of Internet. Incoming calls are free.
It can be very beneficial to choose the “Freedom of Communication” tariff with the “My Russia” option: 60 minutes within the network per day - free, incoming calls - free. The option costs 15 rubles for connection +3 rubles per day, while all outgoing calls to other regions of Russia cost 2 rubles per minute. In addition, you can install various Internet options on this tariff. Without options, Internet costs 10 rubles/1 megabyte. If you only need the Internet, then the Fast and Furious tariff gives 15 GB of Internet traffic for 400 rubles per month.
It seems to me that it makes no sense to use the services of local cellular operators. Their tariffs are about 20% higher than those of WinMobile, there are problems with coverage, and they were included primarily for the sake of inexpensive communication with landlines in Crimea.
I remind you! International roaming does not work in Crimea. The word “at all” has no effect. Crimea is still under “international” sanctions, and no mobile bastard in Europe and the USA will agree to conclude a contract for international calls with WinMobile, MTS or another operator that comes to work in Crimea.
Remember that there are excellent services Viber and WhatsApp that allow you to call any user of these services for free, not counting the penny costs for Internet traffic.
The same considerations will help you save a lot on calls to other regions of Russia. Well, the quality and speed of mobile services in Crimea have increased significantly since the summer of 2016. Complete triumph is not yet close, but this is far from the shame that the guests of Crimea experienced two and three seasons ago.
Everything said above can still be twisted. Firstly, there are persistent rumors about an increase in the price of cellular services in 2017. Not only in Crimea, but throughout Russia. Secondly, systematic work is underway to completely disable roaming for countries that are members of the Customs Union. Which, of course, cannot but rejoice, since it once again makes the parts of a once united country that were torn apart 25 years ago merge together, like droplets of mercury.
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