Vacation. The sun
We figure out how much the Internet, calls and SMS will cost and what needs to be done before the trip
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SMS roaming: you won't be able to call, but messages will come
The best option if you are not going to call back or surf the Internet. Firstly, you will be in touch and will be able to notify loved ones that everything is in order. Secondly, you will receive messages about transactions with your bank card, if you have an SMS alert connected. And thirdly, SMS is often needed to connect to wi-fi, for example, at the airport.
As a rule, to activate SMS roaming, you need to send a message to a specific number before the trip (check with the operator). The cost of SMS will depend on which country you are in, which mobile operator you connected to and which country you are sending the message to.
You will have to pay not only for outgoing messages, but also for incoming messages (that is, those that are sent to you). True, they will cost less.
For comparison, we selected four neighboring countries, to which Belarusians often go on vacation or work, and compared how much it would cost to send a message to clients of the two largest mobile operators.
QUESTION PRICE
Connection: RUB 3 81 kopecks
Message cost: sending an SMS to Belarus from Russia or Ukraine will cost from 21 to 44 kopecks. (depending on the operator), and from Lithuania or Poland - 48 kopecks.
Connection: RUB 2 83 kopecks.
Message cost: a message to Belarus from Russia costs from 19 to 65 kopecks. (depending on the operator), from Ukraine - from 19 to 58 kopecks, from Lithuania - 44 kopecks, and from Poland - 44 - 45 kopecks.
Connection: free (but the operator does not have a separate SMS-roaming service, regular roaming available to everyone by default)
Message cost: 18 kopecks
Regular roaming: charges not only for outgoing calls, but also for incoming calls
Upon activation of the International roaming service, a ban is automatically set on the use of all types of subscriber call forwarding in roaming according to the following conditions: if no answer, busy, unavailable. The ban does not apply to unconditional forwarding. To restore the work of call forwarding in roaming, use a USSD request (within the Republic of Belarus) * 117 # and call key;
Compliance with these rules will make your trip a success and keep you in a good mood during your stay abroad.
Rates
Detailed information on roaming tariffs can be obtained from the customer service department or on a special page of the site.
You can check the availability of services in roaming in the network of a particular operator.
Since July 1, the cost of roaming in the European Union has been reduced by the efforts of the European Commission. Another drop in cost is expected in 2014, and by 2015 roaming in this zone will become completely free. At the very least, the European Commission promises to do everything it can to make this happen. Let's not recall the proverb about how long they wait for the promised - it's 2013 and calls abroad still cost money. And considerable ones. And, sometimes, so much so that some travelers grab hold of their hearts when they see the amount of negative balance on their mobile phone account after a trip.
Competently speaking on the phone abroad is also a science. And we will try today to understand its basics.
Roaming: classic version
An inexperienced tourist, going abroad, first of all think about his own, native Belarusian operators. There are not so many of them in our country, only three - MTS, velcom, life. Considering the fact that many today use the services of two operators at once - in connection with a work need or on personal initiative - you can choose the one that is more profitable. And to determine which of the operators loves their customers more, you need to go to the website or call the operator. What we actually did.
Going on a trip, you probably know which country you are heading to. Information about the tariffs of roaming partners operating in the country of your destination is freely available - just choose. For clarity, let's compare the tariffs of our operators' partners for the closest European country to us - Poland.
For life subscribers, the most profitable partners, according to the tariff table, are Orange and P4. Outgoing SMS costs 1,200 Belarusian rubles here, and a minute of a call costs 4,320 Belarusian rubles. The most "delicious" tariffs offered.
International calls in life are connected automatically, therefore, when crossing the border, you will need to select a network in the manual registration mode. Partners have their own designations on the screen (for example, for P4 - PL-06, PLAY or P4), one of them will need to be selected. Remember that when using voice services life will charge 2,760 Belarusian rubles per day.
ATTENTION! Before crossing the border, deactivate call forwarding on your phone, as well as disable the reception of MMS-messages and data transmission, or switch from automatic to manual mode - "on demand". These actions will allow you to significantly save money and ensure that you will not wonder where the 250,000 Belarusian rubles debt came from if you called from Warsaw for just two minutes.
Why should you do this?Because call forwarding by mobile operators is counted as a double call - both for incoming and outgoing calls, for which you, accordingly, will have to pay double the cost. Automatic data transfer is financially “dangerous” for owners of phones with mobile applications, which by default “download” updates from the Internet and thereby “pump out” large sums from your mobile phone account. And time synchronization or updating RSS feeds will also cost money.
We continue to review tariffs. We go to the MTS website and find the "Roaming" section. We select "Countries and Tariffs", then "Europe" and "Poland". Comparing tariffs, we determine that the most profitable partner in Poland for MTS subscribers is Polkomtel (Plus) - compared to other partners, the prices for services look more than pleasant: SMS - 2,340 Belarusian rubles, incoming calls - 4,380 rubles per minute, outgoing to Belarus - 5,100 Belarusian rubles.
Roaming is free for all operators. In order to activate this service, an MTS subscriber needs to have at least 25,000 Belarusian rubles on his phone account and be connected to the network for at least 90 days. Before crossing the border, you need to turn off the phone, and after entering Poland, turn on and enter the combination * 111 * 22 # - voila, you are already in roaming! And then - according to the worked out scheme: we look through the proposed networks and select the one that belongs to Polkomtel (Plus), the symbols on the screen in this case will be PLUS, GSM PL, PLUS PL, 01.
Now let's compare roaming rates velcom... When choosing the most profitable companies in the territory of the country you are going to, the same scheme works as indicated above. Go to the operator's website, select a country and see the range of prices by company. You remember the most profitable representative, and then, being already in the country, manually find him in the list of networks on your phone. For example, for Poland it is Polkomtel, the screen will display one of the designations - PLUS GSM, PL-PLUS, PL-01, 2601. SMS from this partner costs the same as other velcom representatives in Poland - 2580 Belarusian rubles, outgoing to Belarus - 6,720 against 15,840 Belarusian rubles from other partners.
If you clearly know that it is easier for you to communicate abroad via SMS or via the Internet, each of the operators offers SMS roaming and Internet roaming services. And if the roaming service of all operators is free, then, for example, SMS roaming from MTS will cost a subscriber 12,000 Belarusian rubles subscription fee.
Roaming: a smart option
Tourists with experience are well known travel sim cards... In recent years, specialized SIM cards designed for travel and providing significant savings on roaming services have been especially popular among Belarusians. You can buy them in travel companies, salons mobile communications... Using it is as easy as shelling pears: having arrived abroad, you just need to replace your “native” SIM card with an international card. Done! Low cost of using services (voice, SMS, GPRS) and many additional services while maintaining high quality communication - that's why tourists choose tourist SIM cards.
The official supplier of tourist SIM cards to the Belarusian market today is the Bright Light company. Thanks to her, for more than 5 years, Belarusian tourists and travel lovers know international sim-Sim cards Estonian operator "Top Connect". Tariffs for all calls in all countries of the world using this card are fixed and do not depend on the operator or other factors. The tourist receives the best possible communication signal in the host country at the lowest cost. The cost of an outgoing call for the main tourist destinations, the EU and the CIS countries is mainly from 0.25 to 0.55 euros per minute of conversation, and a call between SIMSIM subscribers from 0.21 euros / min. In Poland, for example, SMS (USSD) will cost 0.09 euros, an incoming call - 0 euros, outgoing to Belarus - 0.43 euros for the first minute and 0.32 euros from the second minute when activating “Preferential outgoing call: Europe ". The phone automatically adjusts to the strongest signal of the local operator, not only when traveling around the country, but also when crossing state borders. Tariffs to the destination country can be viewed at simsim.by.
Only in this section are the most relevant and favorable rates for buying and selling the dollar, euro and Russian ruble, as well as the most common colored currencies. Now you do not need to look for exchangers on the card or on the Internet. For your convenience, an animated map is built into our section. But that's not all - in the section you can easily find cross - currency exchange rates, exchange rates on cards, currency rates from the National Bank and several simple charts to track changes in the foreign exchange market.
Have you saved up a certain amount in Belarusian rubles or dollars? Do you doubt which bank to take it to in order to get the best interest? Do you suspect that the interest income in your bank is not the best? Then our calculator is for you. Just enter your amount, the currency of the deposit and the period for which you want to place funds, our application will select the best deposits for you in all banks in Belarus. You just have to go to the bank.
Need a loan? Not sure which bank to choose? A loan calculator will help in any situation. You just need to enter the amount you want to borrow, name the loan term and the time for which you want to get a loan. Our calculator will choose the LOWEST rate for you, calculate the payment schedule, list the features that you should pay attention to. And, of course, it will calculate the overpayment and the full interest rate.!
Nobody wants to lose their savings on the next devaluation! But what to do when the profitability of ruble deposits is higher than that of dollar deposits? The answer is simple - to keep money on the deposit in Belarusian rubles, and when the dollar rate starts to grow, to transfer the deposit into foreign currency. When is it to be done? To answer this question, we have created a Ruble Deposit Currency Risk Calculator. It compares the profitability of ruble and foreign currency deposits, and also analyzes the dynamics of your income depending on the change in the dollar exchange rate!
When we are offended by hooligans, do we write a statement to the police? But what if you offended the bank? How to get through to his leadership in Minsk if you live in a small Belarusian town? After all, the bank is large, it has a lot of clients and the head of the bank simply cannot hear your cry for help or your complaint. Express your opinion in our section "Bank Reviews". Describe in detail where and when you encountered difficulties, rate the bank (do not hesitate!) And wait for a reaction. She will definitely be! Or maybe you want to praise the bank or its employees, then you are back in our "Reviews" !!!
Deposits bring substantial income to their owners, and also help to save money from prying eyes. But, you must admit, there is not always time to go to the bank and withdraw the required amount if you suddenly need it. In addition, on deposits, most often, a decrease in interest income is provided in case of early withdrawal of a part of the funds. Is it a shame? Sure! But fortunately, banks offer savings cards, the interest rates on which are almost equal to the rate on deposits, and the money is available 24 hours 7 days a week. Our unique service will help you choose a savings card.
Banks, like people, treat new customers very differently. If you decide to issue a deposit or a card, transfer money to relatives, pay utility bills in an unfamiliar bank, you do not need to "buy a pig in a poke". It is enough to look at the pages of the “Consumer Experience” project and find out what to expect from the employees of a particular bank. Our correspondents have already penetrated many bank branches and are sharing their impressions with you ...
Now we have to find out what USSD requests are for Velcom. This cellular operator offers a lot of different commands that allow you to receive this or that information about the SIM card, as well as to connect / disconnect certain functions. In general, there are a huge number of USSD requests on Velcom. But we will consider only the most useful and popular of them. Maybe they will help you to cope with this or that problem more than once.
What it is
But first, let's find out what are our current requests? Knowing this, you can understand whether you need them or not. Maybe you can do without them? USSD requests by "VELCOM", like any cellular operator, is nothing more than a self-service tool for the subscriber.
With their help, you can control the balance of the phone, check and change the tariff plan on the SIM card, implement various options, as well as disable and enable certain services and options. The main advantage of such combinations is that they are free and can be activated at any time of the day or night. The main thing is to know what exactly you need.
Balance
Perhaps it is worth starting with the main function - this is the USSD balance request and all the commands that will help control the funds on the SIM card account. There are not so many of them, but there are some special ones among them.
For example, a balance request is made using the combination * 100 #. At the end of each set, you need to press the "Call" button. In response, you will receive a message about the status of the SIM card account, and the result is displayed directly on the screen.
USSD requests by "VELCOM" allow you to easily change the tariff payment system. To work without prepayment, dial * 145 #. If you want to register some unconfirmed request, then * 141 * 1 # will help here. Basically, these are all useful commands for managing your account. We continue to study USSD requests by "Welcom" further.
Rates
It's not a secret for anyone that with the help of these commands, any subscriber can change his tariff plan. Each offer has its own combination. You can find out full information about this on the official website of the operator. After all, Velcom has many tariffs. It is very long to list all the USSD commands for their connection. So check with the operator at the moment.
Instead, we will try to learn the universal USSD requests by Velcom. You can find out the tariff plan that you currently have connected with * 141 * 2 * 1 #. In addition, the subscriber can get his phone number by dialing * 147 #. Information about the Internet tariff plan is displayed after dialing * 141 * 2 * 3 * 1 #. Everything is easy and simple. In some cases, you receive an SMS message with all the information that you requested, but often the data is displayed directly on the phone display.
Additional services
Now a little about the interesting capabilities of our today's operator. They also have their own USSD requests by VELCOM. "Favorite number", for example, is added with * 141 * 3 * 3 #. After that, you will be able to add this or that subscriber to the appropriate list.
Also, please note that you are also able to activate some interesting and useful features with our today's commands. For example, you can connect the Internet, MMS, protection to your phone using a single request. With it, you will also receive all the information about the mobile Internet, which is available on the SIM card. To do this, dial * 135 # on your mobile phone and send a request for processing.
Sometimes you want to talk while roaming. USSD requests "VELCOM" allow all subscribers to quickly connect to such services. "Roaming" (international) is activated by * 141 * 3 * 2 * 1 #, and " International calls"can be activated by dialing the combination * 141 * 3 * 1 * 1 #. It turns out that without outside interference at any time, everyone is able to connect the services of profitable conversations on mobile phone Abroad.
Services
Do not forget that VELCOM USSD requests have one more feature. And it applies not only to this operator, but to everyone in general. These commands make it possible to connect / disconnect certain additional packages services and services. What can help us in communication?
Let's say the "500 SMS" option package. To do this, you must type * 119 # from your phone. Please note that the request itself is free. But for connecting one or another option, you will have to pay according to the tariff. All available settings (Internet and MMS are included here) come after sending * 135 * 0 #, and " Mobile Internet"activated by the command * 135 * 1 #. As you can see, there is nothing difficult in this.
It is also worth paying attention to a few non-standard services. "VELCOM" offers its clients the service. Oddly enough, it connects without any problems using the USSD request * 200 * 2 #. Melofon is another service that subscribers often pay attention to. And it is activated by the combination * 424 #. In principle, these are all fairly popular services that you can connect to yourself.
Inquiries and inquiries
The last point that we will consider is sending "homeless people", as well as receiving reference information on a SIM card. "Welcom" allows you to do all this with the help of various USSD commands.
So, for example, everyone can request to call back (send a "bum") free of charge. Dial * 131 * friend's number # and send the command for processing. Another VELCOM subscriber will receive a free message from you with a request to call back. Sometimes this feature is very useful.
The rest of free SMS, MMS, minutes and Internet traffic also have to be checked from time to time. In this situation, another self-service team will help. It looks like * 100 * 1 #. If you want to know the whole list paid servicesconnected to mobile number, contact * 141 * 2 * 2 #.
Do not forget that the full list of USSD commands from the VELCOM company is quite diverse. Sometimes you want to quickly view it and select the desired self-service function. Everyone is able to do this very easily and simply. What does that require? Just submit a special request for processing. It looks like * 141 * 9 * 1 #. In response, you will receive an SMS message containing all the available commands. Except that this does not include change requests tariff plan (for a specific offer).
As you can see, Welcom's USSD commands are diverse. And with their help, you can fully control the functionality of the SIM card. Don't be afraid to experiment. Remember that when you connect to a particular service, you will be charged in the amount set by the tariff. All background information is free.
