How to communicate while roaming. Mobile communications abroad
Roaming is a popular service of modern mobile operators. People who travel a lot must be familiar with all its features.
What does roaming mean?
Roaming is a service that allows you to use a mobile phone abroad without changing your SIM card and mobile operator. Thus, while a person is in the territory of another country, he uses the services of local operators with whom his operator’s roaming agreement was signed in advance.If your phone offers automatic roaming, you won't need to contact your carrier for assistance. Your number will be automatically registered in a special guest network. As a rule, the phone itself chooses the operator whose coverage quality is better. However, in manual mode you choose any available signal yourself.
There are several main types of roaming: national, intranet and international. International roaming allows you to stay connected in any country. National provides communication within your country, but in those cities where your operator does not operate. A intranet roaming involves communication on the network of one operator in different regions of your country.
How to call cheaper from abroad?
The cost of roaming increases significantly every year, so the issue of cheap calls from abroad has always been relevant. Each operator has its own tariffs, so it is he who determines the cost.If you want to make cheaper calls, you need to familiarize yourself in advance with all the tariffs offered by your operator. Modern operators operating in several countries unite all their subscribers. In this case, you are offered to switch to another tariff.
Another operator in your country may offer more favorable rates for roaming. In this case, it makes sense to change not only the tariff, but also the operator itself.
How to save on international calls?
A good way to save money is to completely give up international calls in favor of text messages. The fact is that SMS is much cheaper in roaming, so you don't have to spend too much money. However, short messages sometimes cannot replace a call. As a rule, operators may have special offers for roaming services, where for a certain subscription fee they will provide you with a certain number of minutes at a discount or for free.Mobile operators, as a rule, set the cost of a call lasting per minute. However, there are offers where you buy a certain or unlimited amount minutes for the period of stay in another country. In this case, you should know exactly how much time you plan to spend abroad.
So, roaming is the basis of all interethnic communication. Of course, sometimes it is more profitable to simply change the operator, but in most cases roaming is the most profitable offer.
The editors of the site advise you to familiarize yourself with the tariffs of your operator before traveling and top up your phone balance.
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Learning to save on use mobile phone abroad.
Let's start with how to protect yourself from accidentally getting into the network of a foreign operator if you drive a car near the border, but do not leave the country. In these cases, you must first find the “Select network” item in the telephone menu and switch from automatic mode to manual mode, in which you select your “home” operator. The phone will not search for a stronger signal and will remain on the “home” network, even if you, driving near the border, find yourself in the area of a strong signal from a foreign operator. In any case, you can monitor the name of the operator's network on the mobile phone display.
To inform subscribers that they are in the network of a foreign roaming operator, for example, UMC has introduced a welcome message service - SMS, which the operator sends to its subscriber upon registration in foreign network. Such SMS will inform you for free that you are roaming.
If the subscriber goes abroad and his phone is set to automatic search operator, the mobile phone will independently find a stronger network. If the mobile is configured to manually select an operator, if there is no coverage of the “home” network, it will offer to select another from the list of available networks. This way you will also be informed that you are roaming.
Most Ukrainian companies providing mobile communication services have roaming agreements with many operators in other countries. How to choose, for example, from the five available operators the appropriate one? It all depends on what you expect from mobile communications while traveling abroad.
If the owner of the phone is an “advanced user” and he needs not only GSM roaming, but also GPRS services, he must know which operator provides this service in order to use GPRS roaming in his network.
If you are going abroad to simply talk on your mobile phone or communicate with other subscribers mainly using SMS messages, it is also worth asking which of the roaming operators in the country of your stay has cheaper incoming and outgoing calls, and which one has cheaper sending SMS messages.
All information about the cost of incoming and outgoing calls, GPRS service and SMS messages is usually available on the website of your “home” mobile operator. For example, on the website www.umc.ua in the “Coverage and Roaming” section you can find a roaming atlas, with which you can easily determine the most convenient operator in the country where you are going. If the Internet is not available for any reason, all the information you need can be found at the subscriber service center.
If your phone is configured to manually select an operator, then every time you move from country to country, you will need to do this yourself. When the mobile phone is in automatic mode, the operator will be found without your participation, which, in general, is much more convenient in some cases (especially if you have to cross borders a number of times in a short period of time).
For those who are in Ukraine and do not plan to travel near the borders in the near future, it is also better to use automatic mode select an operator or manually select your own. IN otherwise If the network is lost, the phone will not connect to it again until the owner selects the network himself.
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Prepared by Svetlana Skripka
Photo by Sergei Kuzmich
If you are going to travel outside of your Beeline home network and want to talk with the same Beeline SIM card in other regions of Russia, then you must definitely activate the roaming service throughout Russia and avoid debiting a large amount of money from your account. Attention! See all changes regarding roaming and tariffs below at the end of the article.
The service "Roaming easily" all incoming calls within Russia are free.
For everyone who is going to travel outside of their home Beeline network and wants to stay in touch using their SIM card, it is recommended connect to the roaming service on Beeline throughout Russia and talk at reduced prices. The most important thing is that when you activate roaming, all incoming calls to your number will be free for you, and those who have not connected will be charged about 10 rubles, both incoming and outgoing, not only from other telecom operators but also from the Beeline operator.
I suggest using the “Roaming on the Easy” service to communicate throughout Russia.
The connection cost is zero rubles.
Subscription fee is five rubles per day.
All incoming calls are zero rubles.
Outgoing to Beeline numbers 1.95 rubles per minute.
Outgoing calls to numbers of other operators are 4.95 rubles per minute.
Command for connecting Beeline roaming *110*9991# .
Number to disable roaming Beeline *110*9990#.
Attention!!! The "Roaming on the Easy" service is no longer available for connection; below you will find information on how to activate roaming throughout Russia with the "My Country" option.
Option "My Country" roaming throughout Russia.
Beeline has suspended the “Easy Roaming” service and now Beeline users have access to a new option “My Country”. Now, when you activate roaming, you do not have to pay a daily subscription fee, but only once you pay 25 rubles for connecting the option. The most important thing is that you pay only once when connecting, you don’t have to disable the “My Country” option, this service is activated itself when you are roaming and as soon as you return to your home network The service will automatically disconnect itself.
Attention!!! There have been changes in roaming throughout Russia with the “My Country” option! The article has been edited, see the new terms of use and roaming costs in Russia!
When connecting to roaming with the “My Country” service, all incoming calls while roaming will cost 3 rubles for each conversation, that is, if you, for example, accepted a call and talked for 5 minutes, then 3 rubles will be debited from your account, the same if you talked for 10 minutes, then the same 3 rubles will be withdrawn from your account. If you look at it differently, it turns out that you pay only for the first outgoing minute, the rest are free, and so on for each received call.
-All outgoing calls to all Russian numbers will cost 3 rubles per minute.
-All outgoing SMS messages will cost 3 rubles.
-For Beeline customers who activated the “My Country” service before November 26, 2015 and did not disable it, as well as Beeline subscribers With the postpaid payment system, the previous conditions for roaming services throughout Russia continue to apply.
-For those who are going to connect roaming, see the new conditions below.
New conditions and cost of using roaming on Beeline with the “My Country” service:
All incoming calls within Russia are 3 rubles per minute.
- All outgoing calls within Russia are 3 rubles per minute.
- All outgoing SMS messages within Russia are 3 rubles per minute.
- Subscription fee for subscribers of the Beeline prepaid payment system in rubles.
- The “My Country” service operates on the Beeline network throughout Russia, except for the connection area, the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.
- You no longer need to turn on and off roaming when traveling around the country; this service is automatically activated when you are in roaming and is also turned off when the subscriber returns to the home network.
The cost of connecting to roaming on Beeline with the “My Country” service is 25 rubles, no deactivation is required.
-To enable or disable roaming, call 0683, then follow the instructions of the electronic operator, you can listen to information about the service, as well as the ability to connect and disable roaming throughout Russia with the My Country option.
From November 26, 2015, connecting to the roaming service is not available on “EVERYTHING!” tariffs. with monthly subscription fee. These tariffs offer favorable conditions for roaming within Russia. When a subscriber switches to “EVERYTHING!” The "My Country" service is automatically disabled.
Attention! On most tariffs, you no longer need to activate roaming; this service is automatically provided by your mobile operator. Check the information before performing any actions!
- I hope this article helped you on how to activate roaming on Beeline throughout Russia.
- We will be glad if you add reviews, addition to the article or add useful tips, helping other operator users cellular communications Beeline.
- Thank you for your responsiveness and useful advice!
01-09-2019
12 o'clock 06 min.
Message:
I received a message that I no longer need to connect to Beeline roaming when traveling around the country.
01-02-2017
12 o'clock 28 min.
Message:
Activate the my country service
17-09-2016
10 o'clock 50 min.
Message:
I activated the “My Country” service on 08/29/16 (3 rubles for all outgoing, 3 rubles for the first minute of incoming). On 03/09/16 I received an SMS saying that all incoming and outgoing costs were 3 rubles for every minute. Why is it written on all sites that when when using the command *110*0021# for an incoming call, only the 1st minute is charged? I would never activate a service where both incoming and outgoing costs the same, why such a lie? If something has changed in the service tariffs, why don’t you write that the cost of the service has changed or use other commands instead of *110*0021#
14-07-2016
2 p.m. 00 min.
Message:
Which option is beneficial to enable if tariff plan- All for 500, and we are going from St. Petersburg to Anapa. And how much will the Internet cost?
11-06-2016
07 o'clock 09 min.
Message:
Tell me. I use the all-for-900 tariff. roaming service My country does not connect
07-03-2016
15 o'clock 28 min.
Message:
thanks for detailed description. I have a question. Beeline tariff All for 800. Is it possible and necessary to activate the “My Country” service for roaming in Russia?
29-12-2015
03 o'clock 29 min.
Message:
Do not enable roaming. It says that the service is not included in the tariff plan.
10-12-2015
13 o'clock 44 min.
Message:
Thanks for the clarification about automatic switching on and disabling the service. This is not specified on the Beeline website in the description of the service.
20-11-2015
11 o'clock 30 min.
Message:
Hi all
25-10-2015
15 o'clock 33 min.
Message:
I'm very pleased
20-09-2015
09 o'clock 29 min.
Message:
Dmitry, their tariffs will be like at home.
20-09-2015
08 o'clock 40 min.
Message:
I have "my country". I'm going to another city. How are calls charged to those who call me?
22-08-2015
17 o'clock 39 min.
Message:
how much will a call to Kazakhstan-Beeline with the My Country service cost?
25-07-2015
06 o'clock 49 min.
Message:
I have everything included for 300, do I need to activate roaming?
14-07-2015
12 o'clock 19 min.
Message:
The number for connecting roaming is indicated above, if you want to use the navigator in roaming and do not want to spend a lot of money on the Internet, then it is better to connect unlimited Internet all around Russia.
14-07-2015
11 o'clock 55 min.
Message:
Hello! Please tell me how to activate roaming and have the navigator work to your destination. I live in M.O. and I’m going to go to the Kaluga region Thank you
Articles and Lifehacks
Even while on a trip abroad, modern man must stay in touch constantly. Is cheap roaming possible? Let's try to figure out which operator's services to choose in which cases.
Why do you need roaming? While abroad, a person, as before, wants to stay informed latest news, call up with loved ones, share “travel” impressions, etc.
However, it is not at all profitable for him to talk at regular rates, since in this case too much money will be spent on negotiations.
How to be in this case? Let's talk briefly about available roaming and options for using it.
- If you want to use European roaming, the subscriber must first contact the office of his mobile operator so that a consultant can help him connect and set up this service.
- This is necessary if the communication service provider does not offer to turn on roaming automatically, that is, immediately after crossing the border.
- The mobile operator acts as a kind of supplier between foreign companies and the subscriber himself.
Of course, fees for such services are sometimes unreasonably high. - For example, an outgoing call from a European country to the Russian Federation using Beeline roaming will cost about 69 rubles per minute. The cost of incoming calls is similar.
- MTS also does not please its customers with low tariffs. For example, when making calls from the territory of the neighboring Finnish state, the subscriber will pay 59 rubles.
- In the case of Beeline and MTS, simpler does not mean cheaper. In this case, you can pay attention to Tele2 and MegaFon, whose tariffs for calls from European countries are more favorable (9 and 16 rubles, respectively).
- In order to save money, a subscriber can try to connect some additional options - for example, the “Zero Without Borders” service from the MTS operator. It will allow you to receive incoming calls for free - however, for a certain fee.
Tourist and local SIM cards
- However, there are others, no less available methods save. For example, a subscriber can buy an international travel SIM card, with which he can make calls from almost any country in the world.
- There are also tourist monocards designed only for calls from certain countries.
- The advantages of all travel SIM cards include multiple uses, favorable tariffs, ease of replenishing the balance (while the money remains in the account) and the absence of fees for incoming calls.
- Of course, such SIM cards also have disadvantages. Among them: absolutely new number and the presence of a charge for forwarding (about 7 rubles every minute). Of course, if the call time is short, this is not very beneficial.
- You can purchase a tourist SIM card in Russia, for example, from Simtravel or Goodline. They often hold various promotions.
- Another way is to purchase a local SIM card. It is more profitable and simpler than the previous one.
- Its disadvantages include the fact that in the absence of sufficient language knowledge and skills, connect to any tariff plan and Additional services It won't be easy.
- This method is suitable, for example, for those who like to travel with a group and often call up with friends, or, if necessary, make frequent calls within the territory of a foreign country.
- Another option is to call on Skype. To make it more economical, it is recommended to connect the application on a laptop or mobile device.
- In this case, you can subscribe within a specific country, or activate payment for outgoing calls upon delivery.
- The disadvantages of connecting using Skype include the need for the Internet. Of course, thanks to the widespread free Wi-Fi in most foreign countries, this would not be too much of a problem today.
If you travel a lot, communication costs can be quite hefty. Today I want to tell you how we save on calls while always staying in touch.
Of course, instead of SMS you can use WhatsApp, and talk on Skype, but this is not always convenient or even possible. Needed for Skype good internet, and you also need to somehow call people on Skype (suddenly they are not online), also, if there is no Internet, you cannot call a bank, insurance or other offices via Skype. In my opinion, using roaming is also not an option, well, except in extreme cases - the amounts there can be fabulous. Especially if you accidentally forget to turn off data transfer on your smartphone, updates will start downloading - you won’t even notice how your balance will go into minus, and you won’t be able to call anywhere.
2. What you need to use
Firstly, you will need a smartphone or iOS to install the application itself. The app is free, you only charge for calls.
Secondly, check and, if necessary, top up the balance (we, for example, immediately had 5 € in our account). This is easy to do directly through the application. We paid by credit card.
Third, it is advisable that the local SIM card (which you buy while traveling) has an Internet connection. Preferably, because V new version In the application, calls can be made without the Internet, through regular mobile communications (although this is not yet available for all countries), or simply via Wi-Fi, i.e. no SIM card at all.
That's all, as you can see, nothing special is required, you can install it right away and start using it.
3. How Roamer works
You can make calls either through a roamer or through a regular calling application. If you call via regular standard application, then the cost of the call is calculated according to the tariff connected to the installed SIM card. The most profitable way is to call local numbers. For example, when we, we often had to call local Thai numbers. With a Thai SIM card, it cost pennies.
And if you need to call another country, then this is where you need to use a roamer. Just launch the application, dial a number (or select a contact - all contacts from address book available there), and the call goes through the roamer.
The main application window looks like this:
A panel with tools slides out on the left, you can view your balance, top it up, and activate your local SIM number:
For example, tariffs for calls from to Russia:
The roamer has several schemes for calls:
1) Via the Internet. In this case, after dialing the number, the roamer sends the subscriber’s number via the Internet to its server, after which the server first dials you, and then the call from the server goes to the subscriber.
And here there is 2 options:
- you have a local SIM card with an Internet connection installed - the Internet is used only to initiate a call, the conversation is already going on over regular mobile networks,
- You don't have a SIM card, but you have Wi-Fi. Here the connection may be worse, depending on the quality of the Internet. The entire call is made only via the Internet. The cost of calls in this case is lower. By the way, even if you have a SIM card, you can choose to have the call go through Wi-Fi.
2) Via mobile network. In this case, after dialing the number, the roamer offers to call through the local roamer number. Therefore, this method is not available in all countries - local roamer numbers are not available everywhere yet (but already in many countries, a list of countries with full support is available on the official website here). The standard calling application is automatically launched, the roamer's number is dialed, and the subscriber's number is transmitted. After this, the roamer makes a call to you and the called party in the same way (as in the case of calls via the Internet).
In practice, you need to get used to the fact that after dialing a number you need to wait for an incoming call, answer it, and then wait for the subscriber to answer. By the way, after you answered incoming call from the roamer, the waiting time for the subscriber to pick up the phone is counted as conversation time, and the money is already debited. And for the subscriber, the incoming call looks like a normal one, the number is determined to be the one you have indicated as home, as if you were calling not from the other side of the world, but from home.
4. Our experience of use
We found out about Roamer shortly before leaving and decided to immediately try how it works. It was still available then old version application, when installing, there was already about 5 € in the account, so it was possible to test it for free. Before leaving, you had to “park” your phone number. This is done right before departure, because... after that, all calls to our number were forwarded to the roamer. That is, the old SIM card could only receive SMS. And the roamer only worked when a local SIM card was connected and the Internet was working. Now they have made it much more convenient, you don’t have to buy a local SIM card, you can make calls via Wi-Fi.
But then, after arriving in Thailand, I received a free SIM card in , threw some money on it, and connected the Internet. Then I registered the Thai SIM card number in the roamer and that’s it - incoming calls to the Moscow number began to be forwarded to the Thai SIM card. If I needed to call Russia, I called through a roamer - the cost of a minute of conversation is only 4 eurocents. If I needed to make a local call, I simply called using a local SIM card. At the same time, I have a Moscow SIM card in a separate phone, and SMS messages come there. When moving to a new country, if we come for more than a week, then we buy a local SIM card, again register the local phone number in the roamer and use cheap call rates. Everything works fine, the connection is good (depending on the location, of course).
A mega convenient thing when you need to resolve some issues with Russia if you are in another country. When Vova, we had to talk a lot, a lot with the insurance company, just then, in a few days of active communication (we were literally hanging on the phone), we spent 5 €, which were in the account, that is, in general it turned out that we communicated for free. Then they added $13 to the account (the minimum amount that can be used to top up the account), in 6 months only $10 was spent, in my opinion, this is just an amazing saving! Of course, you still need to add the cost of local SIM cards with minimal Internet. But in the new roamer, for example, you can make calls without a SIM card at all, via Wi-Fi, so it’s even cheaper.
Initially, I installed a roamer so that I would have my Moscow number, so that I wouldn’t have to send out new numbers to anyone (they still change periodically due to moving), I didn’t even expect that the cost of calls would be almost the same as in Russia, no huge roaming prices. Overall we are happy with the application, I don’t even know how else you can use roaming if there is such a great alternative.
