Win mobile internet. Mobile communications in Crimea and Sevastopol: compare prices

The mysterious cellular operator WIN mobile (“K-Telecom”) successfully launched in Crimea and already serves more than a million subscribers. Almost 1,500 base stations have been announced on the territory of the peninsula, and the new operator even has its own website, contact center telephone numbers and the first public tariff.

Simultaneously with the start of work of WIN mobile in Crimea, MTS-Ukraine stopped working. More precisely, a little earlier: first, on August 5, communications were cut off at MTS Ukraine in Simferopol, and a day later (August 7), MTS-Ukraine officially announced the cessation of work in Crimea “due to technical problems impeding the provision of mobile communication services.” In fact, there was an unexpected (more precisely, previously announced) shutdown of MTS Ukraine and an almost simultaneous switching on of the WIN mobile network.

Passion-face

On August 5, a wonderful report appeared on the RBC website about the events in the Kiev office of MTS-Ukraine, I simply have to quote it:

“Today, Ukrainian security forces with machine guns came to the Kiev office of MTS-Ukraine and accused the operator of separatism and supporting the enemy, a source close to MTS-Ukraine told RBC. According to him, the security forces wanted to disconnect the entire Crimea, but at first only Simferopol was disconnected. The source claims that Ukrainian security forces reacted nervously to the crossing of a group of 400 Ukrainian military personnel into Russia at the Gukovo border checkpoint in the Rostov region.”

I can well imagine the central office of the operator, and inside there is a large “Shutdown” stand with red buttons and the names of settlements. The security forces scratched their heads with the barrels of their machine guns and decided to first press the “Simferopol” button, then left with a promise to return and continue pressing the other red buttons.

The next day, news about the boarding of the red button was posted on the MTS-Ukraine website, quote:

“Dear subscribers!

What happened yesterday and continues to happen in Crimea with communications was a complete surprise for both the MTS Ukraine company and its Crimean subscribers. The company actually lost the opportunity to manage an important hub facility, which is responsible for providing communication services in Simferopol. It was disconnected from our network from the outside. The shutdown of equipment and the lack of communication among residents of a city of many thousands led to massive discontent and indignation of people, which, obviously, explains the unconvincing attempts to blame the Ukrainian operator for what is happening.”

But there was no need to place red buttons in the central Kiev office that any nervous security officer with a machine gun could press. Then there will be no “complete surprises” with “disconnection from the outside.” Make something similar to a “nuclear suitcase” or something. There is little funny in all this, but there are even fewer surprises.

It turns out that Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea Dmitry Polonsky spoke about the upcoming shutdown of cellular communications in Crimea on August 5 on Saturday, August 2; this message was quoted by several news agencies. For example, the Ukrainian “Delo”, quote:

“The Crimean authorities expect to disconnect Ukrainian mobile operators in the region on Tuesday, August 5, and recommend that the population buy and activate cards from Russian mobile operators.

“I have information from representatives of Ukrainian mobile networks that next week, approximately on Tuesday, service to subscribers in Crimea will be stopped. I can’t say yet whether these will be disconnections for subscribers of all mobile networks or individual operators, but we have such information,” Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea Dmitry Polonsky, who combines his post with the post of Minister of Information and Communications, told Interfax.

According to him, residents of the Republic of Crimea have purchased about 700 thousand SIM cards from Russian mobile operators to date. “We recommend activating Russian SIM cards before Tuesday so as not to be left without mobile communications,” Polonsky said.”

I am far from suggesting that Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea Dmitry Polonsky commands the Ukrainian security forces in Kyiv, and “was there a boy” with a machine gun? In any case, there was definitely no “complete surprise”.

Background

The mysterious Russian company K-Telecom was registered in Krasnodar on May 23. According to the Vedomosti publication, www.vedomosti.ru

“... within a week after registration, K-Telecom received from the State Commission on Radio Frequencies (SCRF) GSM frequencies of MTS in Crimea - interlocutors close to SCRF told Vedomosti about this. The company was registered by private travel consultant Anna Berezkina, after which K-Telecom changed its owner twice - first it became Nikolai Balashov, and at the end of June - the Armenian CJSC Cell Group Worldwide Holding (according to the register of legal entities of Armenia, it belongs to the Cell Group company Worldwide ltd with unknown jurisdiction). The company K-Telecom CJSC also operates in Armenia - this is the local subsidiary of MTS. MTS also has a Russian “daughter” with the same name. MTS representatives say that the operator has nothing to do with K-Telecom operating in Crimea.

K-Telecom began operating in Crimea on MTS-Ukraine frequencies; its Russian switch was inaugurated during a meeting on the development of communications in Crimea led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The operator already has 1,500 base stations built and ready for operation in Crimea, which will provide coverage of the entire peninsula. The operator is called WIN mobile. You can find out more about it on the website.

I'm not trying to claim anything, but if a bird looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck, and bakes well with apples, then it is most likely a duck, and not some pink flamingo from distant lands. In the current situation in Ukraine, the position of the “daughter” of the Russian operator is quite difficult: on the one hand, it is impossible to quarrel with the authorities, and it is difficult to predict their behavior. On the other hand, the corporation itself may run into sanctions from the United States and Europe. On the third hand, it is undesirable to switch all voice communications and data transmission through Ukrainian switches for security reasons; with a 95% probability, security forces have full access to all information. One way or another, the job is done and MTS-Ukraine subscribers will most likely be served in full or technical roaming mode.

Rates

To date, WIN Mobile still offers its subscribers only one tariff, “Freedom of Communication”. In its ideology and structure it resembles the “Super MTS” tariff: for a subscription fee of 2 rubles. per day they give 30 daily free minutes within the network, calls to all other operators in the Krasnodar region and to MTS-Ukraine for 2.50 rubles per minute.

There are options “My Russia” and “My Ukraine” for a separate subscription fee; when connecting to “My Russia”, calls to the Russian MTS network are also 2.5 rubles/min. In general, those interested can download a pdf description of the tariff.

We do not yet know what the fate of the remaining operators will be. But everything should become clear soon enough. In any case, the peninsula will not be left without 3G, and everything will work out with voice communications. The transition period is always fraught with temporary inconveniences.

UPDATE

That's all, the puzzle has finally come together and today (August 7) ​​in the evening MTS-Ukraine SIM cards started working in Crimea. An implementation option is technical roaming in the WIN Mobile network, who would doubt it.

Good people have already posted the prices at which MTS-Ukraine subscribers will be served in the Crimean WIN mobile network, see the screenshot above. By the way, in my opinion, the name VNC mobile would look more logical than WIN mobile. Guess why (smiley).

Although Crimea is now part of Russia, mobile communications there do not work the same as in other parts of our country. In Crimea there are no Beeline, Megafon, MTS, Tele2, Yota networks, but there are Win Mobile, Krymtelecom, Volna Mobile networks, so all SIM cards of Russian operators operate in roaming mode in Crimea.

For all Russian operators, except MTS, roaming in Crimea is quite expensive - calls, SMS and megabytes of traffic cost 5-10 rubles. MTS package tariffs, operating throughout Russia, also work in Crimea through Win mobile roaming. There is no additional charge, but there is one unpleasant feature - MTS free roaming only works in 2G mode. Internet speed is on average 0.1 Mbit/sec.

Win Mobile has 3G and 4G networks, but for some reason MTS is only allowed on 2G. Apparently, that's what they agreed on.

I asked several residents of Crimea and even SIM card sellers about mobile networks in Crimea, but to my surprise they knew nothing, talking only about MTS. I had to figure it out myself.

In Yalta, the networks of three operators are caught.

In the Internet S Tariff Plan, 100 MB of traffic costs 5 rubles. The “Youth” tariff plan has a subscription fee of 100 rubles per month, which includes 3 GB of traffic and unlimited calls to Krymtelecom numbers. Calls to Russian phones - 5 rubles per minute, SMS - 2 rubles.

The third network 25060 2G/3G belongs to the operator Volna Mobile (KTK-Telecom), which has not yet launched.

The cheapest option from MTS is a tariff with the strange name MTS Smart Unlimited, a SIM card with which you can buy in Moscow for 200 rubles. Every day in the first month, 12.9 rubles will be debited, for which you will get unlimited Internet, 200 minutes and 200 SMS per month. Upon return, the tariff can be changed to any tariff without a subscription fee, for example Super MTS. Let me remind you once again that the Internet in Crimea with this SIM card will be very slow - only 2G.

P.s. Important advice. If it doesn't work for you in roaming Mobile Internet, even though everything is configured correctly, just turn off the phone (do not put it in airplane mode, do not overload), wait a minute and turn it on again.

2016, Alexey Nadezhin

: talked about top operators, popular tariffs and prices, and also gave useful practical advice.

Before the reunification of Crimea with Russia, there were 3 Ukrainian operators operating on the peninsula, which served about 3 million subscribers (up to 4.5 million during the tourist season).

In August 2014, Ukrainian mobile communications began to leave Crimea. In September of the same year, MTS-Ukraine, through the WinMobile network (the brand owner is the K-Telecom company), connected technical roaming, which worked until the end of 2014 only in large cities.

The first Crimean operator “Win ​​mobile”(code +7-978-9) appeared on the peninsula on August 5, 2014 and began providing services in the GSM standard. A little earlier, MTS Krasnodar SIM cards (code +7-978) began to be imported in large quantities. According to the head office, the company does not operate directly on the peninsula (it uses the Win mobile network to provide technical roaming).

In 2016, 2 more operators appeared on the peninsula: in February - state-owned Krymtelecom (owned by the Ministry of Information and Communications of Crimea; code +7-978-40), and in June - Volna Mobile (owned by KTK-Telecom; code +7-978-5).

Important! Krymtelecom does not serve the territory of Sevastopol, where it has its own operator Sevmobile (code +7-978-254 / +7-978-300).

Tele2, Beeline and Megafon in Crimea operate through the towers of local operators, using technical roaming in the same way as MTS. Some stores sell “gray” SIM cards, but there are significantly fewer subscribers of these companies on the peninsula.

Starter package price and connection quality

The Sevmobile starter package costs 100 rubles. The company offers 6 tariff plans. However, Sevmobile is suitable mainly for residents of Sevastopol, who rarely travel outside the city. National roaming operates on the territory of the Republic, and you have to turn it on manually.

Tariffs of Crimean telecom operators

Roaming: The cost of national roaming for all operators is on average 10 rubles/min. and 10 rub./MB. International roaming: from 30 rub./min. (CIS) up to 70 rub./min. (far abroad).

Crimeans also provide a wide range of services for corporate clients.

Important! The most convenient tariff for MTS Krasnodar subscribers on the peninsula is “Super MTS”.

"Megaphone" offers its subscribers the “Crimea” option: for 15 rubles/day, incoming calls will be free, outgoing calls within Russia and 1 MB of Internet will cost 5 rubles/min. ATTENTION, to use the “Crimea” option, you must connect to the K-Telecom network; the network will be displayed on the screen as “WIN”, “RUS 32” or “25032” (in Sevastopol “RUS33”).

Beeline (via the WIN network) and Tele2 (via the Volna Mobile network) operate according to a similar scheme. The best option for Beeline subscribers - use the “Most profitable internet in roaming” or “Internet roaming week”. "Tele2" offers a service “It’s like home in Crimea”.

Interesting! The prices of the “Big Four” are almost the same.

All operators in Crimea provide services of comparable quality and price. Somehow you won’t be able to outwit mobile communications on the peninsula; to reduce the cost of using it, follow simple tips.