Comparison of cell phone plans in Russia

As already indicated in the article about cell phone plans in Russia, I wanted to compare the plans of different mobile phone operators, so that a visitor of Saint Petersburg can easily estimate what plan will be the best for him. Therefore the table below summarizes the information from the 9th of December 2016. I explicitly mention the date because the operator adapt their plans quickly. For example when I arrived in Saint Petersburg the provider Rostelecom had a different portfolio which now is adapted to that one of Tele2. But even if the tariffs change, I am convinced that this table gives you nevertheless an orientation of what you can get for your money. Corresponding to their prices the different mobile phone plans are arranged in the table.

Remarks

While reading the table, the comment “in SPB” means that calls or SMS are only available in Saint Petersburg and/or in the appropriate oblast. Mostly there is no statement if the data volume can be used in another oblast, but I suppose yes. In case the contract is signed in another city than Saint Petersburg you should replace “SPB” by the equivalent city, like Moscow. Apparently the operator Beeline has a special offer in which you get for the first months a huge amount of data, but this offer is only available until February 2017. Since every operator has some special options for calls or text messages within the same mobile phone network, it might be advantageous to have the same operator as your friends have. And by the way, don’t forget your passport when you sign up one of the cell phone plans in Russia.

Maxim, currently studying Russian at Liden & Denz St. Petersburg