MAKING PHONE CALLS IN THE UKRAINE
When you are writing content for your website it is sometimes hard to come up with a good title or a topic to write about. Yesterday, when I was meeting a client at Borispol Intl. Airport a few good topics came to my mind. "Making telephone calls in the Ukraine: local mobile providers" is the first one of them. To quality for a good article, it must bring some value to its readers. So, the next logical question is:
WHO SHOULD READ THIS ARTICLE?
This article might be useful to foreigners who are already in the Ukraine, or are planning to travel to our country. It is most likely that you will need to make at least a few telephone calls while in the Ukraine. So, this article aims to help you do just that, plus to save you a dollar or two. Let us move on to the next question:
SHOULD I BOTHER BUYING A UKRAINIAN SIM CARD?
To give you an answer to this question I will need you first to answer a few of mine:
- Do you have a cell (mobile) phone?
- Will you be brining it with you to the Ukraine?
- Are you planning to make at least a few calls when in the Ukraine?
If you answered "yes" to all of the questions above, then yes, I advise you to buy one.
WHAT MOBILE PROVIDERS ARE THERE TO CHOOSE FROM?
There are quite a few of them you can choose from. Let's list the major ones:
- KyivStar
- MTC
- Beeline
- Life
Listed above are the most used mobile providers in the Ukraine.
WHICH IS THE CHEAPEST MOBILE PROVIDER FROM THOSE LISTED?
It is hard to name the cheapest one. It all depends on whom you are going to call while you are in the Ukraine. The best rule of a thumb to follow is this: ask your friends in the Ukraine what kind of mobile operators they are using. If most of them use Beeline, then you should buy yourself a SIM card from the Beeline. If most of them are on MTC, then get yourself MTC. And so forth.
Why is it like that? Well, normally, the calls in the same network are really cheap. So, if you are on Life, it can cost you almost nothing to call to another person who is also on Life, but can cost you quite a bit if you are trying to call someone on KyivStart. And it is the same with every single mobile provider in the Ukraine.
WHICH MOBILE PROVIDER HAS THE BEST NETWORK COVERAGE?
It is believed by the status quo of people in our country that KyivStar is a mobile provider with the best and probably biggest network coverage. And that means that irregardless of your whereabouts there won't be a moment when you have "no bars" on your phone.
WHERE DO I BUY A SIM CARD IN THE UKRAINE?
Now that you know a SIM card of which mobile provider you would like to buy, it is time to actually buy it. You can get one in almost any store where they sell mobile phones. Just ask for the one you are interested it and hopefully they will have it.
Also, depending on the city you are visiting, there may be specialized stores of those mobile providers, which will obviously cell SIM cards, or like we call them here, mobile packages.
HAVING BOUGHT A SIM CARD, HOW DO I USE IT?
To use it, you should simply insert it into a slot of your mobile phone, provided that you have it. Afterwards, you will be asked to enter a special number, which is called a PIN code. To find out what it is simply have a look at your SIM card's package. It should be there. Usually it consists of 4 digits and can be as simple as 0000 or 1111.
To call someone, you would usually need to put some money on your SIM card. You can do this by purchasing a top-up card with some amount of money on it. Their denominations may vary depending on the mobile provider you have selected. For example, for Beeline, you can buy a top-up card for as little as 5 UAH. Most of the time a sales clerk will charge you 1 UAH more, so you will have to pay 6 UAH for a 5 UAH top-up card. The same applies for greater denominations of top-up cards.
In the paragraph above I mentioned that you would "usually" need to put some money on your SIM card to be able to make calls from your phone. The word "usually" implies that there might be an exception. Mobile providers may sell SIM cards with already some top-up money on them.
HOW DO I ACTIVATE A TOP-UP CARD?
Please, have a look at the top-up card itself. It should have instructions on how to use it. Although the instructions on using a top-up card will most likely be either in Russian or Ukrainian, there is still a way for you to figure out the correct order of characters that you need to type to activate it (to have the money put on your SIM card). You will need to use a coin or another sharp object to scratch the hidden sequence of characters that must be entered to activate the top-up card. Having activated the top-up card, please wait for a minute or so. An SMS (text) message will be sent to you, which is a notification that money has been added to your phone.
HOW DO I CALL OTHER PEOPLE?
If you have beel following my instructions and reached this far, then I have done some great job. Let me tackle the last question. So, how do we call other people when we are in the Ukraine. If you are using a Ukrainian SIM card and calling someone in the Ukraine, you no longer need to enter the "+38", since that is the international code for the Ukraine. Let's say that you want to call me. My number, at least as it is written on this website, is this: +38 068 153 4984. If you are somewhere outside of the Ukraine, like in the States, then you will have to enter the whole thing and dial. But if you are in the Ukraine and calling from a SIM card of one of our domestic mobile operators, then you should simply be dialing 068 153 4984 and you will reach me!
Let me break down my number. The "068" part is the code for Beeline. So, yes, I am on Beeline and if you will be calling me frequently while you are in the Ukraine, then I recommend you purchase a SIM card of Beeline. The characters after the Beeline code is the actual number.
HAVE I MISSED ANYTHING?
Hopefully not. But if I have, you can email me at aleks.kravchenko@gmail.com and I will gladly answer to your questions.
