Using Cell Phones in Russia Posted by Maria on May 11, 2015 in Russian for beginners, when in Russia
If you are traveling to Russia or staying there for a long time, you probably want to keep in touch with your friends back home. Besides Skype and other similar programs, cell phones are an important tool for staying in touch.
No Strings Attached
Almost everyone in (urban) Russia has a mobile phone (моби́льный телефо́н or со́товый телефо́н). Older people may not know how to text (посыла́ть СМС), but they can still make calls (звони́ть). People in Russia have what’s called unlocked phones, meaning you can open the back of the phone and insert or take out your carrier’s (опера́тор) SIM card (сим-ка́рта). That also means that most people are not locked in to a single carrier and can switch the SIM card at any point they choose to hop carriers. In fact, it’s a selling point for cell phone plans (тари́ф) to be “без абоне́нтской пла́ты” (literally, “without a subscription fee,” meaning pay as you go).
Refilling Account
There are three main carriers in Russia – МТС, Била́йн, and Мегафо́н. You have a certain fee schedule and load a certain amount of money, which you use up according to your usage. To “top up” is заплати́ть за телефо́н, положи́ть де́ньги на телефо́н or technically попо́лнить счёт. You don’t say things like buy minutes. Your cell phone balance (бала́нс) can be used to pay for a number of things, from subway passes to deliveries.
Leave A Message
Once you get your Russian cell phone, you may want to set up your voicemail (автоотве́тчик). A typical message goes along the lines of “Здра́вствуйте, вы позвони́ли в компа́нию…/по но́меру… В настоя́щее вре́мя мы не мо́жем/я не могу́ отве́тить на ваш звоно́к, пожа́луйста, оста́вьте сообще́ние по́сле сигна́ла” (Hello, you have reached company…/number… Currently we/I cannot answer your call, please leave a message after the beep). Mind that some Russians will not be comfortable divulging personal information such as their names and may not record a voicemail greeting at all.
Any other useful tips?
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About the Author: Maria
Maria is a Russian-born translator from Western New York. She is excited to share her fascination with all things Russian on this blog. Maria's professional updates are available in English on her website and Twitter and in Russian on Telegram.
Comments:
Lucas:
I’ve lived in Russia 5+ years and never met a person who had voicemail. There are some businesses who have it set up, but I’ve found that to be rare as well. The general rule seems to be that if you miss a call on your cell phone, you are expected to return the call.
As always, thanks for the great blogs!
Maria:
@Lucas Lucas, interesting! My family had one for our landline, and I had one for my cell phone, but I didn’t have a greeting recorded by me, so callers would just hear the default greeting.
Bob:
A few observations based on my two trips to St. Petersburg several years ago:
1) You can purchase a Russian SIM card here from several places in the US. However, be aware of the ‘locality’ of the number. The Megaphone SIM cards I got had a Moscow number, but because I was in St. Petersburg, I was ‘roaming’ and had to pay higher rates for calling and texting. This may no longer be true, but check it out.
2) If you’re a foreigner, be prepared to show your passport when buying a SIM card or phone in Russia. Once that’s done, topping up is a simple matter of going to a store or kiosk, filling out a small form with your phone number and how much money you want to add, give the clerk your form and money, and the money is on your phone account within minutes.
3) Although it probably goes without saying, if you want to use your US phone in Russia, it must be a GSM or LTE phone. If you have a CDMA phone (older Verizon or Sprint), you’re out of luck.
In addition, your phone must be ‘unlocked’; that is, it must be capable of accepting SIM cards from carriers other than the one you’re using now. Check with your carrier to make sure your phone is unlocked, or have them tell you how if it isn’t.
Maria:
@Bob Bob, all great additions. There are now more options for topping up, including ATMs and touchscreen payment terminals, which I suspect is a relief for people anxious about talking to stern Russian store clerks. 🙂
tim:
I am currently in Russia and have purchased a Russian cell phone. I am hearing that when people call from the US, they are hearing a ringing, a Russian voicemail greeting, and then an English voicemail.
Is it defaulted on my Russian cell phone that a Russian greeting will be there first?
Maria:
@tim Tim, that’s probably it. It’s usually a prerecorded message saying something like “the subscriber is not available” (perhaps “Абонент недоступен или находится вне зоны действия сети. Оставьте сообщение после сигнала”). Perhaps you could ask your carrier if they can have an English-only message for your line, although that may not be possible.