{"id":7806,"date":"2015-05-11T07:20:54","date_gmt":"2015-05-11T07:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=7806"},"modified":"2018-08-15T18:02:39","modified_gmt":"2018-08-15T18:02:39","slug":"using-cell-phones-in-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/using-cell-phones-in-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Cell Phones in Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<h2>No Strings Attached<\/h2>\n<p>Almost everyone in (urban) Russia has a mobile phone (<strong>\u043c\u043e\u0431\u0438\u0301\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u0442\u0435\u043b\u0435\u0444\u043e\u0301\u043d<\/strong> or <strong>\u0441\u043e\u0301\u0442\u043e\u0432\u044b\u0439 \u0442\u0435\u043b\u0435\u0444\u043e\u0301\u043d<\/strong>). Older people may not know how to text (<strong>\u043f\u043e\u0441\u044b\u043b\u0430\u0301\u0442\u044c \u0421\u041c\u0421<\/strong>), but they can still make calls (<strong>\u0437\u0432\u043e\u043d\u0438\u0301\u0442\u044c<\/strong>). People in Russia have what&#8217;s called unlocked phones, meaning you can open the back of the phone and insert or take out your carrier&#8217;s (<strong>\u043e\u043f\u0435\u0440\u0430\u0301\u0442\u043e\u0440<\/strong>) SIM card (<strong>\u0441\u0438\u043c-\u043a\u0430\u0301\u0440\u0442\u0430<\/strong>). That also means that most people are not locked in to a single carrier and can switch the SIM\u00a0card at any point they choose to hop carriers. In fact, it&#8217;s a selling point for cell phone plans (<strong>\u0442\u0430\u0440\u0438\u0301\u0444<\/strong>) to be &#8220;<strong>\u0431\u0435\u0437 \u0430\u0431\u043e\u043d\u0435\u0301\u043d\u0442\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u043f\u043b\u0430\u0301\u0442\u044b<\/strong>&#8221; (literally, &#8220;without a subscription fee,&#8221; meaning pay as you go).<\/p>\n<h2>Refilling Account<\/h2>\n<p>There are three main carriers in Russia &#8211; \u041c\u0422\u0421, \u0411\u0438\u043b\u0430\u0301\u0439\u043d, and \u041c\u0435\u0433\u0430\u0444\u043e\u0301\u043d. You have a certain fee schedule and load a certain amount of money, which you use up according to your usage. To &#8220;top up&#8221; is <strong>\u0437\u0430\u043f\u043b\u0430\u0442\u0438\u0301\u0442\u044c \u0437\u0430 \u0442\u0435\u043b\u0435\u0444\u043e\u0301\u043d,\u00a0<\/strong><strong>\u043f\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0436\u0438\u0301\u0442\u044c \u0434\u0435\u0301\u043d\u044c\u0433\u0438 \u043d\u0430 \u0442\u0435\u043b\u0435\u0444\u043e\u0301\u043d <\/strong>or technically <strong>\u043f\u043e\u043f\u043e\u0301\u043b\u043d\u0438\u0442\u044c \u0441\u0447\u0451\u0442<\/strong>. You don&#8217;t say things like buy minutes. Your cell phone balance (<strong>\u0431\u0430\u043b\u0430\u0301\u043d\u0441<\/strong>) can be used to <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/e-commerce-in-russia\/\">pay for a number of things<\/a>, from subway passes to deliveries.<\/p>\n<h2>Leave A Message<\/h2>\n<p>Once you get your Russian cell phone, you may want to set up your voicemail (<strong>\u0430\u0432\u0442\u043e\u043e\u0442\u0432\u0435\u0301\u0442\u0447\u0438\u043a<\/strong>). A typical message goes along the lines of &#8220;<strong>\u0417\u0434\u0440\u0430\u0301\u0432\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0443\u0439\u0442\u0435, \u0432\u044b \u043f\u043e\u0437\u0432\u043e\u043d\u0438\u0301\u043b\u0438 \u0432 \u043a\u043e\u043c\u043f\u0430\u0301\u043d\u0438\u044e\u2026\/\u043f\u043e \u043d\u043e\u0301\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0443\u2026 \u0412 \u043d\u0430\u0441\u0442\u043e\u044f\u0301\u0449\u0435\u0435 \u0432\u0440\u0435\u0301\u043c\u044f \u043c\u044b \u043d\u0435 \u043c\u043e\u0301\u0436\u0435\u043c\/\u044f \u043d\u0435 \u043c\u043e\u0433\u0443\u0301 \u043e\u0442\u0432\u0435\u0301\u0442\u0438\u0442\u044c \u043d\u0430 \u0432\u0430\u0448 \u0437\u0432\u043e\u043d\u043e\u0301\u043a, \u043f\u043e\u0436\u0430\u0301\u043b\u0443\u0439\u0441\u0442\u0430, \u043e\u0441\u0442\u0430\u0301\u0432\u044c\u0442\u0435 \u0441\u043e\u043e\u0431\u0449\u0435\u0301\u043d\u0438\u0435 \u043f\u043e\u0301\u0441\u043b\u0435 \u0441\u0438\u0433\u043d\u0430\u0301\u043b\u0430<\/strong>&#8221; (Hello, you have reached company\u2026\/number\u2026 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.<\/p>\n<p>Any other useful tips?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 (\u043c\u043e\u0431\u0438\u0301\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b\u0439&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/using-cell-phones-in-russia\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[7828,7826],"tags":[362373,385601],"class_list":["post-7806","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-russian-for-beginners","category-when-in-russia","tag-cell-phones","tag-mobile-phone"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7806"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11047,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7806\/revisions\/11047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}