Surely everyone has seen the MTS advertisement that the mobile operator has now canceled any borders within the country and now you can travel to any region without roaming. Great, isn't it? You can easily move from Vladivostok to Moscow, and you don't need to buy a separate SIM card to make cheaper calls. But have borders really disappeared? Let's figure out what the MTS "United Country" tariff is, what is the catch of this seemingly profitable promotion.
What does the "Single Country" option suggest
In one interview, MTS Marketing Director Vyacheslav Nikolaev explained the importance of the connected promotion. In 2014, after a sharp rise in the dollar, many residents of the country refused to travel abroad, preferring domestic resorts. The increase in the number of people moving within the country leads to an increase in the income of operators. DueWith the new promotion, MTS hopes to "talk" old customers and attract new ones.
Service "United Country" (MTS), description
The operator offers all its subscribers not to pay in roaming for incoming calls. Thus, the price for each minute of the received call is 0 rubles. It is also completely free to join.
Unlike other operators who charge a monthly fee for each day of using this or that service in roaming, MTS does not have this. Provides "United Country" (MTS) the cost of outgoing calls within the network, which is 8.90 rubles per minute.
According to the representatives of the company, this is much less than that of the closest competitors. Thus, for Tele 2, the cost of one minute of a received call is 5 rubles, and for Megafon, it is almost 10.
Connection
Available to all subscribers of MTS "United Country". How to activate the service, we will understand further.
There are two ways in total:
- With the help of a personal account. To do this, you need to go to the site and enter the subscriber's personal page. This is done very simply, you just need a phone to which an SMS with a code will come. Enter it in the appropriate field, and you will immediately enter the page. In the "Tariffs and Promotions" section, you can find the MTS entry "United Country". How to connect the service, further questions should not arise. You simply click on the button and agree to its provision.
- Secondway - you can dial a combination of numbers on the phone and then follow the prompts. Code 808 and then a call, or the second option - 111808 call.
How to disable the service
Disconnection occurs in the same ways as the connection. That is, you can either enter your page on the site, or dial combinations 808 and 111808.
MTS, United Country: what's the catch?
As you know, free cheese is only in a mousetrap. Do you think that roaming in the regions has really been canceled now? In fact, no one has done this and is unlikely to do it, because for operators traveling people across Russia is a considerable source of income. The tariff "United Country" (MTS) only at first glance seems so tempting.
At the beginning of last year, the mobile operator "Skartel" from Yota complained to the Antimonopoly Service that the mobile MTS misleads its customers. Their advertisement "We canceled roaming" is perceived by the common man with a real conviction that there are no borders now. Although in fact, no one has canceled anything. When moving to another region, you can not pay for incoming calls, but for outgoing calls, the price increases. When there is no roaming, the tariff should remain unchanged.
Another confirmation of the fact that roaming has remained is the action connection function. After all, if there is no roaming, why connect something? And here you need to take a number of actions.
According to Yota, Skartel is the only operator that untilMTS did not charge for incoming calls in other regions. Thus, the question "MTS (United Country) - what's the catch?" receives a response that the operator did not cancel the borders, this is just a commercial misleading users.
Read the fine print carefully
You can connect the service to all tariff plans, both current and those in the archive. But! There is a whole list of new packages for which the "United Country" MTS option is already provided automatically. And you can't refuse it. Thus, if you want to save money by connecting "Everywhere at home", then you will not be able to do this. Use what they give, as they say.
Do you think that paying has really become more profitable? Go to the MTS website and carefully re-read the terms of service.
With the first point, everything is clear. The Single Country (MTS) option is valid outside the home region. The second is also beyond doubt - the cost is regulated by the current basic tariffs (recall, 8.90 rubles per minute). And here is the third one! When you activate the "United Country" service, all other promotions that help you save money in roaming are automatically reset to zero.
Except for United Country, MTS has no more roaming offers left. "All regions of MTS Russia" cannot be connected since 2009, that is, if you managed to do this, then maybe it is beneficial for you to leave everythingas is, and should not be switched. And "Everywhere at Home" was blocked at the end of 2014.
Counting profit
Let's remember once again the tariff "United Country" MTS.
| Outgoing calls | 8, 90 rub. |
| Incoming calls | 0, 0 rub. |
| Subscriber fee | 0, 0 rub. |
| Connection cost | 0, 0 rub. |
Other operators also have very interesting offers. For example, "Megafon" implements the service "All Russia". Here is a price table.
| Outgoing calls | 3, 00 rub. |
| Incoming calls | 0, 0 rub. |
| Subscriber fee | 7, 00 RUB/night |
| Connection cost | 0, 0 rub. |
"Tele2" also offers its subscribers very favorable conditions in roaming.
| Outgoing calls | 2, 50 rub. |
| Incoming calls | 0, 0 rub. |
| Subscriber fee | 5, 00 RUB/night |
| Connection cost | 0, 0 rub. |
So claim that MTScancels roaming, the company simply does not have the right. Other operators offer equally favorable rates, but advertise them more modestly.
Internet is different
We cannot do without the World Wide Web now. And let telephone communication maintain its leading position for a long time due to the fact that it is still more convenient to make calls than to correspond, and operators will receive income from this, but, as the realities of our time show, calling using applications such as Skype or WatsUp is becoming more and more popular and profitable.
Let's get back to roaming. When you move out of your home region, prices go up for more than just calls. Internet access becomes more problematic. Let's take a look at our favorite operators again.
MTS ("United Country") offers a price of 9.90 per megabyte. That is, not only will you pay big money for a conversation (just imagine, some 10 minutes to say: "Hello, how are you" will cost 89 rubles) and plus 10 rubles per megabyte. For you to understand, 10 minutes of watching news on social networks will eat up at least 50 megabytes from you. What if you start texting? Or Skype with a video call?
No one claims that Internet access in roaming is cheaper with other operators. But you can find some pretty good deals. Megafon has the option "Everything is at home". Pay 39 rubles per day and enjoy all the benefits of your tariff plan as if you never left your region. The same operator in corporate SIM cards has free access to 300megabytes of Internet outside the home zone.
Conclusion
Dealing with the question "MTS ("United Country") - what's the catch?", we came to this conclusion. If you have been using the services of this operator for a long time, then, in principle, you have no choice. You will either activate this option and enjoy your trip, or you will look for a new SIM card of the region where you arrived. But if you are used to Megafon, Tele 2, Beeline or another operator, then you should not change it to an "attractive offer from MTS". Not so attractive.
