Today’s realities are such that a huge number of Ukrainians ended up abroad. But it is very important to keep in touch with relatives and friends, as well as to have access to the Internet. Therefore, users are interested in how to activate roaming in foreign countries, what conditions apply and what tariff plans are offered. In today’s article, we will discuss these important issues.
Cancellation of roaming fees for Ukrainians
In autumn, the European Union decided to abolish roaming charges for Ukrainians. The accession of Ukraine to the internal roaming of the EU became known on September 14. This is very important, because millions of people are still in European countries and want to be in touch with their loved ones from Ukraine all the time.
After the abolition of paid roaming, internal EU roaming became available for Ukrainian users. The Europeans themselves also use it: free roaming is valid throughout the EU. For example, a subscriber who was in Germany can call Poland at his own tariff, and he will not be charged additional roaming charges. The same conditions are now available for Ukrainians.
While in roaming, you will only need to pay for your tariff package (monthly subscription fee). No roaming charges are required. For example, in Ukraine you used a tariff for UAH 350 per month, and this amount included unlimited Internet and unlimited calls in the operator’s network. The same conditions will apply to you abroad.
Recall that before the start of the war, roaming charges in the European Union were quite high. However, users who were abroad after February 24 noted that Ukrainian mobile operators do not require roaming charges. All tariff packages worked without surcharges, and this trend will continue.
You may be interested in: Smartphone Radiation (SAR) – Is the harm real?
What conditions apply for Ukrainians abroad in 2022
As we noted above, roaming charges have been abolished. Now let’s look at what terms of use provide specific operators. Let’s discuss the three largest Ukrainian operators – Kyivstar, Vodafone and lifecell.
Kyivstar
This operator provides the service “Roaming like at home”. The amount of payment and the tariff package remain the same as in Ukraine. Please note that free roaming is not valid worldwide, but only in 30 countries. Namely: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Netherlands, Greece, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Croatia, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden , Moldova, UK, Portugal, Egypt, Luxembourg and Estonia.
If the country is not in the above list, it means that standard paid roaming applies to it. Kyivstar warns that free roaming will not always work, but the end date is unknown. Most likely, until the end of the war, such conditions will definitely remain.
You can easily move from one country to another, and the tariff package will continue to work. Free roaming is activated as soon as you cross the border. When returning to Ukraine, no special manipulations are also needed: roaming will be turned off automatically, and you will switch to the usual use of the tariff.
Vodafone
The conditions of the Vodafone operator are different, but they are also favorable. The service is called “Affordable roaming”, and it is free of charge if the basic tariff is connected. For a month you get:
10 GB of internet; 250 minutes for calls within the Vodafone network; 50 minutes for calls to the networks of other operators (Ukrainian numbers and numbers of the country in which you are located); 100 pieces of SMS; 50 minutes for incoming calls.
The “Affordable Roaming” service works in the following countries: Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary, Greece, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Italy, Spain, Canada, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, France, Finland, Croatia, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Sweden.
After the exhaustion of the above packages with services, the basic billing will be activated. You can get acquainted with it on the official page of Vodafone.
To activate the “Affordable roaming” service, you need to enter the code *600*6#. The standard tariff must already be connected in advance. To check the balance, you need to type the command *600*61#.
Please note that roaming is connected only once a month. Additionally, you can still activate the service “GigaRoaming”, “GigaRoamingMax” or “GigaRoamingUltra”, but they are already paid. Free roaming will be enough for basic use: you can call your family periodically, as well as visit the web pages.
Lifecell
Unfortunately, the conditions of this operator are not as favorable as those of Kyivstar. But Lifecell is used by a large number of users, and after arriving abroad they do not have the opportunity to purchase another Ukrainian SIM card and change their mobile operator.
Until the end of 2022, lifecell has a promotion “Gigabytes without borders”. The user only needs to top up his standard tariff, and he will be able to use the Internet abroad on the same terms as in Ukraine.
The service is valid in the following countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, Great Britain, Hungary, Greece, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Romania, North Macedonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Turkey, France, Croatia, Montenegro, Switzerland and Sweden.
You don’t need to activate Gigabytes Without Borders roaming separately. It is activated automatically after paying the basic tariff.
Also from free offers there is a service “Incoming calls without additional charge”. It is enough to connect your regular tariff, and you can receive incoming calls for free. The offer is valid only for 12 countries: Bulgaria, Belgium, Greece, Spain, Luxembourg, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, France and Croatia. The promotion is valid until December 31, 2022.
What to do if roaming connection is not working
Most often, roaming problems arise due to incorrectly set settings on the mobile device. You need to go to the “Mobile networks” section and activate the “Data in roaming” line.
If you can’t make and receive calls, you need to open the “Network operators” item and turn on the “Select automatically” slider. Mobile communication still does not work – then try to manually select the appropriate operator.
Note! The quality of communication abroad can be much worse than in Ukraine. It is also possible that the internet speed will slow down.
How to disable roaming
After returning to Ukraine, roaming is disabled automatically. If you want to turn it off yourself, go to your smartphone settings and simply deactivate the “Data roaming” checkbox. You can also contact your carrier and ask them to deactivate the service.
Please note that the Ukrainian tariff package will not work abroad if roaming is disabled. Alternatively, you can purchase a SIM card from a European mobile operator and activate a local tariff. But the prices there are much higher than the Ukrainian tariffs.
See also: What is LTE + technology for and what is the difference from LTE.
Now you know what roaming conditions are provided by Ukrainian mobile operators, how to activate the free service and what data package you will receive. Write in the comments which roaming you consider the most profitable.
Author: Alina Nikitina Publication date: 11/30/2022
