Is Vodafone UA serious about these roaming rates?
 

Hi from prepaid Data Wiki.

In the Ukraine MTS has recently adopted the "Vodafone" brand. This is done presumably to conceal its Russian origin, which is not so popular in many parts of the Ukraine right now.
They follow a risky strategy: in the West they are now branded "Vodafone", in the East ("areas not under the control of the Ukranian army") they are still sold as MTS (MTC in Russian).

But what do you think about their roaming rates:
They sell roaming packages for all Vodafone-branded networks in Europe:
Link in English: https://www.vodafone.ua/en/personal/roaming/prepaid

So that's 500 MB roaming data for 90 UAH = €3.60, 1 GB for 150 UAH = €6 or 5 GB for 270 UAH = €11. Again, this is for roaming and way below most domestic prepaid rates in the countries they cover!
Default rate for overuse is quoted as 10 UAH = €0.40 for 500 MB (!?!).

As we know, the new EU roaming rules will continue to prevent "permanent roaming" by cheap SIM cards from Eastern or Northern Europe. But now the price breaker comes from outside the EU. I can't imagine that Vodafone approves these rates.

In the Ukraine SIM cards are sold for €2 and are not registered yet. So we might see some Ukranians SIMs immigrating .... or they change prices.

It would seem that Vodafone will have to do any enforcing of the EU stipulations. Perhaps the rates inside the EU will drop to make this offer irrelevant? Or perhaps some other outsider will join this kind of scheme?

Prepaid rates are not going down in most EU markets right now, on contracts it's another story.
Many countries have gone from 4 to 3 networks, what does not enforce competiton.
Given the fact that more and more data is needed, users are keep on paying more on prepaid.

EU roaming regulations from 2016/7 will have a Fair Use Policy in place severly restricting the "roaming-free" area in time or volume. The details are not set yet.
After all this was what the operators were lobbying for all the time. Their ultimate fear was that a user takes a cheap data SIM from north or east Europe and use it permanently on roaming.

To give you an example:
In Germany no provider sells you 1 GB below €10 on a monthly prepaid plan - that's an average price for Western Europe. In neigboring Poland you get 3 GB for PLN 3 (€0.70) from Orange right now. You see, that's the ultimate fear of the providers, that without roaming surcharges users take the Polish SIM on a permant basis. I think they have a reason, given the price difference. But this will be blocked by the EU which made clear "no permanent roaming" without surcharges.

Now, a player from outside of the EU (Ukraine) offers major EU markets on roaming with 1 GB for €6 or 5 GB for €11. The whole regulation becomes useless as the prices are being cut from outside.

To translate this for the US:
Let's say T-Mobile sells 5 GB on their $30 plan. That's one of the lowest prepaid plans in the US.
The new AT&T in Mexico can't cut this price very much lower, when they offer no roaming fees to Mexicans in the US. Right now, they charge MEX$ 200 (=$12) for 1 GB on their new plans valid all over North America. 1 GB for $12 is not a reason why people from the US would prefer a Mexican SIM card. It's more or less in line.
But the gap in Europe is 50 times as much. What do you do, when you are offered 1 GB for $1 roaming in the US by a company from outside? Would you still stick to T-Mobile US for data?
We can honestly expect that AT&T in Mexico is not so foolish to do this. But now an fictional operater from the Caribbean is just doing this....

I guess that's either a teaser to attract new subscribers or another explanation could be that MTS UA is bartering airtime with European roaming partners in order to eliminate exchange rate fluctuation, something that is hurting carriers from the CIS countries badly. And as travel volume has probably turned very asymetric (less Ukrainians travelling to Europe) due to the devaluation of the Ukrainian Hryvnia, I could imagine that MTS UA has a lot of unused bartered airtime left that they are trying to monetize by above offer. Again that's only speculation but what I can tell for sure is that swap deals have become extremly popular among carriers in the CIS region due to the currency risks.

Vodafone RED tariffs in most countries are moving towards unlimited roaming without any rules that would try to prevent "permanent roaming". For example Spanish RED tariffs which allow unlimited calls in Spain also allow for unlimited calls in EU roaming as well as use of data in the EU (USA, Albania, Turkey and any EU/EEA country, not only Vodafone countries). Similar for Slovenian Vodafone partner Si.mobil. Any remaining surcharges for roaming use in the EU are limited to acceptable relatively low monthly amounts. For that to work I would assume that Vodafone slashed the roaming charges inside the group. Vodafone Ukraine would simply pass those forward to their customers without too high surcharge.
So at least for the contract market I do not see any real danger for the people migrating to other countries' providers. For prepaid we will have to see what the EU regulation will say about the limits for roaming. Anyhow for data-only use it should not be a problem if one needs to swap a SIM card from time to time, so it will not be easy for them to find a way to limit data roaming.

These are RED tariffs with obligatory monthly payment for home use. So the complete prices are 30+90UAH/500MB, 50+150UAH/2GB, 90+270UAH/5GB. 5€ per 500 MB does not seem attractive enough for a day to day use replacing a SIM from the home country. The other two are quite attractive, however one has to keep using another phone with a local SIM as I do not think that anybody will spend about 1 to 2€/minute to call an Ukrainian number. I would see these Vodafone UA prepaid SIMs to enter the similar place as Vodafone Italy/Ireland and Orange Spain were occupying in the last years, as far as EU roaming is concerned.

Hmmm, I'm a Kyivstar user so far, but think I need to get my hands on one of these SIMs.

I wonder whether this agreement could lead to a Vodafone takeover should the political situation in UA stabilize. I can't see MTS continuing to own the network, but right now it might be too early to separate the network in the Russian-occupied bits of the country from the rest.

sim card to sell
 

@ lover08
When you sell these SIM cards in or from Germany or the Ukraine, can you first of all confirm the roaming rate announced by Vodafone UA?
I would really like to have some user reports about this SIM for the prepaid data WIKI. If the rates are confirmed and this card gets available more easily in the rest of Europe (e.g. on eBay or through other sales channels), I will feature it more prominenty on the WIKI. But up to now, not many users may feel the need to go by person to the UA first to get a SIM card for EU roaming.

Some questions to you:
> Is it right that for roaming the rate advertised by Vodafone is to be added on top of the domestic rate? E.g. for roaming on the M pack of 2 GB you pay 50 + 150 = 200 UAH. This is not clearly specified on their page here: https://www.vodafone.ua/en/personal/tariffs/prepaid
But it's normally like this with Vodafone's RED tariffs like Peterdoo has said.

> Have you tried to activate a plan like RED S or M by USSD code through a roaming network?

> According to your statement above, roaming is not activated by default on Vodafone UA SIM cards. Right? Can it be activated from abroad? How?? Or does it need to activated by someone located in UA using the home network?

By the way: Kyivstar, the competitor of Vodafone/MTS in the Ukraine has slashed their roaming charges today: http://www.telecompaper.com/news/kyi...ariff--1119439
But e.g. 35 UAH per 100 MB, that's 1.40 EUR in a limited promotion clearly doesn't beat Vodafone.

Hi, it's a pleasure to answer to http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/ moderator, your page is very helpful!


VODAFONE UKRAINE
Generally they started to sell Start Package in Ukraine it costs 30 UAH it already has RED S plan inside. From the moment you insert SIM to your mobile so 30 days of RED S starts. And you can add more money and than activate RED M or L

ROAMING
As they don't have pay per minute rates (they have only RED S M L) so you are always inside of some tariff.
Example you are on RED M plan - 30 days starts and it deducted 50 UAH
you go to "Roam like home country" you have two options:
1) to activate "roam like home deal"
2) to use without "roam like home deal"
* you should connect to vodafone only network on the countries you visit ONLY
* in Poland you can connect to any country (there are no Vodafone in Poland as you know)

OPTION ONE - activate roam like home plan
dial *600# and it will activate roam like home plan according to your plan (RED M) and yes it will deduct 150 UAH additional and you will have RED M in countries of the deal (2GB Internet, free facebook viber whatsapp - not include voice on these apps) and
over usage and 50 minutes to Ukraine or within deal countries (15 countries not only to Vodafone numbers)
overuse you pay: 10 UAH / 500 MB (within 30 days cycle from your main rate) and 0.50UAH / minute
fairy usage: speed will go down 6kb/s if you will use more than 5.5GB on RED S 7GB on RED M and 10 RED L (so it means you can max use 5GB by 10 UAH 500 MB) and than speed will be slow (5 UAH 500 MB will still be charged but with speed 6kb/s hardly you can use 500 MB I think)
OPTION TWO: not to activate roam like home deal
In this case you can still enjoy cheaper roaming in 15 countries (vodafone networks only except Poland all networks available)
You will be charged: 30 UAH / DAY on days of usage (calendar day from first usage till 23:59 the same day Ukraine time) and charge internet 500 MB / 10 UAH and minutes 0.50 UAH / minute (till end of the same day)

ROAMING - it should be first time inserted in Ukraine to be roaming active.

I have special MTC cards with possibility open to transfer to Vodafone by USSD command. So you have no monthly fees rate and when you dial USSD command it activates RED S M or L
(some MTC sim card also have this possibility but only new batches)

My cards are MTC active specially prepared for Vodafone (it should appear 3G on these cards at least) and yes I tested USSD command abroad and it worked, they deducted money and sent SMS in Russian that I have successfully purchased Vodafone S etc. Also online portal MTC shows tariff plan Vodafone S

I just tested it in Israel and it is not included in deal countries so I didn't test speed of Internet etc. just tested USSD command it works fine

Kyivstar deal is not so good - 100 MB 35 UAH is quite good price but this is daily fee 35 UAH and if you use more than 100 MB so internet blocks till next day


Alex

Well, this Vodafone offer has arrived outside of the Ukraine now on eBay:

• http://www.ebay.de/itm/New-3G-Vodafo...-/301830645893
• http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/252254561009

advertised as "best roaming ever".
So if anyone is tempted, I would like to get your feedback about this SIM for the prepaid data WIKI. (I'm currently traveling in Asia, so I can't test it).
If these rates for data and calls persist, they will beat any EU roaming cap. In fact they represent in many countries the cheapest domestic option.
But to feature it more promiently, I'm going to need user reports about handling, top-ups, speeds a.s.o.

Thank you lover08 for the info :)

So if I have a Vodafone RED S plan I have to pay every month UAH 30,- even if I don´t use it. I cannot find any plan without any monthly cost.

Roam like home plan can be deactivated if not needed.

Can the Vodafone UA SIM be topped up with a European Credit Card? Any other way to top up?

How often should the SIM be topped up? A few years ago it was once every 6 months with MTC Ukraine if I recall correctly.

Thanks

So far I have two people tested it, one in Spain and a second one in Greece and it works fine, Internet and calls.

It should be some plan active red s red m or red l - the minimal fee is 30 Uah on red s plan however if you don't have 30 Uah on prepaid balance it will not block your sim, it will just wait till you topup again, it will not deduct money retroactive than.

Fell like home not auto renew each month. If you activate it so it is active for 30 days and than you can activate it next time, when you'll need it

SIM card is valid for 12 months from last topup at least 5-10 Uah. You can topup on Vodafone.ua website if this will not work so you can use one of numerous global topup websites such as recharge.com worldremit.com etc.
Sometimes they block SIM cards without any notes they tell you because of fraud risk. Sim should be activated in Ukraine and it seams that they check IMEI of phone that activates it, as we activated many cards in one day from the same mobile so these cards were blocked (I am not sure what was a reason but it should be activated in Ukraine not with bulk activation as they have some security check)

Thank you very much indeed :clap:

I've ordered a SIM through eBay and tested the roaming option for the prepaid data WIKI in the last couple of days. Other users I'm in contact with, did the same.

I have to say I've never seen rates like this before in some EU countries, so I was pretty sceptical about it. Furthermore, the tariff plan is pretty complex. I expected some price reductions because of new EU regulations later this year. But certainly not from an out-of-the-EU SIM like this. After 2 weeks using it on Vodafone Germany I'm convinced that it can be a great option. That's why this offer will be featured on the prepaid data WIKI soon as another way to cut costs, primarily for roaming.

One should first conceed the disadvantages and dangers: The great rates depend on a very volatile exchange rate and a weak UAH currency. Vodafone can raise prices anytime, but this offer is running unchanged since Nov 2015. All traffic is routed through a Ukrainian server. While it gives full 2G and 3G speeds (compared with a local VF plan), latency and thus ping times are higher. So it feels a bit slower, but DL/UL speeds are equal to other Vodafone MVNO prepaid plans.

The price structure is quite complex and not easy to understand. All system messenges are in Ukrainian only, but you can get access to a personal online account that can be switched to English. You should have in mind, that calling an Ukrainian SIM can be very expensive for the caller as out-of-the EU rates are unregulated. So it should be used for outbound calls or data only e.g. as a 2nd SIM in a dual-SIM phone or in a data device.

To the rates, as some eBay vendors are not so honest about this: I'd like to point out that 'lover08' here gave all correct info on this thread above. There is no reason to cheat about the rates. They are really low: For data on a daily base 1.5 GB are sold at €2 or per month 5 GB at €8 or 9.5 GB at €15 in 14 Vodafone networks in Europe. Voice and SMS/MMS rates are ridicously low too: a 1 hour call to anywhere in these 14 countries costs no more than €1, a SMS or MMS sent all over the world 1.7ct. All these prices in € are based on a conversion of 30:1 UAH:EUR, effective in Feb 2016)

This is well below all domestic offers I can get for prepaid e.g. on Vodafone Germany. Only with a lot of effort on 24-month postpaid contracts you can possibly match them. In fact, except in Poland, in all other 12 EU roaming countries it beats even domestic prepaid rates.

So I can confirm now, that the claim 'best European roaming ever' is not a myth as long as you stay on Vodafone networks in these 14 European countries. Please check my extensive article with the complex pricing structure: http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Euro0

In the 2 weeks of testing I couldn't resolve all issues and some open questions about this SIM plan remain. As some vendors (and maybe other users already) are on this forum here too, you may give us more info about the 'open questions' attached to the Wiki article at the bottom about 2 long-term issues.

Please add your feedback about this SIM here or in the comments section of the WIKI as it's hard to find all the catches.

Any idea if it can use LTE networks?

No. Read the linked article draft. It's only on 2G and 3G at full speed, but with slow latency like many roaming SIM cards.


@Lover08
Thanks for your replies on the Wiki. I will add them before publishing.

Finally after using it for two weeks, I've found a major drawback for a wider use of this SIM card outside of the Ukraine.

All three top-up options seem to decline now out-of-the UA issued credit cards for reloads. My first try on 20th of FEB went through, but now a broad selection of Visa and Mastercard credit/debit cards from different European countries (other than the Ukraine) have been refused.

On the internet you can find more comments of users whose cards were not approved for a UA top-up. Probably, my first try that was successful was the exception.

The problem is, without UA-approved payment systems, you need to use 3rd party top-up sites for a reload and they are severely overpriced: ding.com adds 30% and recharge.com around 60% surcharge. There are even sites doubling the price rate. This really spoils all cheap rates which are great originally.

So my question here for users: Is there a way to top up Vodafone Ukraine or MTS/MTC Ukraine SIM cards from abroad for a reasonable surcharge? Otherwise, I have to suspend the SIM from the featured WIKI site as their rates are clearly not obtainable from outside of the Ukraine.

www.ipay.ua sais:

Holders of Visa and MasterCard issued by any world bank can use iPay.ua to:
• pay for services of all Ukrainian mobile providers (МТС, Kievstar etc.);

The commission fee ranges from 0 to 4% of the payment amount.

I cannot judge about the reliability and safety of the site.

Thanks Peter.

But I've already tried them. It seems to be blocked by the receiver now. It explicitly states when payment fails, that no payments are allowed from 'my' country. So as if Vodafone UA has implemented a new policy of accepting only UA-issued payment systems. The mysterious aspect of this that my last top-up on 20th of FEB went through and now everything seems to be blocked. I get an error with cards from 3 different European countries, credit or debit. So there is no chance.

I generally don't like these 3rd party top-up sites very much, but surcharges of 30% with ding.com or orange top-up and 60% with recharge.com and sometimes 100% on even more dubious sites will surely spoil the great UA roaming rates.

I'm checking Bitrefill using Bitcoins and Russian Webmoney as an alternative next. So you see, I haven't given up on it yet. But some of the vendors who were lobbying hard for this SIM may have other suggestions too. Any surcharge of up to 10% I still consider reasonable for top-ups, but not 50-100%. As far as I know top-ups to Vodafone UA and MTS/MTC Ukraine are exchangeable as it's basically the same operator.

In the meantime this SIM is not recommended anymore on the WIKI and the links suspended as its (great) rates can't simply be obtained from abroad. I think we should be honest with it and its rates.

Hi!

My credit cards do not work also.
Topup with bitrefill works well, the surcharge is about 6-7%. Any idea how I can buy small amounts of bitcoins without the usual complicated verification
procedure for a reasonable price?

The cheapest recharge service that I found is https://pay724.com. I did not test it, the surcharge is about 16% (+ eventual currency conversion fee of your credit card!) I did not test it until now.

Thanks Gnarfy.

Great that you actually have registered for this info.
I'm currently checking all the options:

Bitrefill seems to be the cheapest, but you need Bitcoins and small numbers may have some extra fees at the bit exchanges. On the other hand, you save another currency conversion from your own currency to UAH. Thanks for the confirmation that Bitrefill works for MTS Ukraine -> Vodafone. Fees are around 8%.

What the "regular" top-up agencies are concerned 'Pay724' seems to be the cheapest. But it looks a bit dubious. Better use it with a debit card. The domain is registered in Moldavia. It has an iOS app and refers to an US company. Fees are around 12% as the exchange rate to UAH is very unstable.

A more established agency is ezetop.com, now also called ding.com They only charge slightly more: around 13% right now.

I'm considering to put the offer back on the prepaid data WIKI. I will only recalculate the conversion to € and show top-up options. Originally UAH:EUR were 30:1, right now exchange rate is around 28:1 - so I'm going to use 25 to implement the top-up fees. It still gives great roaming rates, but for domestic data there might be cheaper options in some countries (e.g. Poland).

Other options and proposals are very welcome. Thanks for your contribution.

Quick question.

Can you mistakenly latch onto a non Vodafone network and deplete your balance or they won't allow that? If they do allow manually selecting another network, will it at least catch automatically a Vodafone network?

The phone connects preferred to Vodafone. But if there is no Vodafone network and automatic network search is activated it will connect to any other network!

You should set your phone (or router or USB dongle) to manual network selection just to be sure.

Yes. Make a manual network selection for Vodafone and lock it there. My SIM card doesn't have Vodafone preferences pre-installed. I checked.

But I don't think that you can loose all of your credit roaming on a non-Vodafone network as Vodafone UA says in the fine print of its website:
"Speed of mobile internet in roaming will be 8 Kbit/s ..... after using 2 MB per day while registration in other [= non-Vodafone] networks."

So there seems to be a protection built in, but I haven't checked it for obvious reasons.

Btw. I will reestablish the links on the prepaid data WIKI to this SIM today with a new conversion based on real expenses and surcharges for the top-ups, as we have verified now fairly reasonable top-up options thanks to your help. As said before, it's still a great roaming option but for domestic data better compare to other offers too.

Thanks, wanted to check if it's fool proof.

I found another thing which makes it unattractive.

You can't use more than 10 GB. In 30 days. Can anybody confirm?

The rules are:

1) You activate "Feel Like Home" deal on RED S or M or L
2) RED S you have 500 MB RED M you have 2GB RED L you have 5GB
3) after usage of 500 MB or 2GB or 5GB you will be charged 10 UAH - 500 MB more within 30 days cycle of your plan
4) you can be charged max. 10 times within this cycle - example you have RED S and you used 500 MB so you can use up to 10 x 500 MB more and then your speed will be limited 8 kb/s till end of your monthly cycle
5) so your limits are: RED S - 500 MB + 10 x 500 MB = 5.5GB
RED M - 2GB + 10 x 500 MB = 7GB
RED L - 5GB + 10 x 500 MB = 10GB

If you need so many Internet so you can buy two or three SIM card so you can just use a second, third sim card when you exceed your limits

Thanks. I'm now reading above for you that if no FEEL LIKE HOME is activated, you'll be charged 30 UAH per day + 10 UAH per 500 MB. What limitations is there on this one? If I want data only, isn't this a better way to do? Just don't activate any feel like home plan?

Roaming without roam like home costs at least 1200 UAH/month if you use it every day. You can use up to 5GB/day.

So isn't that the best way to go, to NOT activate the ROAM LIKE HOME? What do you gain with the ROAM LIKE HOME, only for calls, right?

WITH ROAM LIKE HOME
RED S will be 120 UAH total - gives you 500 MB and extra 500 MB costs 10 UAH up to 10 times possible
RED M will be 200 UAH total - gives you 2GB and extra 500 MB costs 10 UAH up to 10 times possible
RED L will be 360 UAH total - gives you 5GB and extra 500 MB costs 10 UAH up to 10 times possible

WITHOUT ROAM LIKE HOME
Your will be charged anyway RED S 30 UAH or RED M 50 UAH or RED L 90 UAH and you get no internet outside of Ukraine
So example you can be on RED S it is 30 UAH you receive nothing and then if you use it in Roam Like home countries it charges you 30 UAH only on day you use it (from first usage till 23:59 the same day Ukrainian time) and you get nothing but you can use internet 10 UAH per 500 MB max. 10 times in one day so up to 5GB)

You can always change your plans you can try few days without feel like home monthly and if you don't like to activate feel like home monthly

This is very simple to use this sim, I give online portal where you can switch Plans etc. it is even in English

Alex

still a little confused, so please answer me the following:

If I want to be able to use AS MUCH DATA as I want (of course paying for it) I would need to NOT sign up for ROAM LIKE HOME, otherwise my data will be capped at maximum of 10GB. per 30 days. Am I correct?

Max. possible data available is:

You can be on RED S (on Vodafone you should anyway be on one of the plans)
30 UAH
don't activate Feel Like Home
and each time you surf it will deduct 30 UAH daily fee and internet will be charged 10 UAH per 500 MB with cap 10 times a day (5GB a day)

So example Monday you started to use Internet it deducts 30 UAH with first usage of the day and 10 UAH per each 500 MB till 10 times and then it cap 8 kb/s till next day

Thanks Alex.

So far, I've got my SIM (MTS branded, not Vodafone) up and running, and topped up using my German PayPal account with ding.com for what I consider an acceptable surcharge (about 15 percent). Then I added RED L followed by Roam Like Home - and set network selection to manual and chose Vodafone.de. I'm in Germany today, but will be in NL tomorrow and GB the day after that, so I'll hopefully be able to test all three.

One curious thing is that the online account you can set up is still only via mts.ua, not vodafone.ua.

This SIM is the most curious product i've seen so far. I'm using it too right now. Italy, Turkey, Germany and Malta are confirmed. So you can be confident about NL and UK.

I just got an SMS message that France (probably on SFR) will be added on 1st of April. This is now mentioned on their website too. But as far I understand only for 7 days instead of the usual 30.

Vodafone UA is MTS (MTC in Russian) in disguise. And having a Russian mother is not so popular in some parts of the country right now. So they adopted the Vodafone brand. But it's MTS after all and all recharges made for MTS work on Vodafone UA too.

Another update: My monthly "roam like home package" ended today and I got a message in Ukrainian that even Google Translate could not understand. I loaded some UAH on the SIM before and could easily extend the roaming option by *600# for another month. This was confirmed instantly. At least, I guess, as Google is not much better in Ukrainian than I am :-)

Thanks for reporting this.
 

Thank you both for the updates. While I don't see myself needing this info in the near future,
I believe there are many lurkers who are very fascinated by this helpful information.

I look forward for more reports in the future from both of you.

some update:
from 1st April terms will be changed.
France will be added. But the deal feel like home will be valid for 7 days (not for 30 days) in countries included in the deal. They also told that will change tariff rates for deal countries and they will add more countries to this deal in near future
New update will be available on 1st April

Oooh ooh: This seems to be a price hike in sight. It really was too good to be true to stay for very long.