Prepaid data in Russia - St Petersburg
 

Has anyone got a recommendation for a Prepaid Data SIM in St Petersburg, Russia?

There are suggestions on the Internet that only Russian citizens can buy SIMs? Is this still the case? There are also suggestions that people hang around metro stations selling activated SIMs.

I don't need a voice SIM, but would like to have a data SIM with 500MBytes of data to use within a week.

DQ

Just an update....I am now in St Petersburg and have a working Russian SIM.

I signed up with MTS(MTC). It was a totally painless process. The guy in the phone shop on Nevsky Prospect spoke English and knew exactly what I was looking for. I just had to show him my Passport and he printed out a pre-completed form for me to sign. Probably the easiest SIM sign up process I have seen anywhere outside of Ireland(where you dont even need a passport).

It seemed like the phone company had figured out that short-term tourists are a specific market and packaged a solution and trained staff to meet this specific type of customer?

The tariff plan is pre-paid 400 roubles initial sign-up cost (€10). This gives you 400MB to be used over 30 days, or less if you use some SMS/voice. If you run out, you can top up at vending machines which are located everywhere. I reckon 400MB will be plenty for 1 week as I also have WiFi free in hotel.

Setting up the SIM was relatively easy-no PIN needed. Voice/text worked straight away, but I had to go into the settongs menu on my phone to set up a new APN - address: internet.mts.ru username:mts, password:mts

So far, 3G service seems good here, and I have also managed to do VOIP and SKYPE over 3G.

Good to hear! I hope I will be able to manage it as well in Kaliningrad this summer.

Can you confirm that you have been sold a prepaid simcard using the tariff "МТС Коннект-4"? That would make sense as they charge 1 rouble per MB: ??? ???????-4 - ?????-?????????, ????????????? ??????? so if you initially had 400 roubles that would indeed make 400MB.

Yes - it is the Connect 4 prepaid tariff. Tomorrow is the last day of trip and I have only used 30% of my quota :-) During that time, I have been using Google Maps continuously, making all the phone calls I needed (on VOIP or Skype), browsing, email etc, except at hotel where I have WiFi. It is so useful to be able to browse the museum guides online when visiting museums and palaces.

I almost never lose HSPA signal, but occasionally when I do, it reverts to a good EDGE signal, which is still good enough for most things except VOIP.