Best international GSM card for russian holidays

[filautos]

Hi everybody,
I'm a new member of this forum I've read a lot about internationals gsm cards, in this forum and site, but now I can't say which card could be the best for what I've to do.

I have to go in Russia for 15 day and I've seen that using my italian Vodafone's number should be too expensive (6€/min) so I'm looking for a card to use ONLY to call from Russia to Italy (mobiles and land line numbers).
I'm not interested in send sms or incoming calls.

I've seen Yackie Mobile that seems to be good for Russia... isn't it? because I've read not so good experiences on this site about it.
I've seen also Travelsim and it should look better isn't it?

Please help me to make the good choise

Many thanks
Simon

[Effendi]

I moved the discussion here, since you are interested in an international card.
In my opinion Travelsim is the best solution, it's reliable and cheap. Otherwise I'd go with a Russian prepaid simcard, but international calls are usually quite expensive. Surely there are some callback services to make them much cheaper, but I wait for the help of our Russian friends.... Asick, where are you?

[DRNewcomb]

One thing to consider is exactly where you are going in Russia and which carriers the card roams with. Unlike most European countries, Russia has a hodge-podge of regional licensees. While I think that some carriers (e.g. BeeLine) now have almost nationwide footprints, there are still many areas covered only by smaller regional carriers.

[filautos]

Thanks everybody!
sorry for have posted in wrong place

I'll go to St.Petersburg but most time in Nodvgorod (i think should be written like this)

I'll take a look at Travelsim, thanks.

Any other help is very welcome!

[Effendi]

Ok, in St.Petersburg you have 4 operators, the 3 national ones (Megafon, Beeline, MTS) plus Tele2 which cannot be considered "national" yet, but it's expanding. BTW it's the crappiest one...

I suppose you are going to Veliky Novgorod (Великий Новгород), which is not far from St.Petersburg but it's out of the "Leningrad Region", so if you buy a Russsian simcard based in St.Petersburg/Leningrad Region you'll go roaming in Novgorod, but rates are never expensive in any case. I think MTS, Megafon and Beeline all cover Novgorod without any problem.

Using Travelsim you should have no problems to roam both in St.Petersburg and Veliky Novgorod.

[fedeprovenza]

Travelsim is surely the best solution above all 'cause you have only to recharge it every 2 years!

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by fedeprovenza

Travelsim is surely the best solution above all 'cause you have only to recharge it every 2 years!

Yes Travelsim works great.
My parents are currently in Russia - using the Airbalticcard (its a travelsim, but 10 euro cheaper when buying) and it works flawlessly.
The card roams on MTS, 2nd largest operator in Russia after beeline.
Incoming calls free, SMS free to receive over their website.

Chris