In this article we will tell you which is better - Beeline or Megafon and compare in detail the characteristics of both operators. We will look at communication and Internet indicators, as well as data on tariffs, so that you can make the right decision and connect to the most advantageous offer. The information will be useful to all users who are looking for the best option for obtaining high-quality and inexpensive communication services.
Beeline or Megafon - which connection is better?
So, the background: Beeline (Vympel - Communications) appeared in the early 90s as a branch of the Veon company. It serves 10% of the world's population.
Megafon - originated in the northwestern districts of Russia. Then, through development and mergers, absorption of competing small companies, both operators expanded their coverage in the federal territory. Megafon certainly has more subscribers (about 70 million) than Beeline (56 million users).
But, in terms of reputation, they are almost identical.
Ease of transition with your number
The conditions for changing the operator while maintaining your number with these providers differ. The general requirement is that the number must be free of debt and the transfer must be carried out in the same region where the SIM card is registered.
What you need to know about porting a number to Megafon:
- the contract can be concluded either in the support service office or remotely (via the company’s website);
- When registering, you need a passport (for the client’s representative - a power of attorney);
- transfer is possible only for a federal number (format 8 915 XXX XX XX);
- The minimum waiting time for the transition is 11 days.
To transfer a number to Megafon, you need a passport.
The transition to Beeline is easier - the minimum waiting time is 8 days. In this case, until the transfer, the subscriber receives a temporary SIM card with a reduced tariff.
At each stage, the client receives SMS notifications to the current number. The transfer service is free when switching to any of these operators.
Where is the best place to make calls?
Beeline tariff “Take for 800”.
| Subscriber fee and government number | 800 rub. |
| Subscriber payment with direct number | 1300 rub. |
| Incoming calls to the Russian Federation | Unlimited |
| Outgoing within Russia | 4000 |
| SMS and MMS in Russia. | 1000 |
| Internet in Russia | 50 GB+Unlim LTE |
| Balance balance | 500 rub. |
Megafon tariff “New download more”
| Subscriber fee and government number. | 1624 rub. |
| Outgoing within the network. | Unlimited |
| Outgoing to other operators | 5000 |
| Incoming/outgoing in Russia | |
| Incoming when traveling in Europe | |
| SMS and MMS | 5000 |
| Internet in Russia | 15 GB |
| Account balance | 1000 rub. |
Judging by the proposals of these tariffs. Beeline is advantageous for calls.
Tariffs for other devices
| Rate | For tablet | For laptop, modem, router | For smart devices |
| Megaphone | “Worry-free Internet for your tablet” | MegaFon - Online | "Smart Things" |
| Price | — | — | 20 ₽/week or 750 ₽/year |
| Conditions | 0.3 GB for the first week | Basic tariff 2.5 ₽/MB | 10 min./week 10 SMS/week Unlimited traffic Unlimited cloud services |
| Beeline | “For tablet”: Highway 6 GB or 12 GB | "For computer" | "For smart things" |
| Price | 406.78 or 600 ₽/month. | 900 ₽/month. | 100 ₽/month. |
| Conditions | 6 or 12 GB | 30 GB | 30 minutes 500 MB 100 SMS |
Comparison of call quality
Rostelecom, using a special measuring system, measured the mobile communications of 4 operators in Moscow and the region, within a radius of 9,000 kilometers. Megafon turned out to be the best in terms of dial-up rate. Its failed connection attempts amounted to only 0.7%, while for Beeline (VimpelCom) they amounted to about 15%. Megafon also leads in speech intelligibility, sharing second place with MTS (1.2%, 1.3%). And Beeline has the largest percentage of unintelligible speech - 4.3%.
Operator competition
Comparison of communication quality
At the moment, a real war has broken out between supporters of two large cellular operators - Beeline and Megafon. Both companies have been on the market for a long time and have an impressive customer base. They are extremely popular in our country, which is why some rivalry for leadership has arisen.
To evaluate the performance of these companies, you need to take into account many factors - and this is quite difficult to do.
Advice: it is better to make an assessment based on the quality of mobile communications and the Internet.
So which operator is better? The time has come to finally understand this issue.
Network coverage
Megafon is considered the leader in network coverage and 4 G in Moscow and the region. Due to the fact that this is the very first operator to begin installing 4 G network towers, its coverage was 32.2%. While Beeline's coverage area was only 28.8%. Thus, giving way to second place to MTS, with a coverage of 30.9%
What does Tele2 offer?
Tele2 is a good discounter. The main policy of this company is to make prices lower than those of competitors. An obvious drawback of the provider is the insignificant coverage of the territory of the Russian Federation. Offers are more suitable for use in one specific region. Relatively recently, the company has mastered the modern high-speed data transmission standard LTE. The frequency range may differ in each locality.
Let's look at the contracts that Tele2 offers in 2021:
| TP name | Standing payments, rub. per month | Internet package size on Tele2, GB |
| My Tele2 | 7 | 5 |
| My Conversation | 199 | 2 |
| My Online | 399 | 12 |
| My Online + | 799 | 30 |
In addition to the main TPs, users can activate renewal services or additional traffic packages at any time. The provider has developed a significant list of similar options, as well as applications that help save money (unlimited in Opera Mini, instant messengers, navigators). The maximum add-on size reaches 50 Gigabytes for only 999 rubles per billing period. On contracts with per-minute billing, the price for 1 MB varies around 1.50 rubles.
Pros and cons of Beeline
The positive aspects of this operator include high-quality communications and Internet stability in large cities of the country.
- The use of Internet options to synchronize with a computer is unchanged in all corners of the country.
- Payment for services and applications from Google Play and App Store occurs without commissions.
- Beeline TV is completely free.
- Stable home internet and television.
- The modem supplied with the tariff is better.
Cons of Beeline:
Subscriber services and technical The support leaves much to be desired.
- Conditions of tariffs and services often change without warning.
- Unlimited Internet at night, paid by kilobytes.
- Your tariff, or a specific option, may unexpectedly increase in price.
- Paid SIM card restoration.
Reviews
Marina “I chose Beeline because I am satisfied with the wide distribution of towers - I often travel to remote cities. A nice bonus is a competent support service that quickly and efficiently provides the necessary assistance.”
Ivan “I base my choice on the availability of the operator’s tariff plans - for little money you can get large packages of GB, minutes and SMS. Communication with loved ones is now free of charge, since we all use the same network.”
Dima “The Internet is very important for me - I spend a lot of time online for work. “Vimpelcom offers low prices for large volumes of traffic, which operates without interruption, and access to the network is stable even under unfavorable conditions.”
Pros and cons of Megafon
The advantages include the stability of the connection, eliminating interruptions or interference.
- Good Internet speed, allowing you to watch YouTube and other videos without delays. Social networks load in seconds.
- Convenient, clear Personal Account
- It is written in detail and clearly about all tariffs and options.
- You can always see where the money is going and the balance on the balance sheet.
- An instant assistant is always in touch and is happy to help within the limits of her competence.
- Many promotions that allow you to take expensive tariffs at half price.
- Those. The support is always friendly and helps in all standard situations.
Cons Megafon:
- There are many connected paid services without any indication as such.
- Tariffs, services, and, accordingly, fees for them change very quickly.
- Sending SMS and many everyday services are expensive.
- Expensive call hold.
- Frequent calls from operators.
- A very long conversation with the “Iron Lady” on the way to the operator.
What is more profitable and in what case? Let’s sum it up. So, what to choose, Megafon or Beeline? I would choose Megafon, although it is more expensive, the quality of communication and the Internet provided is at the proper level. Although the question “better Megafon or Beeline” has many nuances!
Customer Treatment
Of all existing cellular operators, MTS (31% of the market) and Megafon (29%) are popular in the Russian Federation. According to a study by Roskomnadzor, the most common complaint against these companies from clients is disagreement with the amount of the invoice. At the same time, Megafon was recognized as the “most polite” operator (based on the number of subscriber complaints about the rudeness of support staff).
Beeline often causes customer dissatisfaction with connecting paid services without the subscriber’s knowledge (38% of all complaints). Communication with company employees by phone is often difficult due to long waits. The number of complaints about rude behavior from Beeline hotline specialists has been decreasing over the past 2 years, but there are still more such complaints compared to Megafon.
Internet speed
Based on the results of the first two quarters of 2021, Megafon received the Ookla Speedtest Awards as the mobile operator with the highest Internet speed in Russia. About 8 million speed measurements were taken on mobile devices using the SpeedTest application.
The results are as follows (download and upload speed):
- Megafon: 24.68 Mbit/s and 10.57 Mbit/s.
- "MTS": 15.49 Mbit/s and 6.96 Mbit/s.
- "Tele 2": 13.83 Mbit/s and 6.5 Mbit/s.
- Beeline: 11.63 Mbit/s and 6.27 Mbit/s.
After receiving the award, Megafon launched an advertisement where it directly stated that it has the fastest mobile Internet. Thus, the question of which Internet is better received an objective answer.
Veon is a leader among Russian telecommunications companies thanks to abroad
Megafon was the last of the Big Three mobile operators to present the results of its financial statements for 2021. Before this, the results were summed up by the Veon group (its Russian subsidiary VimpelCom operates under the Beeline trademark) and MTS.
Veon became the leader in terms of revenue among the three operators - the group achieved this through foreign assets. In 2021, the group earned $9.086 billion (RUB 569.7 billion), capital expenditures amounted to $1.934 billion (RUB 120.9 billion). MTS revenue amounted to 480.3 billion rubles, capital costs - 86.5 billion rubles.
Results of the work of MTS, Veon and Megafon in 2021
| MTS | Veon | "Megaphone" | |
| Revenue, billion rubles | 480,3 | $9.086 billion (RUB 569.5 billion) | 335,5 |
| Revenue from mobile communications, billion rubles | n/a | n/a | 276 |
| Revenue from mobile data transfer, billion rubles | n/a | $1.875 billion (RUB 117.5 billion) | 100,9 |
| OIBDA/EBITDA, billion rubles | 220,9 | $3.273 billion (RUB 205 billion) | 124 |
| OIBDA/EBITDA margin, % | 46 | 36 | 37 |
| Operating profit, billion rubles | 116,2 | $554 million (RUB 34.7 billion) | 58,45 |
| Operating profit margin, % | 24,2 | 6 | 17 |
| Net profit (loss), billion rubles | 6,8 | $582 million (RUB 36.45 billion) | 21 |
| Net profit margin, % | 1,4 | 6,5 | 6,2 |
| Capital expenditures, billion rubles | 86,5 | $1.934 billion (RUB 120.9 billion), | 81,5 |
| Net debt, billion rubles | 232,8 | $5.47 billion (RUB 342 billion) | 294 |
| Number of cellular subscribers, million | 105,4 | 209,9 | 76,9 |
| Number of broadband subscribers, million | n/a | 3,8 | n/a |
| Russia | |||
| Revenue, billion rubles | 448,1 | 291,54 | 330 |
| OIBDA/EBITDA, billion rubles | 209,2 | 104,7 | 122,6 |
| OIBDA/EBITDA margin, % | 46,7 | 35,9 | 37 |
| Net profit, billion rubles | 68,1 | n/a | 22,4 |
| Net profit margin, % | 15 | n/a | 6,7 |
| Capital expenditures, billion rubles | 75,1 | 48,45 | n/a |
| Revenue from mobile communications excluding equipment sales, billion rubles | 312,6 | 230,1 | 271 |
| Revenue from equipment sales, billion rubles | 69,2 | 25,9 | 28,5 |
| Revenue from mobile data transfer, billion rubles | n/a | 62,3 | 98,9 |
| Number of cellular subscribers, million | 78 | 55 | 75,2 |
| Number of mobile Internet users, million | n/a | 37 | 32,7 |
| ARPU of cellular subscribers, rubles | 333 | 350 | 300 |
| MOU of cellular subscribers, min | n/a | 317 | n/a |
| Cellular subscriber churn rate (Churn), % | n/a | 14 | n/a |
| MBOU (average traffic of mobile Internet users), GB | n/a | 4,285 | 9,25 |
| Revenue from fixed business, billion rubles | 60,4 | 35,53 | 30,9 |
| Number of broadband subscribers, million | n/a | 2,4 | n/a |
| ARPU of broadband subscribers, rubles | n/a | 383 | n/a |
| Ukraine | |||
| Revenue, billion hryvnia | 12.9 ($474 million) | 18.7 ($688 million) | — |
| EBITDA/OIBDA, billion hryvnia | 6.9 ($253 million) | 10.5 ($387 million) | — |
| EBITDA/OIBDA margin, % | 53,8 | 56,2 | — |
| Net profit, billion hryvnia | 1.8 ($66.2 million) | n/a | — |
| Net profit margin, % | 13,5 | n/a | — |
| Revenue from mobile communications excluding equipment sales, billion hryvnia | n/a | 17.5 ($644 million) | — |
| Revenue from mobile data transfer, billion hryvnia | n/a | 7.2 ($263 million) | — |
| Capital expenditures, billion hryvnias | 9.3 ($342 million) | 7.3 ($275 million) | — |
| Number of cellular subscribers, million | 19,7 | 26,4 | — |
| ARPU of cellular subscribers, hryvnia | 54 ($1,9) | 58,2 ($2,1) | — |
| MOU of cellular subscribers, min | n/a | 584 | — |
| Cellular subscriber churn rate, % | n/a | 5,6 | — |
| Revenue from fixed business, billion hryvnia | — | 1.2 ($11 million) | — |
| Number of broadband subscribers, million | — | 0,9 | — |
| ARPU of broadband subscribers, hryvnia | — | 70,5 ($2,5) | — |
Source: CNews Analytics
Veon's OIBDA was $3.273 billion (RUB 205 billion), net profit was $572 million (RUB 36.45 billion). For MTS, similar figures amounted to 220.9 billion rubles. and 6.8 billion rubles. respectively. The total number of cellular subscribers for Veon is 209.9 million, for MTS - 105.4 million.
