Comparison of basic mobile tariffs: what operators offer in 2021

The cost of various goods and services continues to increase. Mobile communications are no exception. A little over a year ago, we published material comparing the basic 4G tariffs of the country's largest cellular operators. But since that moment, prices have changed, as well as the “filling” of tariff plans. We will briefly look at what exactly subscribers will receive and how much they will need to pay for it in this article.

Kyivstar

In the operator’s tariff schedule, the first user will be greeted with a package called “Spilkuvannya without inter.” Its cost is 125 hryvnia for 28 days. For this money, the user will be provided with 6 GB of mobile Internet, unlimited calls within the network and 60 minutes of calls to numbers of other operators and abroad (Italy, Poland, Russia, Germany and the Czech Republic).

For 25 hryvnia above you can get a Smart package, which already includes 12 GB of mobile traffic, unlimited calls within the network and 120 minutes outside it (including abroad to the above countries), as well as 120 SMS within the country. And at the promotional price, the cost of the tariff will be a third cheaper than the original one. But this is a contract package. A similar prepaid option is called “Rozvagi without inter” and costs a little more.

At the same time, some of the tariffs additionally include access to the services “Kyivstar Football Light”, Star Guard Lite, Mobile ID, another SIM card for gadgets, payment for home connection to the Network, and also do not charge traffic to popular social networks, music, gaming and other services.

The cheapest prepaid tariffs are called “Dzvinki for Fathers” and “Internet for Fathers”. Their cost is 60 and 100 hryvnia, respectively. The first consists of unlimited calls within the network and 100 MB of mobile Internet, and the cost of calls to other operator and landline numbers is 60 kopecks per minute of conversation. They will not charge you for additional traffic above the tariff, but will limit the access speed to 32 Kbps. The second one will be more interesting, providing 6 GB of traffic, unlimited calls within the network, 60 minutes to other operators and 60 SMS within Ukraine.

Other tariffs are already more expensive, but can include unlimited traffic, significantly more minutes for calls (including abroad) and offer additional services.

How can I find out the conditions of old Kyivstar tariffs?

To do this, you need to go to the tariff archive:

1. Open the official Kyivstar website and scroll down the page.
2. In the bottom menu you will see the “ Rate Archive ” section.
3. Click on it.
4. You will see a list of old Kyivstar tariffs for the last two years.
5. Enter the name you are interested in in the search bar or select a tariff from the list by clicking on it.

Don't forget to indicate which tariff you are interested in - prepaid or contract basis. To do this, select the appropriate tab.

Vodafone

Vodafone's starter package is called Vodafone SuperNet Start. Here the subscriber will be provided with unlimited calls within the network, 110 minutes for calls within Ukraine, 50 minutes for calls to 30 other countries (the list and additional conditions are on the operator’s page), which can be “converted” into an additional 150 minutes of “domestic” calls, and 5 GB of mobile internet. Also with the tariff you can get 4 months of free use of YouTube Premium and the Video PASS service (unlimited traffic to YouTube, Netflix and Megogo).

For 150 hryvnia per month you can get a Vodafone SuperNet Pro tariff, where the traffic volume will increase to 12 GB, and calls within Ukraine to 150 minutes. The call limit to other countries is the same, which can also be translated into an additional 150 minutes for calls within Ukraine. And already for 230 hryvnia in the Vodafone SuperNet Unlim package you will have unlimited internet and 200 minutes for calls. Only this tariff includes 30 minutes of calls abroad, which also transform into 100 minutes within the country. Other promotions here are the same.

Separately, the operator has tariff plans for gadgets - Device, and. They offer 500 MB and 50 minutes of calls, and then 10 GB and 18 GB of traffic per month and calls at 1 hryvnia per minute of conversation. The cost of the packages is 50, 100 and 160 hryvnia, respectively.

The operator’s latest tariff is positioned as “youth” and is called joy. Its cost is 120 hryvnia per month and offers the user 6 GB of mobile Internet and 600 minutes for calls within the country. Additionally, it provides unlimited traffic for YouTube, Netflix and Megogo video services, popular music and gaming services, instant messengers and social networks (the full list can be found on the website). But also for recent and new subscribers there is a free promotion called joice MAXX, which doubles the amount of package data and call minutes.

Always in touch

Starter packages with a prepaid tariff plan are the most popular. There are several reasons for its popularity:

• just buy.
  SIM cards are sold everywhere, are inexpensive and do not require a passport;
• easy to replace.
  You can throw away the old SIM card and insert a new one;
• convenient to choose a tariff.
  A prepaid subscriber can freely switch to any available tariff plan and receive services on more favorable terms.

A prepaid communication format implies an advance payment for a certain amount of services. Today, in all plans, payment is charged for 4 weeks of using the tariff. This means that the date of the next replenishment is constantly shifting and you need to monitor this so that you are not left without communication at the wrong time. If the subscriber does not have the opportunity to replenish the account, Kyivstar allows you to use the “Extra Money” service and receive on your balance the amount necessary for debiting according to the tariff.

lifecell

lifecell has a lot of tariffs and plenty of different promotions (for example, there are significant discounts when porting a number using MNP, registering a number, or for students). But even without these promotions, the operator’s services are not very expensive. And it all starts with the “Simply Life” tariff, which for 70 hryvnia per month will offer 1 GB of Internet and 250 minutes of calls to all mobile numbers in Ukraine. Only here it is worth considering that these 250 minutes will also include conversations within the network. After the allotted time has expired, calls to other numbers will be charged, but between lifecell subscribers there remains unlimited.

The “Comfort” package for 100 hryvnia per month will offer 4 GB of traffic, unlimited calls between lifecell subscribers, separate 100 minutes for calls with subscribers of other operators and 100 SMS within Ukraine.

The next price jump will not be very noticeable, but the tariff has much more “filling”. “Smart Life” for 120 hryvnia per month will provide 20 GB of traffic and 750 minutes of calls to all mobile networks (with subsequent unlimited for lifecell numbers). Moreover, for an additional 30 hryvnia per month, you can add another 5 GB of internet to the package and increase the number of minutes to 1250. The package also does not charge traffic for social networks Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and includes 50 GB of lifebox cloud storage.

“Vilniy Life” without promotions and special conditions will cost 200 hryvnia, but for this amount the owner’s smartphone will be equipped with 1500 minutes of calls to all Ukrainian numbers and unlimited Internet access (which, however, after the first 50 GB the speed will be limited to 1 Mbit/ With). An additional 50 hryvnia will increase the number of available minutes to 2000.

The operator also has more expensive tariffs and separate packages for different gadgets. At the same time, it’s worth considering that the cost of almost all tariffs can be lowered a little in one way or another by simply providing documents (and at the same time once again protecting yourself from “hijacking” your number by intruders). At the same time, the operator provides the opportunity to “assemble” your own version of the package, where you can select the required amount of mobile traffic, minutes for calls and connect other functions, and this tariff is called “Handmade”.

Results

Compared to last year, prices for mobile communications have increased slightly for all operators. True, in many cases the conditions have become more interesting, where the subscriber can afford to make more calls and use the mobile Internet, and residents of the regions can get separate, more affordable conditions from some operators. At the same time, the eSIM connection service began to gain momentum. And, alas, in different tariffs the concept of “month” still varies from 4 weeks to a calendar month, which can also cause slight confusion when choosing.

But in general, with the exception of rising prices, changes in some tariff names and an increase in the volume of their “filling”, the situation on the mobile services market has remained virtually unchanged.