Phones

Phone numbers in St-Petersburg consist of seven digits. Usually phone numbers are written in the following format: XXX-XX-XX (with two dashes). Tone dialing is not widely spread. Most phone lines support only pulse dialing, so dialing speed is not high. Sometimes phone numbers are written, including city code, or country code and city code:

	XXX-XX-XX		Simple local number
	(812) XXX-XX-XX		Local number, inc. city code
	+7 (812) XXX-XX-XX		Local number, inc. country code and city code

If you make a call from St-Petersburg to St-Petersburg, use simple local number; if you make intercity call dial 8 first (intercity prefix), then city code and local number; in case of international call dial 8, then 10, then country code, city code and local number.

City code of St-Petersburg is 812.
City code of Moscow is 915.

Country code of Russia is 7.

To make an international call from St-Petersburg dial 8 (hear dial tone), then 10 and then country code, city code and local number.

You can make international calls from your hotel (expensive), from most of payphones in the street.

There are several types of payphones, some of them accept only phone cards (there are several types of phone cards, that are not compatible with each other) and some — coins. Payphones, accepting coins, are located only in metro stations. They also accept metro coins.

You can not make a call from one payphone to another. Pressing zero button on a keypad will not connect you with operator.

Coin Payphones

Do not forget, you pay for time you speak, not for number of calls you make. If you put enough money into the phone for three minutes of speaking, you can make three calls for one minute each. If you put several small coins (1 or 2 Rubles) and did not speak long enough to spent all of them, payphone will return unused coins. But if you put one 5 Rubles coin (it is enough to speak for about a minute) and speak only 1 second, payphone will not return you 4 rubles. It can only return some of your coins. So, it is more benefitable to put several small coins instead of big one. If the call was not successful (line busy, nobody answers) payphone will return your money anyway, as you hang up the phone (in a couple of seconds).

Coin Payphone Types

Valid Coins

Coin payphone type 1

Coin payphone type 2

1 Ruble 2 Rubles 5 Rubles Metro coin

Card Payphones

There are several types of card payphones. They are served by different phone companies and, as it should be, they use different phone cards.

	Payphone by Metrocom Phone Company
	Payphone by SPP Phone Company (Saint-Petersburg Payphones)

All of the payphones have operation manual (in Russian and English) and city codes on the sticker above the phone.

IP-phone Cards

The cheapest way to make an international/intercity calls is to buy IP-phone cards. There is huge number of operators, providing this type of service. Usually these cards have instructions in English. If using these cards you do not need do dial "8" to enter international line. In general, you dial local seven-digit number and then follow the voice instructions or enter (using tone dialing) you code, written on the card and then country code, city code etc.

Usually this type of service gives very low prices (about $0.1 per minute from St-Petersburg to USA) and good quality of sound.

Mobile Phones

There are several companies, providing cell phone service in St-Petersburg. They are:

		Megafon (Digital, GSM 900/1800, GPRS)
		MTS (Digital, GSM 900/1800, GPRS)
		Sky Link (Digital, CDMA 2000, 450MHz)
		Bee Line GSM (Digital, GSM 900/1800, GPRS)
		Tele2 GSM (Digital, GSM 900/1800, GPRS)
		Delta (Analog, NMT)
		Fora (Analog, AMPS/NAMPS)

Megafon is, probably, the most expensive (but not much — may be 10% more expensive then other) and most spread. Fora is the cheapest (is positioned as a cheap phone service for students and remote country houses).

Sky Link and Bee Line GSM are new companies in St-Petersburg (they work here since the end of 2002). Sky Link company provides new type of service, using CDMA 2000 technology. They say it gives better sound, high-speed internet and some more useful services. But there are only a few models of mobile phones, supporting CDMA 2000. This is perspective type of service and can seriously compete with GSM.

Tele2 started working in 2003. This is the youngest mobile service provider. When this article was written they did not cover large territory and quality of service in the city was not very good.

Mobile phone in Russia is still a little a sign of success, wealth. Lots of people, as they have money, buy a mobile phone first. But this tendency is decreasing, because the phones and service become cheaper and most people choose cell phone as a convenient type of communication facilities.

Note, it is forbidden to speak over the cell phone while driving a car.

Emergency Phone Numbers

• 01 - Fire;
• 02 - Police;
• 03 - Ambulance;
• 04 - Gas Emergency.