Telephone plug

[king_of]

Does anyone know what kind of telephone plug is used in Russia?
And does anyone know if there are any free ISP's in Russia?

Many thanx in advance.

[ILay]

In most houses the old-fashioned plug of Russian standard is used but you can find an adapter in virtually any technics-store or kyosk.

I don't think there are any free-ISPs in Russia (none that i've heard of) but inet access is not very expensive (30-50$ for unlimited tariff) and the local telephone calls are free in most cities. You can buy an access card of various providers in any metro-station or press-kyosk in major cities.

If you buy a local sim-card for your gsm phone you will also have a possibility to use the GSM provider for mobile inet-access (here in St.Pete it costs 0.03$ per minute while a card costs USD 75)

[Dr_Woland]

Hi ILay

There are no free ISP's in Moscow either - at least, not so far. I find the most reliable connections are via MTU cards, but fastest speeds from ComStar (usually I can get 36k).

Russian phone-plug - has 5 flat metal pins - as ILay said, you can buy an adaptor from RJ-11 to Russian for about $0.50 in any hardware store.

Remember - Russia uses pulse-dial only, so set your laptop for pulse dialling. And set your speed expectations to "slow"

Dr W.
(back in London for a week and enjoying 56k connections :-)

[ILay]

Dr.W.:

not too much for me to say but:


I usually have a 56 connection - it depends on a station you are using. I changed to a newer station for my home telephone (you will have to change your number as well) for 80 roubles (USD 3) and have a smooth connection and a tone dial. This is then you are using the former state telephone provider (considered to be a 'natural monopoly' here in Russia). Of course then you are using a newly created commercial provider (we for instance use Peterstar for our office) like Sovintel or Metrocom etc. you will have a good connection and tone number and all the features ipso facto. But it costs more

There is a growing trend of using ADSL here in St.Pete (regretfully IDSN ISPs are not very popular yet) but not in all parts of the city.

So much about the telephone system of Russia
Hope you enjoy being in London!!

[Dr_Woland]

a local company near me in Moscow has said it can install an ISDN line... they will be ready to install in Feb. So I am waiting and hoping!!

Meantime, one of Moscow's cable tv companies promises it can offer full internet facilities via digital lines starting Sept 2001. I'm sceptical... let's see!

Life in London is fun, and I'm enjoying our national cuisine - Indian curry :-)

Dr W.

[king_of]

So far, thank you for this information; i have one more question: How are the Russian telephone plug pins alligned? Because where i'm right now (Amsterdam), a plug also has 5 pins (2 in the top, 3 lower), but they are small and round.

[ILay]

The pins are arranged as follows:

| . |

| . |
|

on a 2cm x 2cm square panel.

Right ones seem to be the telephone itself and left are for the electricity.

I think it's different from what you are using (I saw some with round pins in Germany). So better take a usual jack and buy an adaptor.

Dr.W:

How much were you asked to pay for ISDN?
We were offered to have a line for 100 a month but decided not to buy it (yet at least).
Did you think to use the sattelite inet (from NTVi - 24$ flat rate)?
I'm still considering this offer :-)

All the best!

[Edited by ILay on 12th January 2001 at 12:54]