Internet Access

[Lpraml]

I will be cruising from Moscow to St. Petersburg in May. I would like to know if there are Internet Cafes in those cities or aboard the ship. How does one E-mail back to the States.
I would appreciate any information concerning the above.
Thank You in advance
Lpraml
Lpraml@aol.com

[ILay]

I know only about 2 cafes in St. Pete.

http://www.netcafe.spb.ru/

(internet cafe 'Tetris')

and


http://www.planeta-internet.ru/

('Internet Planet')

hope it will be usefull.

[Lpraml]

Thank You very much.I understand there is a Internet Cafe guide book that contains this kind of information. The trick is to find it.

[Dr_Woland]

I doubt there will be any access on the boat! I have an infra-red mobile phone which I can use with my laptop, but even doing this, the range from major cities where mobiles work is not good... I seriously doubt you can get online whilst on board.

However, as well as Internet Cafes, you can often rent internet access in Post Offices - you get the use of a good PC and fast internet connection on a pay-per-hour basis. This is useful in small towns where finding an Internet Cafe is hard, but taxi drivers at least know where the Post Office is.

For example, I used one in St Pete's last week, at Nevsky 88 (or was it 86? something like that, and opposite Green Forest cd/video store, a great place for software needs, btw!)

If you have your own laptop with you, you can buy an Internet Card. This is like a prepay phonecard, only for a local internet provider. If you are reasonably familiar with setting-up a DUN connection (the wizard in Windows works fine) you can get online very easily. Minimum prepay card is only $5, so no worries if you are leaving town soon anyhow. Peterlink is the best one in St Pete's, NCP is good in Moscow. Admiral is good but slow in St Pete's, but they make you set-up the DNS settings by hand which is a PITA. Avoid Russia-On-Line - more familiarly known as "Russia-Off-Line" because of their downtime and constant busy-tones...

Green Forest sell internet cards in St P. In Moscow, try the pc-software kiosks in the alleys around Kuznestky Most metro station, or you can buy a CityLine card at any branch of GutaBank.

Dr W

[king_of]

There's an e-mail facility in the business centre of hotel 'sovietskaja' in St. Petersburg.
Also, in hotel 'Vega' (one of the 1980 olympic hotels) there's a fast internet connection open for public use (this is in Moscow).
On ships, you should use a palm-top computer connected to a mobile device (preferebly satelite telephone).

[edward_ce]

The post office by the entrance to the Hermitage Museum at Nevsky Prospekt has internet workstations for rent. The speed is very good and you have good privacy because each machine is housed in a glass booth.

Just in case you get to Hotel Sovetskaya, make sure that you have enough change for internet rental. The staff would not hesitate to give you a handful of coins as change. I know this because it happened to me.

If you happen to be at the Moscovsky Train Station, look for the business center. There are some computers with internet connections for rent.

Good luck!

--- Edward C. Evangelista

[Dr_Woland]

by the way, there is a good and reasonably-priced internet cafe in Moscow at Kuznetsky Most #12 - on the same side as "Anglia English-Language Books".

Dr W.