Telephones

You have several options to make international calls from Kiev. One of these options is using public phones. In order to use a public phone, you need a phone card that can be purchased at any postal office and some stores. Long distance calls in Ukraine are operated by Ukrainian Telecommunications, or shortly Utel. Utel telephones are located in the city's major hotels, restaurants, stores, airports and other places.

Visitors to Kiev can also buy a cellular phone with a SIM card and use it for both domestic and international calls. The average per-minute cost for calls to the United States is about $2.50, to Europe - $.50-1.50.

Kiev's major mobile operators are Golden Telecom, Wellcom, UMC, DCC and Kyivstar. If your cell phone supports such standards as GSM 900 or GSM 1800, you will need only a prepaid package - a SIM card and some money on account. Such packages are provided by Ukrainian mobile operators and can be purchased almost in every shop selling mobile phones.

If you stay at a hotel you can make international calls from there. As a rule, such calls are much more expensive than using a phone card. However, it is better to ask a receptionist about the procedure and fee for service that can vary from $7 to $15 per minute.

Another option you can use, only provided that your telephone has a tone dial, is IP telephony cards, which are very popular and can be bought almost in every stall. IP telephony cards are also sold in postal offices throughout the city. To call with such cards is a much cheaper option.

How to Call

To make an international call from Kiev, dial 8 - 10 - country code - city code - subscriber's number. When you have dialed 8, wait for a second dial tone and then dial your number. If you need to call San Diego, for example, dial 8-10-1-619-XXXXXXX, where 8 is a code for intercity service, 10 - a code for international service, 1 - the USA country code, 629 - San Diego's city code, XXXXXXX - a subscriber's number.

To make a call to another city of Ukraine, dial 8 - city code - subscriber's number. To call Kharkov, dial 8-572-XXXXXXX, where 8 is a code for intercity service, 572 - Kharkov's city code, XXXXXXX - a subscriber's local number.

To call within a city you do not need to dial any codes except a subscriber's number.

To make a call to Kiev from home dial 380-44-XXXXXXX, where 380 is Ukraine country code, 44 - Kiev city code, XXXXXXX - local number.