«Looks like a joke». A Belarusian was charged 3740 BYN for 6 minutes in roaming

Illustrative photo. Photo: Nasha Niva

«Support assures that these are the tariffs»

Alevtina flew to Georgia on May 29, and as soon as the plane landed, she turned off "airplane mode" on her smartphone to activate the eSIM she had downloaded and paid for in advance.

«But it gave an error, and I started receiving SMS and audio messages in Telegram that had accumulated during the flight».

Павялічыць

According to the official detailing that the subscriber received later, the session lasted exactly 6 minutes. During this time, the device managed to download 110 megabytes of data in the background. The number was blocked.

Павялічыць

«The MTS operator's support service confirmed to me that there was no error, the charge was correct according to the current tariff. It turns out that the basic tariff for internet traffic in Georgia is 33 rubles per 1 megabyte. For my friends from Russia, the cost of roaming under similar conditions is exactly 100 times cheaper».

Alevtina notes that a year and a half ago she had already flown to Georgia with the same number, and then no similar incidents occurred.

Alevtina does not plan to return to Belarus in the next three months. However, support stated that they are ready to consider an installment or deferred payment option for this debt, but for this, she needs to appear in person at the MTS office in Minsk and write an application.

Journalists asked MTS to comment on the situation. Here's the answer they received:

«When activating eSIM or other services, an mandatory internet connection is required — via Wi-Fi or mobile data. In this case, the subscriber used internet traffic with per-megabyte billing, without connecting optimizing services.

The most reliable solution in such situations is to connect services that prevent unexpected expenses in advance. For example, in Georgia, internet packages are available from 1 GB for 25 rubles to 10 GB for 60 rubles.

And starting from June 5, MTS subscribers will not have to worry about large charges, a local SIM card, eSIM, or Wi-Fi at all: instead of per-megabyte billing, daily intervals will by default apply with all internet roaming partners in most popular destinations: the first two steps of 0.5 GB (from 15 rubles), then 1 GB (from 22 rubles), which will make roaming transparent, affordable and protect even those who forgot to connect a package from similar situations».

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