Internet in Ukraine is fast, cheap and easy accessible.
As in the rest of modern world internet plays a signifficant role in daily life of Ukrainians. It’s not Estonia or Israel where “half” of population are programmers but some more than 20 million Ukrainians (almost half of population) are active internet users.
DSL in Ukraine
Most people still use internet from their homes or offices. The largest DSL internet provider in Ukraine is Ukrtelecom. I personally use it in my apartment and it also serves in my office. The connection is fine for general users. It’s cheap. Costs start from 50 UAH (<5 EUR) per month and 24h service is very helpful. Although, becasue it is such a huge company, settling issues liek installing new line or fixing it might take time.
Apart from Ukrtelecom there are dozen other internet providers. Their stronger sides are that particular companies might have superfast internet speed for a chep price in specific locations. So, if you’re settling down somewhere in Ukraine, check for good local providers before going to Ukrtelecom.
Mobile internet in Ukraine
If you’re in Ukraine even only for a short period it’s well worth buying local sim-card. They cost starting from 10 UAH (<1 EUR) are a ready to be used right after you put it into your phone. Call prices are very low so most people even don’t bother texting messages. Belive me, you’ll save a lot by getting local sim card. Moreover literally all mobile operators offer internet service as well, so you simply can’t miss.
I personally use “Life” mobile operator. Calls are free inside the network while the rest are very cheap. Various packages change every month, so I can’t recommend you some particular, by I like “Life”. Internet is also reliable and fast enough for a mobile. Weakness of life is network coverage. So, if you plan to trek in Carpathian Mountains or spend a lot of time in really remote areas, consider “Kyivstar” or “MTC”. For the rest “Life” is simply the best. And internatinal calls all over the world are only 2 UAH (<0.2 EUR) a minute. What can be better 🙂
Multifunctional Cards
Vsesvit-Plus cards provided by Ukrtelecom are very handy when you want to international calls, use wi-fi internet or even dial-up from your telephone land line from one source. You can buy them in any post office or in most newspaper kiosks. It is particularly usefull for wi-fi. You can connect to wireless internet in Ukraine from a vast number of places throught a country. See a complete list of hostspots (only in Ukrainian) in every region of the country.
Free wi-fi in Ukraine
Almost every cafe and restaurant in big cities are covered with free wireless internet network. Although in a lot of cases you’ll need a password, so going there once to sip a coffee pays rewards for future.
In Lviv you can catch free singal on Svody ave. and Rynok sq. for first 15 minutes. Then you’ll have to buy traffic from Uarnet or simply reconnect again.
To be updated and enjoy your travels and stay on-line 🙂
