Communication

Although it’s not on par with the West, communication in Ukraine has been greatly affected by the technological revolution. Many people use cell phones (called mobile phones or mobilka locally) and almost everyone under 30 checks email occasionally. The missionary and UEC communities rely heavily on email. For most Ukrainians, though, the telephone is still the best way to communicate.

Email and internet
E-mail and Internet access are available in Kyiv through several service providers and Internet cafes. An hour of internet usage at an Internet cafe is around $1 or less an hour. At these cafes, you can also pay for use of the printer. If you have access to a personal computer, you can buy a pre-paid Internet card; one of the most popular providers is Svitonline (who has an English website at www.svitonline.com). With Svitonline, the cost is $0.70 an hour during business hours and $0.30 in the evening. Cards, like the one on the right, are bought in US dollar equivalents ($5, $10, or $20) and expire after so many months. Purchasing a card and establishing an account with a provider like Svitonline allows you to use your own time even if you are using another person's computer. Before traveling to Kyiv, we suggest you establish an internet-based account and ask friends and family to e-mail you there. Another good provider is IPTelecom (their English website is: www.iptelecom.ua/eng/). We would recommend establishing an account with one of these two providers and not a Yahoo or Hotmail account. Because the Internet connection can be so slow at times, it is much easier and quicker to download your email with an email program such as Outlook Express on your computer. Regular Yahoo and Hotmail accounts do not allow you to access their POP3 server and download email to your program. This feature will allow you to reply to and compose emails while offline, and then connect only for a few seconds to send them all.

Since phone lines are somewhat poor in Ukraine, the connection is usually rather slow and may break entirely at times, which is another reason to avoid a web-only email account. In Internet cafes, though, the connection is more reliable and normally faster. This slowness can be very frustrating at first. Don’t expect to download large files or huge pictures.

Telephone
If you want to call outside Ukraine, it's best to buy a prepaid calling card. Two popular cards are ALLO and Extreme. It costs about $0.40 a minute to call the US. Calling the US through regular phone lines is about $2.00 a minute. Sometimes, though, there is a bad echo or you may lose the connection. It is best, and cheapest, for people to call you from the US. To Kyiv from the U.S. dial 011-38-044, and then the seven-digit number of the person you want to call. To call the UEC for instance, you would dial: 011-38-044-490-7618. To call from Kyiv to the USA, dial 8 then wait for a dial tone. Follow that by the country code, area code and phone number. To call Lipscomb University for example, dial 8 (wait) 101-615-269-1000. You can dial 1-800 numbers but the cost to you is the same.

Depending on the apartment you rent, you may be charged per minute of talk time even for local calls. Internet surfing is also considered talk time. The fee is about 5 kopecks ($0.01) per minute. The bill shown here, for a month’s use, which was slightly higher than normal, was for 114 UAH, or about $22.

“Snail” Mail/Post Office
It is rather expensive to mail items to Ukraine from the USA. A cheaper option for mailing printed material (books, magazines, etc.) is to ship the items via M-bags (sent by sea mail which takes two to three months to arrive) available from the U.S. Postal Service. For more info on M-bags visit the U.S. Postal service website at www.usps.com/global/mbags.htm (page 8 of publication 51). To protect your items from damage, pack them in a cardboard box and tape the box before placing them in the M-bag. A maximum of 66 pounds can be shipped in an M-bag; the post office charges $1 per pound. On the customs form, declare that the items are gifts and have a value under $50. Otherwise, a large customs fee in Ukraine will be imposed.

Most airlines allow you to check an extra bag (70 pounds) for a fee of a little more than $100. Call your airline to find out exact details. FedEx, DHL, and UPS all work in Ukraine but are very expensive.

The Ukrainian mail system is becoming more reliable. A letter (about the same cost as international mail from the USA) from Ukraine usually takes about 10-14 days to reach the USA, and sometimes letters from the States arrive in about a week. Packages including videos sent by normal USPS airmail usually arrive intact though we recommend you never send anything very valuable through regular mail. At some post offices there may be problems with theft, so try one package before sending others. It’s also best if the person can address the envelope in both Russian or Ukrainian and English. If you get a package, the post office usually sends you a small note indicating the weight of the package and the date it arrived. Normally, you will need to present your passport to get the package from the post office.

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