Why was unlimited internet banned? Left the network: why Russians are deprived of unlimited Internet

Russia has a very fast Internet and very low prices for mobile communications. This is both my opinion and the position of guests from America or European countries. Friends come and wonder how good and cheap LTE we have. Not so long ago, operators also offered to connect unlimited mobile Internet - download as much as you like.

Now the situation has changed, MegaFon, Beeline and Yota have stopped connecting to tariffs with unlimited data transfer. For old subscribers, the conditions remain the same, but new ones will have to face restrictions. MTS has changed the conditions for one of the tariffs, in particular, Smart Unlimited now offers 10 GB of traffic per month, the unlimited stream has been closed. But another tariff with unlimited Internet has so far remained: SMART + with a subscription fee of 250 rubles per week.

Why is the limit removed?

Operators say that, on average, subscribers get about 5 GB of data per month, and the demand for unlimited packages from users is not that big. Like it or not, I can not say. In any case, judging by my friends, there are enough fans of unlimited packages, people land 100-200 GB per month when the smartphone works as a modem and distributes the Internet at home or in the office. Well, or watch streaming video for hours, in general, this is an option for fans of “heavy” content.

Why are prices rising?

We go to the MegaFon website, check the prices. I use Beeline and MegaFon, I like MegaFon more - the coverage area is better, the Internet is faster. Here are the current prices.

But what happened at the end of 2016, I found a photo here.

What do we see? Previously, for 300 rubles they received 2 GB of traffic, now 1 GB. They paid 500 rubles for another package and received 5 GB, now 3 GB. Even minutes have been cut. Tariffs with more voluminous data packages have risen in price, L and XL cost 100 and 200 rubles more, the amount of data has remained the same.

Convenient math? Still, before, if you wanted more traffic, you simply paid for unlimited Internet, MegaFon took only 5 to 9 rubles per day of use, depending on the tariff, so a month of use cost a democratic amount. And no data limits!

Well, now the shop is closed. Why? I think that this situation is simply unprofitable for operators. Think for yourself, the prices for the Internet are already very low, operators cannot work without profit, revenues from voice communications are falling, few people are spending money on SMS either. Everyone has switched to instant messengers, they need traffic, and unlimited Internet kills all opportunities for earning. But now, when operators one by one close the unlimited for new connections, prices can be raised. Well, or cut the amount of data, while maintaining the previous monthly fee, updating the tariff scale.

Exactly a year has already passed since MTS canceled its cheapest limited Internet. Remember - the one that?

Apparently, March-April for MTS are the months of tightening the screws. Because now one of my favorite tariffs has come under the knife - MTS-unlimited. Appearing a little, in May 2016, he was almost ideal for a person who does not really need mobile communications, but at the same time needs unlimited Internet. At the same time, at first there were no special restrictions on it - go with it to any (well, almost) corner of the country, distribute it via wi-fi. In general, beauty, not fare. Half a year later, the tariff was cut well: they introduced a paid distribution of Wi-Fi, and began to take money when traveling to other regions (does not apply to those who connected before 10/25/2016), thus turning it into "Unlimited with roaming and tetering". Fortunately, we are with free distribution, because it is not for MTS to decide how exactly I should use the Internet I bought after it came to my device.

But even after half a year, MTS decided that it was time to finally close the shop. And so, on March 27, the old unlimited was sent to the archive with the name Smart Unlimited 052016, and in its place a new unlimited appeared, which in fact is not any unlimited, because in terms of the Internet it is limited to 10 GB of traffic per month, if you use him every month, and twenty - . Well, i.e. in fact, generally ridiculous volumes that fly away on a stationary computer in a couple of days, a maximum of a week.

Let's see in this unpretentious note, is it possible to pick up any adequate replacement for him? Yes, I am writing, of course, about my home region - Moscow and the Moscow Region, although for the rest it should be the same, only cheaper.

First of all, it should be noted that MTS decided not to limit itself to this meanness: it was also cut out from both the official website and the MTS online store a similar Transformische tariff, which also includes unlimited Internet, and differs only by 80 rubles in a higher price ( 650 rubles), and for this - an extra included two hundred minutes, i.e. 400, not 200 like in NL.

The most interesting thing is that it did not even remain in the archival tariffs. What this could mean is absolutely not clear, but those who are interested in the history of this tariff can be sent to a wonderful article by Sergey Potresov.

And what is left for us? Well, firstly, until April 13, 2017, you can connect your SMART + tariff with unlimited internet service. At a cost of 250 rubles per week, and taking into account that we have 9 weeks in two months, it turns out 1125 rubles per month, which is exactly twice as expensive as the deceased Unlimited (by the way, a smart top is therefore not considered at all, it is three times more expensive). Unfortunately, according to insider information, with a probability of 90%, this option will be removed from there in two weeks. (Upd. - as expected, removed).

Secondly, look for the cherished SIM cards with the old unlimited, I assume that in the next month they can still be found on sale, or bought from hand.

Well, the last option - the most attractive in price, but unfortunately, limited in speed and geography - is the purchase of a second SIM card with the Connect-4 tariff and the connected option "Internet 4 Mbps", I wrote about them in my first one, comparing with unlimited.

Of the advantages it has is that:

• They don’t seem to be going to close yet, unlike Smart +
• The cost compared to SMART + is more adequate - 750 rubles against 1125 (of course, 180 rubles worse than unlimited, but at least something)
• Distribution via Wi-Fi to other devices is not limited, i.е. no need to dance with a tambourine around fixing / changing TTL
• Although slow, in the amount of 512 kbps, but there are torrents

Well, from the minuses:

• The need to take it with a separate SIM card in addition to the existing one (read - you need a two-SIM phone), because 4 rubles per minute even for your own network, and at the same time - absolutely without minutes included - this is horror-horror. However, if you buy it specifically for unlimited Internet, then it's okay, unlimited in this mode was often used
• Speed ​​limited - give only 4 Mbps
• You can’t take it outside of Moscow and the Moscow region - they start charging 1,500 rubles a month in addition to 750 rubles for a subscriber (read - you need to look for the same in each region)

So a short summary.

1. Do not forget that Megafon and Beeline - for all new connections, have also amicably abandoned unlimited (in terms of the Internet) tariffs, and crawling to them somehow does not save (and remembering how Beeline unilaterally first reduced my archived unlimited tariff up to 50 GB, and then - generally up to 30 - not an option at all). We are talking about Moscow and the region, which in regions with, for example - I don’t know, they say that this may be an option. And, well, you can still take it for a tablet or computer, but there are their own dances with a tambourine.
2. If you need Internet for the office, you are ready to put up with a download of half a megabyte per second, or if you do not travel outside the Moscow region, we take Connect 4.
3. We need to travel outside the Moscow Region, or we need high Internet speeds - we are looking for an old unlimited space, or we are trying to connect SMART + in time. Unfortunately, already by May, i.e. summer season - both - is unlikely to be available.

It's a pity, of course, a pity. RIP, Unlimited!

P.S. There is another option, but not available to everyone. So to speak, a non-public Internet option, an invitation to connect to which comes via SMS, but sometimes it turns out to connect just like that. Unlimited with speed limited to 1 Mbps. But only for 200 rubles a month. In principle, this is enough even to watch YouTube, although not in fullhd, of course. In general, if these conditions suit you, you can try to connect to it (all other options such as Bit / Super-bit should be disabled, and there should be at least 200 rubles on the account). Here is a link to this tariff “Internet 1 Mbps (month). NP"

The big three swindlers of mobile operators agreed among themselves to cancel unlimited tariffs for the Internet. The reason is that the toad is strangling that the Internet is sold for cheap, when it can be sold for dearly.

It is absolutely not rational that someone can download 60-70 GB, load the network, while using cheap unlimited or almost unlimited tariffs. This is a question for the entire industry to decide.

VimpelCom CEO Shell Morten Johnsen

In Megafon and MTS, the situation is similar. Companies have either already removed unlimited plans, or are preparing to do so in the near future. By the way, Yota too.

The toothless antimonopoly service traditionally did not react in any way to the suspiciously synchronous deterioration in service conditions at once in all companies. Probably, cartel agreements are no longer of interest to the FAS.

Mobile unlimited. Remember. We love. We mourn.

Questions and answers about unlimited

Why unlimited internet was canceled

Because cellular operators have entered into a monopoly collusion. They agreed to simultaneously abandon unlimited data plans in order to impose on buyers less profitable data plans with per megabyte payment. In civilized countries, antimonopoly crimes are actively fought, but in Russia, for some reason, the Federal Antimonopoly Service did not see any violations. Probably just didn't see it.

When will Beeline take unlimited

The decision has already been finalized. But no specific timeframe was set. Leading mobile analysts believe this could happen soon.

Where did the unlimited Internet on Beeline go?

It's been cancelled. The hucksters from the big three conspired and, for the sake of profit, at the same time tweaked the tariffs in a direction unprofitable for customers. Now you have to pay for every megabyte, which means that spending on cellular communications will increase by 1.5-3 times.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service decided to look for logic in the actions of mobile operators, which almost simultaneously abandoned tariffs and options with unlimited Internet. The logic in their actions is easy to detect. Will the FAS find confirmation of the collusion?

The reason for the interest of antimonopolists in tariffs for mobile Internet was the complaints of users. Unlimited traffic for smartphones and tablets is a luxury unprecedented in the whole world, and Russians have been able to use this luxury for a little less than a year. A person quickly gets used to the good, and therefore the cancellation of unlimited at the same time by all operators raises questions and suspicions.

New Yota subscribers were the first to face traffic restrictions. Since January 2017, only old customers of this operator can use unlimited Internet. In February, Beeline (Vympelcom) and Megafon introduced the same restrictions, MTS joined them in March, and Tele2 disappeared in April. Why did the cellular companies cancel the services in which gigantic money was invested in advertising? They themselves tried to explain this by concern for subscribers.

Confusion in testimony

Operators make incredible claims: supposedly users themselves want to pay for gigabytes and therefore ignore options and tariffs with unlimited traffic. In February, MegaFon stated that the Megabezlimit option was connected “an insignificant number of times”, respectively, was recognized as unnecessary and transferred to the archive. True, according to subscribers, the operator did everything to hide it from the public: the Mega Unlimited option was renamed to Unlimited Internet, its previous description disappeared from the operator’s website.

MTS, in turn, says that most users download no more than 5-6 GB per month via a cellular network, so it makes no sense to keep unlimited. Official representative of MTS Dmitry Solodovnikov said that subscribers who used it before will retain unlimited traffic, new customers will be offered to buy gigabyte packages from mid-April.

The words of the operators contradict the numbers: in 2016, mobile Internet traffic in Russia grew by almost one and a half times, almost 3.8 billion GB were downloaded via 3G and 4G networks. This is about seven times less than in fixed networks, but the growth rate of the mobile segment is rapid. The position of telecom operators is explained by another figure: revenues from mobile Internet are growing much more modestly, last year they increased by only 12%. Revenue from voice communications is declining altogether - more and more people are calling for free via Whatsapp, Skype and Viber.

Another explanation

Another version looks more plausible. According to the CEO of Tele2 Sergei Emdin, in 2016, in the market as a whole, unlimited tariffs accounted for only 25% of sales, but subscribers with such tariffs provided 50% of the network load. That is, a relatively small percentage of "unlimited" can reduce the quality of communication services for other subscribers. But even this argument against unlimited traffic looks unconvincing, because old subscribers with such tariffs will not go anywhere. The operator can regulate the load on the network - reduce the download speed after the subscriber uses up a certain amount of traffic per hour or per day.

On this topic

Operators announced the so-called “Yarovaya package” as another reason for refusing tariffs with unlimited Internet. Amendments to the anti-terrorist legislation adopted last year oblige to store all user traffic on their servers. Allegedly, a large amount of data, the formation of which unlimited could contribute to, will create a significant load on the equipment. But here it is appropriate to recall that cable Internet providers that pass a significant share of Russian traffic through themselves face the same problem, but unlimited tariffs are not canceled.

"Hitted and parted"

In 2016, shortly before the appearance of tariffs without traffic restrictions in Russia, the CEO of VimpelCom Mikhail Slobodin warned operators against this step. According to him, the cellular communication market will be able to grow only due to the increase in the cost of mobile Internet. Cheap traffic packages harm the industry, and unlimited tariffs will set the maximum bar for the operator's income.

Nevertheless, the very next month, VimpelCom introduced a tariff with unlimited Internet, MTS also entered in May, and MegaFon joined them in June. Some experts believe that in this way representatives of the "big three" reacted to increased competition from Tele2. By joining forces with Rostelecom, this company decided to become the third largest subscriber base in Russia by 2018. In 2016, 1.7 million people connected to Tele2, and the total number of its contracts approached 40 million.

Probably, each of the representatives of the "Big Three" perceived unlimited as an effective marketing tool for attracting and retaining subscribers. When everyone had unlimited traffic, it began to interfere with the development of the market as a whole, but none of the operators would have dared to cancel unlimited traffic unilaterally. All this allows the FAS to suspect the operators of collusion, but will it be possible to prove it as a fact? Now the department is studying the information provided by cellular companies about the heavy load on the networks, only after that it will decide whether or not to initiate a case on violation of antimonopoly law.

In 2016, unlimited mobile Internet made Russia one of the most progressive countries, creating good opportunities for the development of the digital economy, the Internet of things, telemedicine and online education. The development of such services could become a new source of revenue for mobile operators, but it is obvious that so far they prefer to earn money by selling traffic packages to subscribers.