What to do if you do not have cell phone coverage

During the war Ukraine is provided with national roaming – if your cell phone provider’s network isn’t available, you can connect to the network of another mobile provider. To do this, you’ll need to:

1. disable auto-select network in your smartphone settings. If you use Android, select “settings – mobile network (or connection) – operator”. If the gadget runs on iOS, select: “settings – cellular data – network selection”
2. find and choose an available Vodafone, Kyivstar or lifecell network
3. once you are  connected, call or text someone or use a web messenger to see if the service is working

If the connection isn’t working, try this algorithm again or select another operator. You can also reboot your smartphone and try again. It is important to return to your operator’s network once a day -– manually or by enabling “auto-select network” in the settings.

National roaming allows you to make calls, send texts and use the mobile Internet to exchange messages in messengers. At the same time, the conditions of your operator’s tariff will apply, and no additional payments will be charged.

The connection of national roaming involves a significant load on the network of all operators, which can affect the quality of provided services. To reduce the load on the network of operators and ensure their better performance, you can:

• disable auto download in messengers and other applications. For example, switch off automatic updates in the Play Market and App Store via mobile networks
• prohibit applications running in the background from using cell traffic
• set lower playback quality on YouTube and other video streaming services
• use Wi-Fi whenever possible

If you do not have cell service, but are connected to Wi-Fi, you can try calling your loved ones via social networking apps.

* Based on the recommendations provided by Kyivstar