Communications
Communications in Russia have improved greatly in recent years. Most post offices are open Mon-Sat 8am-7pm. All district post offices have poste restante ( do vostrebovaniya ) services. Both Moscow and St Petersburg have excellent express-letter post companies, such as Post International and Westpost, which despatch mail via Finland or the US for moderate sums. Street phones are good for local and international calls. To use them you need a phonecard (available in 25, 50, 100, 200, 400 and 1000 units from newspaper kiosks and post offices). Moscow's public phones are less numerous and less efficient than those in St Petersburg. Phone booths in airports and major hotels aren't always run by the city phone  © 2003 by Rough Guides Ltd. as trustee for its Authors. Published by Rough Guides. All rights reserved. Rough Guides name is a trademark of Rough Guides Ltd. Buy the book here!
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network, and are much more expensive. You can buy cards for these phones on the spot or use your Amex or Visa card. By far the cheapest option in St Petersburg (with off-peak discounts) is the Telephone Service Card, usable from any tone-dial phone (available in 300, 600, 1200, 3000 and 6000 units). Mobile phones abound in both cities, and GSM users will have no trouble plugging in to the local system. Email and Internet access is offered cheaply in a number of Internet cafes.
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