Telephones

There are no public telephones in Ruka or Kuusamo.  In fact as far as I am aware they have been removed from the whole of Finland due to the use of mobile phones (many homes don’t have land lines in Finland any more because almost everybody has a mobile).

How to contact home

• If you have a smart phone use the free wireless connection in Ruka Kumpare building (see this page for other Internet area in Ruka and Kuusamo) to talk through Skype.  You will need to download Skype to your phone before this will work – check the Skype website to see if your phone is compatible and download the latest version.  If you are not phoning Skype to Skype you will also need to buy credit from them. It is best to set up your account and familiarise yourself with it before you leave home.

• If you have a laptop with you, use the free wireless in Kumpare (see this page for other Internet area in Ruka and Kuusamo) to use instant messenger,  emails or Skype to contact home.

• If you have your mobile with you use Rebtel for free international calls.  I have used this and it does work but is worth investigating before you leave home so you have it all set up because it’s a bit fiddly to get used to at first.

• Pay to use the computers and send emails or use online messenger services (ebuddy allows you to connect to MSN, Gtalk, Aim, yahoo and others).

• Buy a pre-paid sim card (more on this below) for your mobile phone (if you have it with you and it is unlocked from your network).

• Use your mobile and pay the extra cost – check with your service provider before you leave home you may be able to switch to another deal which makes using your UK mobile abroad cheaper.  (remember that you will need to add the dialing code 0044 (for England) and then drop the first 0 from the area code on the numbers in your phones address book)

• Pay to use the phone in your hotel – check the rates first as they are likely to be expensive.

And remember we are in time zone GMT+2 here in Finland, so a 7am call might not be too appreciated back home.

Dialing code

Pre-Paid Sim Cards

**these prices were correct at time of going to print, March 2010.  Check before you purchase to see if these prices are still current.