Estonia offers all the comforts of modern communication as well as valuing old traditions.
Mail/post
Post offices still exist in the larger towns and are worth seeking out, as they sell low priced postcards, sets of stamps and first day covers – all of which make good presents to take back home. There are 4 price bands for sending post - for Estonia, the Baltics, the rest of Europe and rest of the world.
Post offices open on Saturday but for shorter hours than during the week and are closed on Sundays. Get the stamps and cards you need early in your trip and you can then post them whenever convenient. The Old Town Tallinn post office at 20 Viru Street is open 7 days a week - as is the central post office at 1 Narva Road (Narva mnt in Estonian).
Cards and letters leaving Estonia are sent by air. They will reach European destinations within a few days and US or Australia within a week (usually). If you want to send parcels then surface post is cheaper but slower.
Phones
“Everyone” has a mobile phone in Estonia – some people have 2! It’s a testing ground for mobile services – you can pay for parking and goods, create your own mobile service and Skype was invented here. In fact a lot of us have stop using landlines and prefer mobile phones.
As we are a small country, we do not bother with city dialling codes and costs are the same wherever you call. Some hotels will give you free phone calls within Estonia to all landlines.
To ring Estonia from abroad, dial +372 before the number.
Mobile access is available everywhere, even on the smaller islands and at sea, en route to them.
If you manage to track down an Estonian without a mobile, he or she will probably be under two or over 80!
If you are staying for a while and plan to make a lot of local calls then it might be worth buying a SIM card for one of the local pay-as-you-go providers. Ask at the R-kiosks on the streets for a “kõnekaart” (calling card in English). Popular brands are Simpel, Smart, Diil and Zen. Start-up packages are in a range of 150 EEK (10 EUR).
Free internet access
Access to wireless, free internet is approaching 100% in Tallinn - even in the parks - and no hotel dares charge for it now. Other Estonian towns are rapidly catching up and on the open road you will often find petrol stations which offer wireless internet access too.
If you do not have a laptop, public libraries offer free computers.
Because so many of us are wired up for all our electronic needs, wherever we are, the number of internet cafes is dropping but you will find several open almost all night in Tallinn and Tartu. Expect to pay around 2-3 EUR per hour.
Many hotels also have a computer with internet access available.
The departure lounge at Tallinn airport has several free internet access points for passengers.
