Mobile sim cards bought in Turkey

[swc24]

Hi All

just found this on the Turkish consulate website might be of use if you are planning to buy a Turkish sim card to use in your mobile when in Turkey

MOBILE PHONES NEED TO BE REGISTERED FOR USE WITH SIM CARDS BOUGHT IN TURKEY

Turkish and foreign visitors are entitled to bring one mobile phone into Turkey within one calendar year for use during their stay in Turkey. A personal mobile phone brought in to Turkey in this manner is exempt from tax and duty.

It is necessary to register the mobile phones in order to use them with SIM card bought from a Turkish network operator. (In order to use such a mobile phone with a SIM card bought in Turkey from a Turkish network operator, the mobile phone number assigned to the SIM card needs to be correlated with the IMEI number of the mobile phone. The handset can only be registered with one line. Phones not registered in this way will be blocked and unable to receive or make calls. There is no charge levied for this registration.)

No customs documents are required for the registration of mobile phones.

Mobile phones to be brought into Turkey are to be registered with the Telecommunication Institution or with the mobile phone shops of Turkish Network Operators (Avea, Turkcell or Telsim).

Documents required for the registration of mobile phones are:

TR Citizenship Number or Passport number
Passport (Identity details indicated on the passport)
Copies of all Turkish entry/exit stamps in the passport
No more than one mobile phone per person can be registered in one calendar year.

Steve

[Katiehutchinson_1991]

thanks Steve
but does the phone company not do it automatically when you buy a turkish sim card
as you need your passport as proof of your ID and they wont let anyone under the age of 18 buy one
xxxxx

[swc24]

Hi Katie
they may well do but people may not know that they need to take their passport and phone with them when they go to buy one as the phone company need your mobiel for the IMEI number so they can register the sim against your phone
(saves a walk back to the apartments to get them )

Steve

[Katiehutchinson_1991]

they wont sell the sim card to you without a passport as proof
either that or you can put the sim card in a turkish persons name

worked for me in the past
xxxx

[John V]

Would one of you younger kids explain to me, an older codger, making it very simply to follow the steps required to change over to a Turkish sim card. Where in Icmeler can they be purchased - How much are they - Are calls pay as you go - How do you pay for top up's - How do you put sim into mobile - Can you reverse back to original UK sim card when returning home - What are the advantages - Is it worth doing for your holidays.
From this to will gather on modern day technology it takes me a while to catch on.....John

[Katiehutchinson_1991]

hiya John

to allow your phone to accept the turkish sim card you must phone your tour operator before you go to turkey
eg. vodafone, o2, 3 or orange, when you get through to them say you want to unlock your phone
this will allow any sim card to be accepted into your phone as most phones are locked nowadays
they will either unlock your phone automatically or give you a code that you must enter into your phone
once you have done this your phone should accept any networks sim card

once you get to turkey go to the turkcell shop in icmeler
which is on the main street just past the banks like akbank, near capitain bulls**ts i think
make sure you take your passport with you as proof
and ask them for a turkcell sim card
they will give you one costing 15TL and they wil tell you how long it will take to be activated
normally within the first couple of hours of purchasing the card but they are closed on a sunday and no sim cards are activated on a sunday either

in turkey they use a credits system which means you have to buy credits at local shops like our pay as you go
you can purchase credits in blocks of 100, 250 or 500 i think
it costs about 21TL for 100 credits with TURKCELL
all you have to do is go into any little supermarket and ask for a top up 100 credits for a turkcell mobile
you dial 0690 and put in the activation code on the back of the ticket you get from the shop and your credits will be added to your account

it costs 2 credits to send a text to another turkish phone or 3 credits to send a text to an english phone
i dont know how much the phone calls cost but they are much cheaper than ours and well worth getting

hope this helps and if you have any other questions let me know
hope you can understand how to do it all from my description

katie xxxxx

[sheepy]

Might not need to unlock your phone though - many are locked, but many I've found are not Besides, if it's a Nokia, odds on you can find a pc minded friend who can do it for you - they are quite easily unlockable.

So do these credits PAYG sims expire if they aren't used for a while, or after a certain amount of time does anyone know?

[Katiehutchinson_1991]

yeah the turkish ones wont work unless you add more credit after 3 months
and if you dont use the sim card for between 6 and 9 months or over they get completely disconnected and you have to buy a new one
xxxxx

[John V]

Hi Katie, Thankyou for your information regarding Turkish sim card Found your explanation very easy to understand......John

[Katiehutchinson_1991]

no problem
glad you did cause i thought i went on a bit but hope all the information you need is there
xxxx

[CamCam.X]

Hi all!
I thought I would post my experience about mobile sim card I got in turkey, as I had searched this site for help but all the information was slightly dated.
As you all know if you are using a turkish sim card in turkey it needs registered to your passport. I moved out to Icmeler for a while and needed a sim card myself. I had been using my boyfriends old vodafone simcard but knew it would be deactivated if used in a foreign phone, so we went to the vodafone shop in mamaris almost opposite of the maxi tansas. I needed my passport and they filled out a form registering my passport, turkish laws now say you can only use one phone from outside of turkey with a turkish sim card vodafone, turkcell, avea etc... on one passport per year. The form wasnt long, they filled it out for me and I was ready to go, my own mobile phone is blocked in the UK to o2 but I was able to put two turkish sim cards in without any problem. I was required to get a new sim card from vodafone and buy some credit a minimum of 5tl however for the sim, registration and credit it cost 35tl which isnt bad going ! My friend done the same with turkcell and it cost her 55tl so vodafone seems to be the cheapest.
The only advice I would give you is to check the simcard before you leave the store. My boyfriend had the sence to check as I thought it was all be okay and I had no signal at all - turns out they never registered the simcard properly and needed to ring through to vodafone to confirm so check before you leave the store avoids another trip to Marmaris if the same problem happens to you !
Hope this helps

[Katiehutchinson_1991]

i did the same thing this year and registered a UK phone to my passport to allow it work with a turkish sim card
it took a week for the phone to open after registering it to my passport
xxxxx