Turkey suggestions?
 

I am going to Istanbul for a week and wonder if anyone has suggestions on a decent prepaid SIM to get. I would probably want 500MB of data, though I'm sure I could survive with 200MB.

Likely I will not be doing very much calling. I would think less than 60 minutes worth.

Any suggestions appreciated!

Currently checking out the info on:
http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/Turkey

But if anyone has additional thoughts....

I'd go Vodafone, but you'll need to register your equipment in Turkey or buy a local device. I've done it in the past and it's a pain in the ar$e. Apparenly they've changed the rules yet again and you also need to visit a police station to do it: http://theistanbulletin.com/2013/01/...foreign-phone/

If I were you I'd go with Vodafone Italy's Smart Passport 500MB + 50 minutes for EUR3/day.

Thanks for the info. I had read that you should be able to use your device hopefully for up to 30 days without registering it. I will only be there for a week. So I am hoping it doesn't get blocked before I leave.

I do have two phones with me. So maybe I can switch the SIM card if my first phone gets blocked.

Let us know how it works out for you!

Turkey really has made life difficult for visitors. I understand that data-only SIM cards are not subject to the device registration requirements. Therefore couldn't one get a data-only SIM and use a VOIP service for both outgoing and incoming calls? This also has the added benefit of depriving Turkey of revenue for outgoing calls and termination fees for incoming calls, revenue that they hardly deserve in view of this unnecessarily restrictive policy.

Back in 2010 Vodafone 'data only' SIM cards were voice capable. I was told I had to register the modem so I ended up buying a Huawei E169 as it was cheaper than the registration tax.

As for VoIP, SIP calls were blocked, but Skype worked fine.

That's a shame. As for Skype, if there's a way through a firewall or around port blocking, Skype will always find it. Although Skype is great for free peer-to-peer Skype calls, it's expensive for calls to and from normal phone lines.

My experience
 

I ended up going to a Turkcell shop. They are almost everywhere in Istanbul. I sometimes see 2-3 Turkcell stops while standing in one spot.

My experience was not great. I went to what appeared to be a company store as it was quite large. They spoke very little English but were able to sell me a SIM card for 44 TL ($22). Luckily there was a customer who spoke English who helped translate. They said to wait one hour and my SIM would become activated. Once it was activated I could then come back and add on 1GB of data for 25 TL ($12.50). I was supposed to dial 8090 once the SIM became activated.

Unfortunately I went two days without the SIM becoming activated. But finally on the third day I turned on my phone and I was on the network. I then dialed 8090, set it to English. Then went into a Turkcell shop and added my 1GB of data.

Not sure if I maybe should have tried power cycling my phone more often. Maybe it would have become active sooner. I had mainly just left it powered on.

During the two days when it didn't work I had no success on figuring out what was wrong. One person told me my phone # was disconnected. Another said that I had to pay the tax on the phone before it would work. But then it worked on my 3rd day when I turned it on.

I'll see if my phone gets cut-off before I leave on day seven.

If I go to Turkey and roam using another country SIM (I'm thinking Vodafone Italia), do I still have to do the whole registration/tax thing?

Supposedly you can use your phone for up to 30 days before it would be blocked. But can happen much quicker. My two phones with foreign SIMs are still working after six days.

Some details here:
http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/Turkey