Turkey Report
 

Trip to Turkey from 18 July to 2 August 2009.

All three GSM providers (Turkcell, Vodafone, Avea) have booths in the international arrivals hall.

I chose Vodafone since I happened across the booth first.
55 Turkish Lira (~37 USD, 27 EUR) for SIM card (20 units included) plus 100 units. Activation took 20 minutes.
Recharge cards for all GSM providers are available nearly everywhere.

TARIFF
I didn't take good notes on the tariff charges, so below is from memory.

Domestic calls to non-Vodafone numbers were around 2-3 units/minute.
International calls to USA were around 6 units/minute.
International SMS cost 2 units/minute.

COVERAGE
Vodafone worked fine in larger towns, however in Eastern Turkey, especially around the Kackar mountains north of Erzurum, there was no Vodafone coverage. Many locals had mobiles in this area and all used Turkcell.

IMEI REGISTRATION
Vodafone handled this as part of my SIM card purchase. I was in Turkey for just over 2 weeks and my phone worked the entire time, however I'm not sure if it was due to the registration being processed quickly or not. The sales person told me that sometimes registration can take up to 3 weeks.

Vodafone Dongle in Turkey
 

Thread on Yachting & Boating World home | sailing news, boats for sale, sailing forums, marine companies , (boating forum), talks about dongles and data in Turkey - not sure if it's beem covered here previously.

vodafone dongle inTurkey - Yachting and Boating World Forums

First post includes the following:


"Well just got one and trying it out now.
Not at the boat, at home at the moment, just five minutes away from Marina so signal strength should be comparable.
(got full signal)

100 TL for the dongle (including 1Gig), 20 TL for the PAYG sim card, plus I added an extra 1 Gig at 30 TL.

Took 20 minutes to arrange at Vodafone shop in Istanbul airport on my way here (Yalikavak, Bodrum) They only needed to take a photocopy of my passport.

There is also a Turkcell version called VNN or similar here, looked into that last trip, but they wanted local bank reference and proof of this, that and the other etc so not very visitor/tourist friendly."

Hope this helps.

Richard

I'll probably be in Turkey for 8 to 10 weeks next year, and require GPRS in small volumes - 1Mb/day is enough.

Vodafone charge 750units/month, 33€, for unlimited GPRS * - this looks OK

Turkcell charge ~ 1€/Mb * - or there is the offer mentioned by Demonboy in the YBW thread Richard linked to: 4Gb for 290 credits (~25€)

I suspect that my main problem is IMEI registration.
What documentation did they want to see? The regulations mention invoices to prove that you bought it. I have several phones but they were all given to me or off ebay - I have no invoices or proof of ownership.

I suppose I could use each one until it stopped working - but I'd rather not get them on the blacklist.

I suppose also that Vodafone might be more willing to do IMEI registration for foreign phones than Turkcell. Anybody have any experience of that with Turkcell? And I'd be arriving by boat not air, so it'd probably be Marmaris or Bodrum not Istanbul airport.

Any ideas on the cheapest way to acquire a whitelisted Turkish phone with GPRS and Bluetooth? AFAICS the whitelisting applies to use in Turkey, not use with a particular operator - can anyone confirm that?

Dave

(* Prices from this site - can't find them in English on the operators' websites.)

When I was in Turkey in May they didn't ask for an Invoice when I registered my phone with Turkcell. So actually don't think that will be a problem.

A couple of websites I found that deal with the theory of IMEI registration:

This one is a Q&A in English:

Avea: Unregistered devices

This government site has an English bit about "Temporarily Staying In The Country" which implies that a registered phone can only be used with a single number issued by a Turkish operator. (This seems to be different from an 'Individual Import')

imei.tk.gov.tr

It also allows you to check whether an IMEI is registered (IMEI Sorgulama). The link above that seems to check whether an IMEI matches a MSISDN.

All that is theory of course; the practice may be quite different ;-)

Mobile internet access
 

I emailed Turkcell and got this prompt reply:

When you come to Turkey, with your passport you can buy prepaid turkcell line from Turkcell extra shops.

You can also connect to the internet with this simcard by gprs.

If you connect to the internet , it costs 2 credit for every 35 kb
And also we have internet packages, they are cheaper;

Weekly internet package - 50 mb - 20 credit
Montly internet package - 100 mb - 65 credit
Montly internet package - 1 gb - 210 credit
Montly internet package - 4 gb - 290 credit
Montly internet package - 6 gb - 440 credit
Montly internet package - 8 gb - 510 credit

After you buy prepaid line you should choose one of them. You can take help about activation from Turkcell extra shop or Turkcell customer care. Our telephone number is; 4440535

About your mobile phone's imei registration; when you buy prepaid line in Turkcell extra shop , they can help you about registration. They need your passport and your Turkcell line's agreement.

I also found this webpage about Vodafone:
Vodafone Mü?teri Hizmetleri - Mobil ?nternet Kendini A?an Tarife

Click on Kendini Aşan Tarife opsiyonunu almam durumunda nasıl ücretlendirilirim? for the mobile internet tariff.

It seems to be a progressive charge: for prepaid:
- 5TL for the first 5MB
- 5TL for the next 15MB
- 5TL for the next 30MB ... etc

(At least, that's how I interpret it, but I may have missed something.)

I came back from Turkey a couple of months ago and got 4 Pre-paid turk cell sims. Two were registered to me and the other two appear to be registered to people I have never heard of before. Despite the laws of Turkey there appears to be ways to have many sims if you want it.

When you have on-line access to your turk cell sim account it will show you your registered name and the life span of the sim.

The problem I have now is getting small top-ups for the sims to keep them alive. I dont have all the details at hand right now, but when you are in turkey it is possible to buy very small top-ups in the Turkcell extra shops (and others). Turkcell extra shops are the best to go in as they are less likely to rip you off - although it can happen if your not careful. The Turkish Kontor system for credits really got me to begin with !

If you have a turkish bank account t is possible to top-up your pre-paid sim from there. I have also found the following website which presently allows top-ups using a credit card to Vodaphone sims :

www dot mobytop dot com/home.php

The above website also states you can top up some other interesting country's sims, including, laos, indonesia and vietnam - but it does not cover all operators in all countries mentioned.

While I was in Turkey I was also oferred the opportunity to get a post-paid turkcell account. To have one of these you need a bank account there and a turkish address. Its not difficult to get a bank account there, but if you dont want to do that, there maybe some shop owners (this time not Turk Cell extra shops, smaller independents) who will make arrange ments for you to get a post paid sim. How ongoing payment for this would work I dont know, but I was certainly offered this. It may well have turned out to be a rip-off, I dont know. Still if you go to one of the state owned banks, opening an account is straight forward, see :

www dot tbb dot org dot tr/eng/Banka_ve_Sektor_Bilgileri/Banka_Listesi.aspx

www dot turkeytravelplanner dot com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3984

and heres some info I have on mobiles :

www dot bodrumpropertyforsale dot co dot uk/FAQ_Turkey_Property.htm
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.


So to summarise, my own experience is far from what the rules state.

I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask, but what would be the best way/place to ask if anyone can help/advise where/how to get top-ups for TurkCell when outside of Turkey ?

Have a look at ebay:
Turkcell gsm 100 credits kontor new - eBay (item 170391355848 end time Nov-05-09 06:08:22 PST)

Thanks for the feedback - 100 kontor is a bit hight for me as I'm just looking to keep the sim alive - but you pointed me in the right direction. Found this ebay store which has top-ups for Turkcell, Vodafone and Avea :

http://stores . ebay . com/Taxiem

Its crazy really as online Turkcell has the facility to accept top-ups with a credit card but will only accept Credit Cards issued in Turkey (maybe not such a bad ide ato avoid fraud and chargebacks). But they could accept alternative forms of payment. Maybe even one of the proper Turckell stores could do a cardholder not present transaction. Unfortunately, there are no top-up cards for smaller amounts - I think less than 50 Kontor, and I think these are hard to find. I had to get a 100 Kontor card, which was around 10GBP (16USD/11EUR) whilst I was there.

I guess that if anything goes wrong with the transaction, if paying with paypal, as a buyer your in a stronger position, in the event that they keep the money and I get no top-up ?

Seems like a good opportunity in any country that makes it hard for non residents outside of the country to get top-ups to offer a top-up service.

With regards registration of your phone's IMEI, I was told it was not necessary and the government website stated above I believe states that for tourists it is not necessary. I was told that if your IMEI is not registered then the SIM would be disconnected after 1 month. But this doesn't seem to have been the case for me. But at the moment, I'm not really sure whether some of my SIMs are registered or not and I don't particularly want to plug my details into the Government website in case it triggers disconnection !

That's not how I interpret the government website.

Here is the relevant page in English. I expect it's clearer in Turkish ;-)
I can understand that!

I assume all this also applies to dongles, BTW. Has anybody tried to register a foreign dongle - as opposed to buying a Turkish one and having it registered by the seller?

I agree with you, the translation is not so good. I was reading this page, very early in the morning and for some reason thought registration may not be necessary.

Individual Import Applications | MCKS&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp

If your only staying for a short time then it may well not be necessary to register your IMEI. I was charged 5 Lira for the registration at a Turkcell extra store. But you get a receipt and an SMS (in Turkish) is sent to your phone, confirming registration, I beleive. Somewhere I have a copy of the actual document I completed as I requested this. But I dont think this is normally given.

On the lower part of the page in the URL above this is stated, which may refer to dongles in Turkey :

"With the web service application, records taken by subscription centers of GSM operators (Turkcell, Vodafone, Avea) are synchronously entered to the system. By this way, device can be recorded as soon as application is made. However, if any problem is identified while Telecommunications Authority is checking the documents received by GSM operators’ subscription centers the related device will be deleted from the record list. For this reason, documents given to subscription centers must be complete.

If the documents related with device and electronic identity information of device are not problematic, device information is entered to the system and IMEI number of the device is recorded. "

HTH

And if anyone know an online way of topping up a Turkcell SIM, I'd very very interested to hear !

Here's my experience with Turkcell using GPRS/EDGE Internet for 1,5 month - gone through most of their revenue tricks.

:eek:

Does anyone have any up-to-date info about prepaid data in Turkey?

Up to date information
 

I live in Turkey and use the various systems available here.

I have vodaphone internet on my iPhone and it costs just 9 TL for a 1gb per month tariff (but this is on a company account),

I also have several Turkcell VINN modems. The Modem currently costs 99TL and 1gb per month approx 20TL and 4gb per month 29TL. This figure is increased if its used in an iPhone. I have no idea why other than the iPhone here is £650, so you must be able to afford it! These are PAYG prices. All thats needed is cash or CC and ID (a driving licence will do, but a passport is better. They will have you setup in 10 minutes

One item of caution, I use both Vodaphone and Turkcell data here in Marmaris. The Vodaphone is only Edge where Turkcell is 3G and definately has the best coverage. Even 3G in small villages.

The Turkcell prepaid (Hazir Kart) data packages don't seem to have changed much:

http://www.turkcell.com.tr/bireysel/...eri/hazirkart/

I just tried to buy a Turkcell prepaid card and register my phone today at a Turkcell shop. They copied my passport and entered the IMEI number into the computer.

All seemed to be going fine except that the SIM didn't work in the phone. This surprised the people in the shop. After much discussion and phoning their managers they declared that the phone was blocked and that it would start working after 2 days and then stop working after 10 days. This is contrary to what I expected which was that it would work immediately but stop working after 10 days unless it was registered: that was why I was registering it! I aborted the sale - a SIM that doesn't work, might work in a few days, but will then stop working after 10 days is not much use.

But I now don't know how the system is supposed to work. I'm in Turkey for 3 months. My experience suggests that you need to register your foreign phone just to use a prepaid SIM and that you can't use it for more than 10 days even if you do.

Can anybody shine any light on this?

I went back to the Turkcall shop the next day and it turned out to be a Turkish-English mistranslation.

I still don't know why the phone was found to be blocked ('closed' was the word they used) when the Turkcell SIM was first put into it. Maybe that is normal now (though the shop seemed surprised). Maybe it's because I had been using it for a week for roaming. Others have reported in the past that their phones work initially then stop working after a few weeks.

What the shop people meant was that it would take a minimum of 2 days and a maximum of 10 to register the SIM+IMEI combination and unblock the phone. On the second visit to the shop the girl spoke better English: she said "it will probably work tomorrow unless there's a problem with that phone". And it did - so it's probably an overnight data transfer between Turkcell and the computers that check the IMEIs.

The process - buying the SIM (Hazir Kart SIMPlus) and registering the phone - cost me 43TL.

When it worked I dialed 8090 to change the language to English. NOTE you also need to do this AND listen to to the message right to the end or you won't get the 20TL credit that comes with the SIM.

I subscribed to 250Mb of data in a month by sending EKO to 2222. (There are other options on the Turkcell website but all in Turkish I think.) I got an confirmatory SMS.

The APN is 'internet' - no usernames or proxies. The phone seems to have acquired a set of APNs automatically.

Sending 'KALAN INTERNET' to 2222 gives me a data balance and expiry date.

So far so good. I don't yet know how to get a TL credit balance by SMS or whether the EKO option renews automatically.

Turkcell Hazir Kart:

To get a money balance: *123#

The EKO internet package does renew automatically.

Expiry: if you do *166*5# you get two dates - one 180 days from the date of the last credit, and one 270 days after. I believe that the SIM expires if not credited before that later date.

I don't know whether it is possible to apply credit from outside Turkey, e.g. by using *122*nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn# (voucher number).

Hi all,

This seems to be the main Turkey thread, so I will post here.

My wife and I have two unlocked Android phones.

Last year I went to Turkcell, bought a SIM and registered, but it took forever to register and work.
I needed the phone urgently, so I went to an Avea shop and they sold me a SIM that worked.
Eventually we were able to use the Turkcell in her phones. Happy days.

We were out of the country for 6 months, and didn't top up the SIMs so they were understandable both expired when we returned a few weeks ago.

However, at the Istanbul airport, I was told by Avea and Turkcell desks that my phone showed up as registered last year, therefore I wouldn't be able to use it this year!?!?!

Luckily? my wife's phone wasn't registered, so we were able to register it with Turkcell and get a SIM for it. (SIM doesn't work in my phone... as though my phone is banned/blocked).

So has something changed in the Turkish phone registration laws?
Why was I being told I would "never be able to use my phone in Turkey again as I registered it last year"...

It seems like DaveRo managed. I might go into the a different shop and see what they say.

A bit confused / concerned. Not having a phone is a bummer.

That's quite strange. AFAIK you had to register your phone in order for them not to block it after some weeks, not the opposite. Probably something went wrong with your last year's registration.

Maybe once you have registered an IMEI against a SIM you cannot register it agaInst a different SIM..

I'm in Turkey now. I have updated the page on my sailing blog:
Mobile internet access in Turkey

I have the opposite problem: can I re-register a SIM against a new phone? I keep the SIMs alive with topups from the UK but I'd like to use them in a faster phone.

Cheers for the reply DaveRo

You might be right... maybe the SIM and foreign IMEI are linked, and once the SIM dies after not being topped up after 6 months, then it is difficult to get the foreign IMEI back on the grid again... :-(

I haven't had time (or inclination!) to chase it up further, but thought I would raise the issue here on the forum in case anyone else has the issue or finds a solution.

Let us know how you get on with moving your SIM to your new phone... or maybe it might be easier just getting a new SIM registered to your new phone...

Hi,
T-Mobile offers very reasonable prices which are something like 30$ per 100MB.
Other than that I do not know any easy ways to purchase SIM cards, since the regulations are pretty strict.
There are however some start-ups who offer mobile wifi/3G devices (so called mifi) which creates a wifi so you can connect with your mobile without replacing your SIM Card.

You can skype, use whatsapp or viber instead of text messaging or actual telephone calls.

When we were in Antalya two months ago we hired a device from www.alldaywifi.com. They are Istanbul-based but they delivered it to our hotel (Delivery fee costs extra 5€).

We were pretty much happy with the experience. I am sure there are also other companies you can find on internet.
Hope this helps!

I was in Istanbul just a couple of days ago and I rented this mobile wifi from a campany called

Alldaywifi.com

They brought the mobile wifi to my hotel in Old City and I left it in hotel's reception in Cappadocia.

The speed and the coverage were good, prices are cheap enough and they reply about small issues immediately.

I also bought Istanbul Card and 3 sets of Fast Museum Cards. I highly recommend those because Istanbul Card provides discounted rates on transportation and the museum passes saved me from long queues of the museums.

I noticed that they started to offer airport delivery and airport transfer but at the time I booked, they didn't offer these services.

They met my basic tourist needs perfectly :) I think they deserve to take a look

All day Wifi
 

I had a dispute with alldaywifi when they wanted to add their product to the prepaid SIM wiki. I had to edit it several times to get down to the facts and get rid of all advertisement bla-bla.

Now, checking again their website, it's still very deceiving:

- for instance they now add the Istanbul Card for discounted public transport.
This is highlighted in this blog: https://alldaywifi.com/blog. What they "forgot" to add, that the card is sold for TL 6 (€1.64) only everywhere in town. Btw. if you want to keep your Istanbul Card, you will be charged $3. Same policy with the museums pass.

- they say about the regulations in Turkey, which are really a hassle for long-term visitors: To use a mobile phone with a Turkish SIM card, you have to register your phone (IMEI number) in tax offices for approx. 40 EUR. Unregistered phones may be blocked in 1 week to 4 weeks.
What they "forgot" to say is, that the Turkish governement has extended the grace period from 30 to 60 days in 2014. So up to 2 months, you are safe on an local SIM card.

- you should never make a contract with a supplier who doesn't publish their T&Cs on the internet. In most countries this illegal, in Turkey obviously not. So read this: Enjoy unlimited data - We do not count your usage in MBs or GBs, since we really do not care. If you are using Alldaywifi, you also should not consider your internet usage every time. Unlimited means unlimited.
What they "forgot" to say is their Fair Use Policy of 15 GB/week and 60 GB/month. This is much, but not unlimited and only written in the T&Cs which have now disappered totally. EDIT: I just tried a fake booking. The T&C are linked just before payment: https://alldaywifi.com/index.php?opt...=article&id=24 Of course, FUP is still in there.

- I like this message especially: As Alldaywifi, we always guarantee that using our services will be cheaper in any condition comparing to buying a SIM card.
Ok. They "guarantee"! How? Just make a short calculation: You stay in Istanbul for 1 week and use 1 GB data. Alldaywifi charges you $40 (TL 111) if you pick it up and bring it back to their office.
The leading mobile provider in Turkey is Turkcell. They charge for a Hazir prepaid card TL 35 containing TL 20 credit. A 1 GB weekly package is sold for TL 9. Vodafone and Avea are even cheaper. So will alldaywifi give me back TL 111-35 = 76. Well, I have my doubts......

Reading this previous contribution, I can't help feeling that it is from the same source: https://alldaywifi.com/about-us.
Btw. congratulations to alldaywifi for being the no.1 outdoor activity in Istanbul on tripadvisor: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...-Istanbul.html
OMG :chair:

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
I think even with your warning this would be an attractive option.
With your warning you would be forewarned and make a better choice of it.
The 'fair use' info seems to be more the Telco's conditions than alldaywifi's practice.

As to being the no.1 outdoor activity in Istanbul ??
Well I fear there are many who spend way too much time looking at small screens. Istanbul seems to be a place with a lot to see.
Pity so many will only look at small screens.
Kind of sad, actually.
I think people tend to want the least hassle possible and let others do the dirty work. I think this meets that desire.

Well, we had a discussion about WiFi hotspot router rental agencies on the prepaid data WIKI, whether to include or exclude them from the listing.

Some users claimed that they are doing a business/service which is totally different than selling a local SIM card to go online. Others said that they can offer a viable alternative.

As being the Admin there, I don't want to take sides as long as this is not necessary. But we ended up with more rentals than good SIM offers by providers in France or Japan. So we adopted a policy to add them in countries where it's "difficult" for any given reason to buy a local SIM card.

We need to be fair to the agencies: Their product/service is priced much higher than a local SIM card, but normally lower than internatl. roaming rates on your own device.
They claim to be the "all inclusive" "everything is cared for" solution which is worth the premium. This is for everyone up to decide. But I think the most convenient solution needs to be, that finally international roaming rates must come down. Buying a local SIM card is a surrogate like renting a MIFI device to save some money.

What strikes me most about the rental agencies, that all of them put all liability for the device (and sometimes even for the transport) on the renter. This fact mostly hidden in their T&Cs, was always erased by the rental companies as soon as I added it to their offers on the Wiki. I mean when you rent a car, you look at insurance and want a deductible as low as possible. At WIFI rental agencies it's if you break or loose the device, you'll pay for it. No insurance offered and they have your credit card data and signature on the rental contract. To state this clearly, obviously contradicts their image of an "all inclusive" service.

But this applies to all rental agencies and not to alldaywifi in particular. They have made a great marketing effort (as you see on tripadvisor) based on questionable claims. A rental router agency as being the no.1 outdoor activity in Istanbul is just ridiculous.
They are still on our Turkey article amongst other agencies. Ironically, it was the Turkish Government who took away a major reason for them to exist. They extented the grace period of how long a local SIM card can be run on a "foreign device" without being blocked from a few days to 2 months in 2014. So the average tourist to Turkey can be perfectly all right with a local SIM card from Turkcell, Vodafone or Avea using them up to 60 days.

It seems if the emphasis is 'data', then they should be included.
That just jumps out at me.
Are they mostly 'prepaid'?

I'd be interested to know roughly when that happened.

Hey, I'm Erinc, one of the co-founders of Alldaywifi. I came up to this topic while making regular check to follow what people think about Alldaywifi on the web.

I appreciate the detailed work of Wolfbln earlier in this post. I really care how Alldaywifi looks like through the perspectives of other people.

Actually, Wolfbln is the one, who added Alldaywifi to wiki for prepaid data. At that time he made a detailed research and added us as an alternative to SIM cards.

10:10, August 25, 2014‎ Wolfbln (Talk | contribs)‎ . . (46,117 bytes) (+1,192)‎ . . (→‎avea: added Mifi solution of alldaywifi)

After couple of months, one of the competitors tried to do advertise on wiki without showing any respect to guidelines of wiki, where Wolfbln was there once more to keep wiki clean.

17:06, September 5, 2014‎ Wolfbln (Talk | contribs)‎ . . (46,209 bytes) (-1,925)‎ . . (→‎Rent 'n Connect: reasons for undo see Talk: Yattering)

I think on his earlier post he confused Alldaywifi with other company who made him upset a little bit. :)

If you do not mind I wanted to make some points clear for your community which Wolfbln mentioned here.

We do not charge if you use Istanbul Card with your Alldaywifi and return it at the end of your rental. 95% of our guests prefer that way to avoid initial cost, and yes, if you want to keep it, we ask for $3 which is $0,54 more expensive than the price at kiosks. We just added this information to our blogpost, in case people want to buy it. Apparently some people prefer to get it this way to avoid all the hassle finding a kiosk to buy it.

This is correct and our phrase about 1 to 4 weeks is not up-to-date anymore. It was somewhere deep on our webpage, we never highlight it, but we just updated it with actual regulations. Thanks for the warning.

For those who want to make a reservation, our Terms & Conditions are very clear and easy to reach on our webpage. As an obligation of govermental laws we include 60GB per month limit to the Fair Usage Policy , but you cannot see one single review who complains about the data limit, because we add additional data whenever our guests need without any extra fee. So we are doing exactly what we say on our webpage.

As well as we have some not up-to-date information on our website, I think this information does not reflect actual pricing. If you can get a SIM card with some data for less than 100TL, we would be happy to provide our service for free during your visit to Turkey. :)

As describing text, we usually compare SIM prices of short visits to our rental fee, which makes sense but not 3x times expensive as you calculated. :) We also deliver anywhere in Istanbul for free, since we are launched last year. You never need to come to our office (We used to work from home, we have a public office since 2 months :) ) I think it was confused with one of the competitors again. :)

We are listed as Gear Rentals in Istanbul (quite fair) but Tripadvisor include it to main category to Outdoor Activities (strange?) But it is not our choice, I hope we could have a more appropriate category but for now we can do nothing against it since it is TA's strategy.

Since we started our company, we did not create a single self-promotional content, on any of the platforms. We just concentrate on our guests, not marketing posts. That's why we even were involved in prepaid wiki by one of the contributors, not us.

These are the main points I wanted to make clear. I personally appreciate this kind of contributions and we are always ready to improve any points, which you might find to improve user experience. I do not know if you know about any company who pay attention to this kind of valuable feedbacks and takes necessary actions immediately.

We are doing our best to keep our Startup honest and transparent, which makes the life of travellers easier in our country.

I suppose we can accept your assurance at face value, but I can see possible reasons why wolfbln was confused about who was promoting your product.

The two new members who posted about it here and on other platforms also seem a little confused. They tell us they are from two other countries, and that they visited Turkey and used your product.

But actually they both posted from within Turkey, even 2 months after the visit of one, using other ISP's. This may or may not imply a longer term relationship with the country, but it does make me wonder about their use of your service, including why they are posting so much about it, without mentioning others that they've used.

Hi Erinc. Thanks for clearing some points.

I'm also totally happy with your offer on the prepaid WIKI site and this represents a fair presentation of your product from my point of view - no complaints about it. The dispute was probably with another company. I can't tell for sure, as I've edited so many Wifi Hotspot rental offers.

I also have to admit one mistake of mine: the Hazir card, that's the startup package of Turkcell has gone up in price now and is sold for 51 TL. This is now updated on the WIKI too.

What the other points are concerned, I'm glad that you got rid of the outdated information on your website as I did on the WIKI. I'm totally aware, that on your site, you can advertize your product anyway you like.

But here, you should stick to the facts: "For those who want to make a reservation, our Terms & Conditions are very clear ".
This is true. But should it be only to those who want to make the deal - or to everbody who is interested on your website? In many countries, it's mandatory to show T&Cs open on the website for everbody to see. You have chosen to give a link to the T&Cs only after entering personal data, just before payment. And some regulations like liability are not mentioned before. Again, you are right in what you have said - but is it good service obviously in lack of a legal obligation to state T&Cs open in Turkey?

"If you can get a SIM card with some data for less than 100TL, we would be happy to provide our service for free during your visit to Turkey".
OK. Can I take this as a bet?
I will visit your great country in November and need 1 GB for 1 week in Antalya. You will understand that I won't use your service so far away from Istanbul. If I manage to get a SIM card of a major provider (Turkcell, Vodafone, Avea) plus 1GB data for a week for less than 100 TL, you will give your service for free for another user of this forum? Of course, I'll document my costs and show it here.

@andy
Somehow, I'm not surprised, that these "reviews" about Alldaywifi were coming from people registered in different countries, both using a Turkish IP address for their post, even if they are supposed to have left the country already.

We can't prove anything, but it looks dubious for sure. Like the No.1 "outdoor activity" for which this company has been voted for by their happy users on Tripadvisor without any help, even if there are more rental agencies in town.

I think we can leave it here as we can't solve this mystery. But I hope that Erinc accepts my bet :-)

For sure, I'm happy to accept your bet.

I will be waiting for your adventures for a SIM card to hear how things will go for you. :)

You can even tell the complete process about vendors at the airports or not english speaking shopkeepers in the city.

If you manage to survive that week without spending more than 100TL, I'm happy to offer a free Alldaywifi for one week in Istanbul to a traveller from this forum.

It is a quite good bet for you, since there is still a possibility that everything may go as planned without getting overcharged or not-activated SIM card. I'd be also glad if you can share how long does it take for you to get connected via your turkish SIM and if 1GB was enough for you. (Feel free to top-up later;) )

Besides that, I hope you will have a wonderful time in my country.

P.S. We send those mobile wifis anywhere in Turkey. :roll: