Turkey Report

prion · 14-10-2009, 06:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by SIMCollector

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)

SIMCollector · 17-10-2009, 02:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by prion

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.

Maxy · 13-04-2011, 16:05

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.

DaveRo · 18-04-2011, 20:48

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

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

DaveRo · 23-05-2011, 21:46

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?

DaveRo · 25-05-2011, 10:19

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.

DaveRo · 21-07-2011, 09:32

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).

	(#3)
Maxy (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 2 Join Date: 13 Apr 2011 Country:	13-04-2011, 16:05 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.

	(#4)
DaveRo (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 153 Join Date: 07 Jul 2006 Country:	18-04-2011, 20:48 The Turkcell prepaid (Hazir Kart) data packages don't seem to have changed much: http://www.turkcell.com.tr/bireysel/...eri/hazirkart/

	(#5)
DaveRo (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 153 Join Date: 07 Jul 2006 Country:	23-05-2011, 21:46 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?

	(#6)
DaveRo (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 153 Join Date: 07 Jul 2006 Country:	25-05-2011, 10:19 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.

	(#7)
DaveRo (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 153 Join Date: 07 Jul 2006 Country:	21-07-2011, 09:32 Turkcell Hazir Kart: To get a money balance: 123# The EKO internet package does* renew automatically. Expiry: if you do 1665# 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 122nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn# (voucher number).