Mobile phones

[philrose]

quote:Originally posted by bewva

Sue,
We have a phone bought in Turkey with a Turkcell sim.
We need to add credit to it every 3 months or you can't make outgoing calls from it. If you dont add credit or make a call in 6 mths it gets locked (I believe).

With Turkcell, once the first 90 days are up you then get 90 days after this to top up but you cannot make any calls, after that there is a 30 day final period where you can still top up but you can neither make or receive calls.

[CeeDee]

Hi All,
I have been coming to Calis for the last 3years (since we bought our place)and every year we come home having used our Mobiles over there to text and ring people, and have a heart attack when our bills arrive, and every time we say we must by a cheap turkish phone to use when we are there, this year I am determined to get one but need some advice on how it all works;
All we need is a basic phone that we can text and ring people in Calis and back in UK
Is it better to get a contract  (not sure if this is possible), or Pay as you go ?.
Do you need to register ?
I have been told to leave it with someone to make a call every couple months to avoid being cut off, is this correct ?
How easy is it to top up, can this be done in Calis, or do you have to go to Fethiye ?
Any idea on call and text charges, both locally and back to the UK ?

Apologies if this has been covered before.
Chris

[tonysue]

Ceedee, I am in the same boat. Bought a cheap PAYG samsung in Asda for a tenner the other day and an unlock code from ebay (99p). Unlocked it no problem, so I will now take it to Turkey next week and have it registered and buy sim at Turkcell shop in Fethiye. After reading the threads on here I think this is the cheapest option. You can now top-up online at your turkish bank to keep your sim active or buy a new sim from same shop if you get cut off. This is the theory- I will let you know if it works out in practice:D:D

[cef]

I don't think you need to buy an extra moby for Turkey, just the sim card, get the phone registered & opened for roaming (Turkcell shop on the one way rd in Fethiye is good).  PAYG is fine, buy a top card or 2, to bring back with you.

I was last over in Oct 08, I've just topped up at the weekend & it's functioning ok again  .  If you leave it too long (180 days, I think) you loose the number & have to buy another sim card.

[bewva]

A cheap moby in Turkey is about £35. I bought one 2 years ago from a Turkcell shop but you can also get in Asda or Migros.
I had previously regitered a UK phone but it still got barred, hence buying a Turkish one.
I set it for roaming so I can make calls from the UK to keep it active and I also take a couple of 100 kontor cards home with me to top it up in winter.

[kevin3]

Thanks for that Bewva,Any problems with the menu language.??

[bewva]

Phone menu no probs as you can select English on phone. turkcel however insist on sending you texts regularly with offers of free Kontors etc but they are in turkish, even though they know you are registered as an english user.
Bewva

[brianthegardener]

I wouldnt expect the turkcell text messages to be in any other lannguage here in Turkey., except turkish..like wise in Uk i wouldnt expect the text messages from the networks there to be in any other lannguage than english..im sure the turks living in uk have the same problem reading there messages to !!

[kevin3]

Thanks Bewva.!

[CeeDee]

Thanks for info guys,
I think I will buy a couple of phones when I'm there (one for son so we know where he is!!).
Any idea of charges for texts/calls