Registration of UK phones stopped????

[AandP]

Hi.

We tried to register our mobile phone today at a Turkcell shop in Fethiye and were informed that it is no longer possible to register a UK phone to use beyond a 2-3 week period with a Turkish SIM. After this period, the phone becomes locked and cannot be used at all.
We stated that we understood that we could register our mobile with the aid of a tax number (which we possess) our passports and a registration charge to be paid. The helpful assistant stated that this registration process has been withdrawn by the Government, ?.

Has anyone else found this to be so?

Is this correct? It will mean that our expensive UK smart phones are to be rendered useless!... help , advice please....

[stoop]

Nothing would surprise me but maybe it's just a shop worker who can't be bothered or doesn't know how to do it.

To be honest we tried this a few years back and it didn't work so we ended up buying a Turkish phone and sim for around 120ytl. It's not a very smart phone though

[tel]

There has been a recent change in Turkish law, whereby foreigners cannot import a mobile from outside Turkey and register it in their own name.

[Eric]

Try asking at the tax office, thats where you register your phone.  They will tell you if you can or cannot do it now.

[daveG]

What next? Tel?
I'm beginning to think Turk Gov. has access to Ryanair's  "Think Tank"  

[Hamlet]

Yes it's true, I was told this about 4 months ago. 

[phil1839]

We have just returned from a trip to England where we purchased two new mobile phones. You have to take the phone and your passport to the Tax Office in Fethiye. Go to the desk where you pay your car tax on the ground floor, they take details of your passport and the imei number of the phone and you give them 115tl, they will then issue you with a receipt.  We then took the receipt to an Avea shop where we purchased a Sim card and they registered the phones in our names. If you have residency you can use different Turkish Sim cards in the phone, with no residency you are restricted to the one sim card which you registered with.  I think you have to register the phones within 1 month of arriving in Turkey. Phil

[Eric]

So nothing has changed then.  Sounds like the original shop do not know their ar*e from their elbow.  I think it is best to use main phone shops rather than the smaller shops who just sell you credits.

[Bluwise]

Try Baris in the Avea shop in Fethiye - he's very helpful.  It's the one on the row of shops opposite the Mosque. 

[Marggie]

Like your new avatar Sue.