Today we are without a smartphone, as without hands. Especially when traveling, especially in a foreign country. Call a taxi and find your way using a navigator, choose from reviews and book a restaurant, check the current exchange rate and see the weather, post a selfie from the Antalya beach on social networks, all this requires not just a cellular connection, but good mobile Internet. In Turkey, with such an arsenal, it is much easier to travel, so before you travel, it is better to study in advance which operator has the most suitable offers in terms of price / quality ratio.
There are several options and, of course, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. So, the main advantages in using roaming are the ease of connection and the absence of a language barrier in communicating with the support service. The advantage of Turkish operators is in more favorable rates, especially if you often use mobile communications / Internet or stay for 20-90 days. But at the same time, there are a number of disadvantages, which we will discuss below. An alternative option is a tourist SIM card, which is very convenient and beneficial if you are an active traveler, which is also discussed below.
Phone code through which calls are made:
Turkey: +90
Ankara: 312
Istanbul: 212
Cellular operators in Turkey
Buying a Turkish SIM card for the Internet is undoubtedly a profitable option if you plan to relax in Turkey for 1-3 months or plan to actively use the Internet. After all, most tariff plans are paid once every 30 days and offer “tasty” promotions for new subscribers in the first month of use. Of the pluses, we also note good coverage, which captures even remote and high-mountainous areas. There are some downsides to this option:
Difficulties in communication . Far from everywhere where starter packs are sold, you can get a clear consultation in English, and even more so Russian, language. The language barrier can also interfere in case of contacting the operator’s call center with some problem.
The passport. Operators in Turkey sell SIM cards only with a passport, or rather, a paper copy is needed. At the same time, if you buy a room not in a specialized department, but in a supermarket, for example, then you will have to run around in search of a copier on your own.
Prices . For starter packages, they start from 7 €, of which only a small part is transferred to the balance, so to order the tariff plan you like, you need to additionally replenish your account.
For once . For guests of the country, a Turkish SIM card can be said to be one-time: according to local rules, a foreigner can use the services of a Turkish mobile operator for no more than 90 days a year. Longer is possible only for those who provide the operator with their residence permit number. If the phone number is not active for 90 days in a row, it is automatically blocked. Another limitation is that cellular operators in Turkey only allow 120 days to use a local SIM card on a mobile phone bought abroad. To use it longer, you either need to pay a state duty (about $ 100), or buy a phone in one of the Turkish stores.
If these inconveniences do not scare you, the next step is to choose an operator and a tariff plan.
Popular mobile operators in Turkey
Turkcell is a Turkish company, the leader among the country’s cellular network operators. It is famous for its breadth and depth of coverage, therefore it catches even in the mountains and remote villages. However, its rates are comparatively higher than those of its competitors.
Especially for tourists, the operator offers a Tourist Welcome Pack. Mobile communication in Turkey with this package will cost 149 lira per month (about 20 €). It includes 20 GB of internet, 200 minutes of domestic calls and unlimited use of WhatsApp. You can also separately order packages with the necessary amount of Internet and the number of minutes for calls.
TurkTelekom , formerly called Avea, provides excellent communication and Internet in large cities and resort areas, which cannot be said about remote corners of the country.
Vacationers are more profitable to choose one of the Internet packages (from 3 to 15 GB), since each of them automatically includes 1000 SMS and 1000 minutes for calls in Turkey. The cost starts from 40 lira (about 6 € for 3 GB).
Vodafon – a British company guarantees Turkish subscribers excellent coverage, high-speed Internet. The quality of communication is approximately at the level of TurkCell.
The operator offers an abundance of tariffs, among which the most profitable promotional ones are sold at a discount and give bonuses for the first 1-3 months of use (just relevant for guests of the country who come under visa-free conditions). The package price for a month starts from 25 lira (about 4 € for 7 GB).
You can learn more about a visa to the country in the article “Visa to Turkey” .
BimCell is a so-called “virtual operator” that operates on the basis of TurkCell, which means it has equally good coverage. Its advantage is low tariffs for mobile Internet in Turkey, and the main disadvantage is that the activation period can take 1-2 days, or even more.
There are different tariffs, mixed packages will be convenient – from 19 lira (2.6 €) for 600 minutes, 600 SMS and 2 GB. Or you can order a tariff separately, for example, 10 GB for 34 liras (4.7 €).
Where to buy a SIM card? You can buy a card: at the offices of operators, at airports and seaports (most often, the starting one will be 2 times more expensive than in the city), at bus stations, in stores that sell mobile phones, in shopping centers and some grocery supermarkets.
How is a SIM card sold, activated, replenished in Turkey?
- To purchase a starter package, you need a passport for which the number is registered.
- Activation of the starter package for all operators takes about 10 minutes. The only exception is the BimCell operator, whose SIM card is activated for 1-4 days.
- When buying, specify how to activate the selected tariff plan, since it does not turn on automatically, but you need to additionally connect via sms.
- You can replenish the card in cash at the point of purchase and at the cash desks in supermarkets. Also, mobile operators in Turkey provide replenishment, tariff change and ordering additional services on their websites.
- If you are going away from big cities and seaside resorts, take care of having money in your account in advance.
How to save traffic? It’s simple: turn off automatic app updates in the App Store/Google Play settings. Also, manually configure the access of applications to the Internet, restrict access to those programs that you can do without on a trip.
Don’t forget to turn off mobile data in places where there is Wi-Fi access. And before the trip, download offline maps (Maps.me, Google.Maps), because online navigation uses too much traffic.