Strange law in Turkey

[ms93]

Hi,
As I read here, to use my mobile in Turkey (with Turkish SIM) I have to go to sales point with invoice for it and register it. It sounds very strange to me - I have never seen something like that before. Registered SIMs - that's normal, but registered mobiles!?
Have someone been to Turkey after 2005 and bought there SIM to use with own mobile phone? And what if I don't have invoice for my mobile?

[DRNewcomb]

This was an issue in Thailand. For many years only phones sold and registered in Thailand could be used in Thailand with a Thai SIM. Eventually they got to the point that you could register your phone with customs at the airport then show the receipt at the mobile phone office to have the IMEI entered into the carrier's database. I don't know if they still register phones in Thailand or not.

[PhotoJim]

Does it end up mattering? If you register Phone X and then put your SIM into Phone Y, I assume it still works.

Seems a silly policy to have.

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by PhotoJim

Does it end up mattering? If you register Phone X and then put your SIM into Phone Y, I assume it still works.

Seems a silly policy to have.

Unregistered phones get blocked by the networks there after approx. 3 weeks (IMEI blocked by the operators).
So usually for holiday its no problem but for longer stays you can not use the phone anymore before you register it.

Chris

[Motel75]

I registered my SIM in Turkey in October 2005 without having to show them my phone.

[DaveRo]

Some people have reported successfully registering their phones for a Turkcell SIM:

http://www.noonsite.com/Members/doina/R2007-04-02-2

Dave

[Jan Ledochowski]

Re one of the comments below, it is not correct to say that once you have registered your local SIM card you can use it on any other phone. My SIM card WAS registered with Vodafone Turkey and indeed it still is registered with them with my passport and other details. It worked for a month last year and 9 days this year but I was cut off on the 10th day (yesterday) because my Palm organiser phone was not itself registered apparently when I bought the SIM last year.

[ms93]

Hi,
I'm back from Turkey. I bought Turkcell and Avea sims.
Turkcell was working good without registering phone - only copy of passport. Also service in Turkcell shop was good - few minutes and I have working card.
With Avea I have more problems... First, in shop they spoke English very little. Next, they didn't know what to fill, what to copy and what to give me. They even didn't know the price of sim... Finally my Avea card wasn't working...

[DaveRo]

This was posted to a sailing forum. I'm reposting it here with Jan's permission.

Re earlier correspondence: most people responded that yes it is true that you should register your foreign mobile phone with customs on landing in Turkey and/or you should register it with the company (eg Vodafone) at which you buy your local SIM card, otherwise your foreign mobile phone will be disconnected a few weeks/months later (as mine was).

So on landing in Istanbul Ataturk I went to (1) customs, who denied that they are supposed to do any such registration and so refused to do it, and (2) Vodafone, who confirmed that they can do such registration but said that their relevant systems are "down" for they know not how long. In frustration I bought a cheap local mobile, which is naturally pre-registered.

One person reported that Vodafone Marmaris (in contrast to Vodafone Kusadasi or Vodafone Istanbul airport) did register a foreign mobile for him, and another reported that Turkcell (who also refused to register for me in Kusadasi) are generally readier to register elsewhere. So I shall try one or both when convenient.

Jan Ledóchowski

[DaveRo]

Next episode:

After failure at both customs and Vodafone, both in Istanbul airport and Kusadasi, I have finally successfully registered my fancy UK-bought Palm Treo mobile with Vodafone in Marmaris, thanks to the reports of a few members that this would be possible. It now works. One member reported that Turkcell in Marmaris are equally good or better and their internet dongle works (the Vodafone dongle did not work on my laptop).

The people at the Vodafone office were not really able to help sort the internet aspects of the mobile phone, including using it as a modem for internet from the laptop, but with some help from customer services on 444 0542 I have been able to come up with a strange but workable solution (mixture of Turkish settings for the mobile phone and UK settings, which I luckily already had from Vodafone UK, not Turkish settings, for the laptop).

Jan Ledóchowski