The mobile world in Turkey reminded me badly of Russia. Everything is simple with us: you buy a SIM card, pay for the tariff, and once every two years you loudly resent the rise in price.

For two months of life in Istanbul on many pitfalls, you need to be prepared for the content if you are waiting for a long time. For example, more than 4 months. Why exactly such a period, I will tell further.

And even lower will be all about the huge tax on communications on foreign smartphones, about cheap cellular communications and about the different prices for connecting for entertainment and visitors.

First of all, I will answer main question. Are our SIMs working?

👉 For those who want to know briefly about the main thing happening.

You can receive calls and SMS on a SIM card from the Russian Federation

Big 4 operators work on the basis of large companies, including three: Turkcell, Vodafone and Turk Telecom.

Russian SIM-cards are switched to Turkish towers upon arrival. For example, instead of Megaphone, vodafone TR is displayed, and instead of the Kazakh beeline, there will be Turkcell. In the pictures above are Russian electronic SIM-cards, which in Turkey are “disguised” as a share.

For two months, there have never been any problems with paying for a SIM card or receiving SMS from services and banks. But I do not use my home SIM card for mobile internet or calls in Turkey. Prices

Roaming of a Russian operation abroad per day as per month

Megaphone takes 6.9 rubles for 100 Kb and 69 rubles for a minute of conversation. If you spend 599 rubles during the day, you will receive 1 GB of Internet and 60 minutes of calls for free until the end of the day. Outgoing SMS costs 49 rubles. You can also connect packages with daily payment or take the tariff “Roaming, goodbye PLUS» for 999 rubles a day, where they give 100 minutes and 10 GB of traffic.

beeline get 1 GB of Internet for 450 rubles per day, 45 rubles for one minute of communication and 45 rubles for one minute of SMS events.

MTS for 450 rubles a day, save the necessary packages at modern rates to use them at home. Or you can pay 12 rubles for the first 50 MB and 6 rubles for each opportunity to import 50 MB.

Tele 2 I propose to activate the service “Conversations without borders” for 5 rubles per day or 150 rubles per month. It ranges from 20 rubles to 5 rubles per minute. For the Internet, there is “Unlimited Internet Abroad” for 350 rubles per day. Gives 200 MB at high speed and further unlimited at 128 Kbps.

All buyers have fixed prices, so bringing in just a week will be more profitable to purchase a Turkish SIM card. But here are a couple of nuances.

Local rates in Turkey for foreigners

Telecom operators issue medical SIM cards to tourists, which stop working after 90 days. And they’re also expensive.

In the photo on the left, for connecting new subscribers to citizenship or a residence permit in Turkey, it starts from 149 liras.

We made two SIM cards “for a promotion” for 900 lire for two in the photo on the right. Tudailo entry 20 GB, 750 minutes and 1000 SMS and unlimited WhatsApp for 28 days. At least some bonus was an external power supply for 10,000 mAh as a gift.

After the first month, you need to buy packages with gigabytes, minutes and SMS, for which discounts arrive every now and then.


On the left is my package for 28 days for 50 lire, on the right are different options for the future

The cost is small even for visitors: there are both profitable offers of 20 GB for 132 lira (434 rubles), and not very offers with 3 GB for 250 rubles. But I I advise you to go to the operator’s salons and ask for how much Internet you need at a bargain price. For example, in the past, I had 15 GB (captured by the statistics committee) for 55 lira with tax (180 rubles).

The same Vodafone, in order to communicate with Russia, has the opportunity to connect 120 minutes of international calls for 70 liras (230 rubles). Roaming is much cheaper.

Everyone is also equal in that there is no unlimited Internet. Packages must be purchased by the subscriber monthly.

After 120 days, you need to pay tax or block the phone


A site for registering the IMEI of your smartphone. Can only be obtained if you have a residence permit or other Turkish identity card

Department of Information and Communication Technology of Turkey requires registration of each smartphone within the country by IMEI. It seems to be nothing terrible, but over the past three years, the tax on this service has grown from a tolerable 1,300 rubles in 2018 to such cases. 8900 rubles (2732 Lira) in 2022. If your income is from Russia, you will receive a scalding 10,000 rubles after transferring money.

You need to register it here.

If this is not done, after 4 months the smartphone is blocked precisely by IMEI. It is impossible to simply change the SIM card, the new one works for the maximum number of days until the system detects a smartphone from the black list.

There is no way around the problem, asked rabbits, visitors, telecom operators and other famous people. The rule applies to everyone and everyone. Even Apple writes it in black and white.

Or pay top ten, or walk with a brick from Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi. And it doesn’t matter what smartphone you have, the expensive iPhone 14 Pro Max or the penny Galaxy A04.

there may be an attempt to use the turns of gray desires or a desire to control each user. According to the 2022 ranking, Turkey has the most expensive iPhones in the world due to the almost 100% tax on any device with a cellular connection. The same goes for any other phone.

But the worst thing about this situation is that you can do 1 time like this in 3 years. This means that lovers of changing to a new iPhone annually choose them only in Turkey with a huge tax.

Briefly about the situation

Memorize the four conclusions and be prepared for them in Turkey.

one. SIM cards from Russian operators work. Receive SMS from the bank
2. Roaming is expensive. A day will cost from 350 rubles per day
3. Tourist SIM costs 1650 rubles for the first month of communication. Further cheaper
four. After 4 months, a phone purchased abroad is forcibly registered. In this case, you need to pay for 8900 rubles, you can do this once every 3 years.

Therefore, as a buyer, I will definitely take a local SIM card right away if I stay for five days, and those who want to transfer a hard tax to the budget go to register the IMEI of a smartphone in 10,000 rubles (taking into account all conversions), 4 months after arrival you will be required to pay.

Selected topic:

◇ What inaccessible iPhone features will work if they leave Russia. Checked on myself
◇ How Apple refused global warranties for iPhone in Turkey because I am Russian
◇ 20 things that surprised me in Turkey after Russia

📸 All photos in the article:






Source: Iphones RU

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