say hello before we leave here on 14 May.
I first went into a phone store in the super-touristy Sultanahmet
district (expecting the best odds of being able to get by with just
English), where I was told "new SIM card, 25 lira, 20 credit". I asked
about how much talk time that would give, to which he replied "4-5
minute". I thought that sounded expensive (25 lira ~ US$17), but it
seemed the main cost was the SIM card itself, with later refill
credits being cheaper.
I then went to one of those call booth shops (where one could call
from a landline phone to, say, the US for €0.18/min), and asked if
they sold SIM cards, to which the guy pointed to the same Turkcell
25lira/20credit card, and another one by a company called "Avea" which
was 35 lira for 100 credits. Not needing a phone until the evening, I
decided to think about it and maybe shop around some more.
After walking around and getting to the main train station, I came
across a commercial street with several dedicated Turkcell and Avea
shops (not just shops of dealers that carry them). Stopping in the
first Avea shop, I asked how much a new SIM card would be, to which he
replied "20 credit, [punches the number '10' into a calculator] lira,
or if you want 100 credit -- ['15' on the calculator] lira.". Wow, I
thought that was a good price, and amazed at the difference from the
place in Sultanahmet. I said I'd take one with 100 credits for 15
lira. "OK, your phone registered in Turkey?". I said "no, India". He
told me we'd have to go register the phone at the Avea store near
Galata tower, over 1km away across the strait. Too bad, I thought.
I then popped into another Avea store a few doors down (and probably
less than 100m away) from the first store. The guy said "100 credit --
[types '19' into the calculator] lira". Ok, good, can I use it now
even if the phone is from India? "Yes, no problem". He rips open a new
SIM card pack and puts it into his own phone, does what looks like
sending a text message, then takes out the card and hands it to me
saying it now no longer needs a pin code. He said there were 100
credits on it, but we probably spent another 20 minutes there with me
trying to test/verify that all was OK. My phrasebook didn't have the
Turkish for "how do I check my balance?" (something I'm surprised the
pamphlets, like the ones for Vodafone India, lacked). Dialing "*123#"
simply said "1 Kontorunuz bulunmaktadir" which I hoped didn't mean one
credit left. He then dialed 9333 and asked me to listen, but
unfortunately all was in Turkish. He then pushed a few additional keys
to get a recorded voice in English saying "you have 99 credits, one
regular, and 98 bonus credits.". Not user friendly, but I greatly
appreciate the guy's patience.
By comparison, buying the SIM in Bombay involved one stop at one shop
to buy a pack that clearly said "Maximum Retail Price Rs. 199 (about US
$4) = Rs. 99 for the card + Rs.100 credit (about 60-90 minutes of
domestic talk, or 10 min to the US)", and I needed to use a local
friend's info to register.
By comparison, I admit that while buying a GoPhone in the US might
have had far less price variation, a customer speaking no English
would be very unlikely to get any help in Turkish.
Sent from my iPhone
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