Travelling to Turkey |
|
|
|
|
|
Phone Card / calling home
|
| 1. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 08:16 pm |
|
Does anyone know how much a phone card costs in Turkey to call the U.S.? I read I can buy one at the PTT (post office). How much per minute do you think it will cost to call the U.S. and are there any other fees involved? If I use my cell phone over there, it will be $1.49/minute (US Dollars). Can I find anything cheaper using a phone card? Also, are the connections okay? Where is it best to call from - a pay phone on the street or where?
Thank you,
Aminah.
|
|
| 2. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 08:59 pm |
|
cheapest thing to do would be to get a cheap, used cell phone and buy a sim card for about 25 YTL.
|
|
| 3. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 09:24 pm |
|
I'll be brining a cell phone from the U.S. already with global capabilities. I see your point, just wondering aobut phone card costs. I'll only be there a week.
|
|
| 4. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 09:26 pm |
|
I'd still have to pay the rate of the phone call with a Turkish cell phone and sim card, correct? This doesn't seem cheapest for a short trip, but I'm not expert! 
|
|
| 5. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 09:42 pm |
|
Mey0722, can you PM me? We have a lot of the same questions!!
|
|
| 6. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 09:43 pm |
|
I will send you a message shortly. I think we will be in different areas, but having the same problems it seems. I will be there a bit longer than you.
Aminah.
|
|
| 7. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 10:14 pm |
|
Quoting Turk120807: I'll be brining a cell phone from the U.S. already with global capabilities. I see your point, just wondering aobut phone card costs. I'll only be there a week. |
Most phones in US are only 2 band phones. It needs to be a 4 band phone to work.
|
|
| 8. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 10:16 pm |
|
the turkish sim card will cost you about $20 dollars and comes loaded with 250 contours. This is enough for about 60 minutes in calls to US or dozens of short calls within Turkey.
|
|
| 9. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 10:17 pm |
|
Cell phone companies in the U.S. do sell phones that work all over the world. A friend of mine took her U.S. phone all over Europe with no problem. You have to have a specific phone to do it. The one I have now doesn't have that capability, but we have them here if you want to buy them, they're just expensive.
|
|
| 10. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 10:22 pm |
|
That's really good info, Keith. I'll check into that while I'm there. Maybe a better solution for the person who started this post since she'll be there longer, but great to know!!!
I went onto the Skype site another member recommended. www.skype.com They actually sell PHONES that use the Skype service, which can be used about anywhere in the world with a wireless connection. This is really neat! Has anyone ever used this type of phone? Istanbul Airport is one of the places with a free wi-fi connection for Skype.
http://us.accessories.skype.com/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayPage&Env=BASE&Locale=en_US&SiteID=skype&id=ProductDetailsPage&productID=80816800
|
|
| 11. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 10:34 pm |
|
Quoting Turk120807: Cell phone companies in the U.S. do sell phones that work all over the world. A friend of mine took her U.S. phone all over Europe with no problem. You have to have a specific phone to do it. The one I have now doesn't have that capability, but we have them here if you want to buy them, they're just expensive. |
I checked them out about a year ago and they were about $400. A bit too pricey for me but the sims cards are easy and convenient.
|
|
| 12. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 10:36 pm |
|
Quoting KeithL: the turkish sim card will cost you about $20 dollars and comes loaded with 250 contours. This is enough for about 60 minutes in calls to US or dozens of short calls within Turkey. |
also, if you text message, SMS's in Turkey are 2 contour. SMS's to the US are 3 contours. Very cheap!
|
|
| 13. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 10:39 pm |
|
Yes, the phones in the U.S. are outrageously priced. If I sign a new agreement with my provider, the price would be lower (about $200 for a phone instead of $40 , but I'd like to avoid that since I'm no longer under a contract. VoIP/Internet calling seems the way to go, whether via laptop or one of the phones that use Wi-Fi.
|
|
| 14. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 10:39 pm |
|
Sorry, meant instead of $400...not $40...
|
|
| 15. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 10:40 pm |
|
What is a "contour"??????
|
|
| 16. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 10:42 pm |
|
Quoting Turk120807: What is a "contour"?????? |
|
|
| 17. |
31 Oct 2007 Wed 10:44 pm |
|
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....okay! I understand now. Thank you for the clarification. Helps a lot!
|
|
| 18. |
03 Nov 2007 Sat 06:09 am |
|
Quoting mey0722: Does anyone know how much a phone card costs in Turkey to call the U.S.? I read I can buy one at the PTT (post office). How much per minute do you think it will cost to call the U.S. and are there any other fees involved? If I use my cell phone over there, it will be $1.49/minute (US Dollars). Can I find anything cheaper using a phone card? Also, are the connections okay? Where is it best to call from - a pay phone on the street or where?
Thank you,
Aminah. |
www.comfi.com has great calling cards .. I use the contintal card .. that allows me to call cell to cell. You call a number from your cell that isn't long distance .. and then enter the number you want to talk to .. I have been using them for 6 mos now ..
|
|
| 19. |
03 Nov 2007 Sat 06:13 am |
|
Quote: QUOTE SOURCE=Turk120807]Cell phone companies in the U.S. do sell phones that work all over the world. A friend of mine took her U.S. phone all over Europe with no problem. You have to have a specific phone to do it. The one I have now doesn't have that capability, but we have them here if you want to buy them, they're just expensive. |
The price for quad band phones (worldwide) has dropped considerably. I know AT&T Mobility formerly Cingular Wireless offers awesome deals on the quad band phone .. The Motorola V3 RAZR for example can be had for a mere $80 now I believe .. possibly less and you can add international calling to your plan for $3.99/mo and that drops the per minute charge down based on the country you are calling. Currently I believe its .38/min to call turkey from my cell .. also you get 200 international txt msgs a month .. that saved me a bunch right there .. its rare I go over my 200 int'l txt msgs/mo .. but then again voice/video calls over msn are a wonderful thing!!
|
|
| 20. |
03 Nov 2007 Sat 06:56 am |
|
My Samsung from T-Mobile was about $150 with a 1 year contract. It is a quad-band and worked all over Turkey. Incoming and outgoing calls. Everywhere I went I had some sort of connection. Avea and Vodaphone were the companies who provided service. T-Mobile sent me the bill, it was like $1 per minute or something...so really only good for emergencies, or if you absolutely positively have to speak to someone in your native language. That happened to me after about 14 days of nothing but hearing Turkish!
|
|
| 21. |
03 Nov 2007 Sat 08:53 am |
|
Quoting mey0722: Does anyone know how much a phone card costs in Turkey to call the U.S.? I read I can buy one at the PTT (post office). How much per minute do you think it will cost to call the U.S. and are there any other fees involved? If I use my cell phone over there, it will be $1.49/minute (US Dollars). Can I find anything cheaper using a phone card? Also, are the connections okay? Where is it best to call from - a pay phone on the street or where?
Thank you,
Aminah. |
I bought the card over there and a used cell phone last time i went. Which was about 30 lira for the phone and 15 - 30 for the phone card. Countours are like credits but they go very fast!!!
The only thing is. If you want to use a phone from the US or Canada there is a waiting period of about 2 - 3 weeks until the phone would come online.
This past time I bought a card but it didnt work just like my girlfriend's phone from the USA. It took her two weeks till her US phone started to work. And it has to be registered.
The other thing to do is buy a long distance phone card and use it in the public phones over there. The phone card was only about 6 lira and i talked for about minimum 20 - 30 minutes and that was calling Canada.
Lots of choices
|
|
| 22. |
03 Nov 2007 Sat 09:55 am |
|
I suppose the choices you take depend on how long you are staying. Certainly if your own mobile is roaming once in Turkiye then it will cost you a firtune because you are charged for incoming items too. While I was there I bought a phone card to be used on a street call box, it cost around 10 YTL and lasted over half an hour to the UK. On my last trip I was there for a month so I went to the local Turcell outlet with my passport and registered my mobile phone (you have to do this to get a sim card). I then bought a sim card for 25 YTL. 100 kontors (units) costs around 15YTL and each text I made to UK (standard length) cost 3 YTL. If the text is long then it will charge in multiples of 3YTL. Texts sent to other mobiles within Turkiye were 2YTL. One thing you should make sure of before you register your phone is, make sure your phone has been unlocked so that it will accept any sim card. Mine wasn't so I had to find a back street shop to do it for me as Turkcell wouldn't. It cost around 25YTL which is about the same as it would have cost in the UK.
Another option for you is to surf the net as there are some organisations that offer cheap mobile use whilst abroad. I may take this option next time. I think i-to-i do something like this but there are other places. If I remember where I saw it I will let you know.
Hope this information helps.
One more thing. If you have trukish friends they can transfer kontors to you via their phone. My friend regularly sent 70 kontors (the maximum to be transferred in one go) and it was very useful if I was getting low and could not get to a turkcell outlet. The other useful thing is it will let you go to minus 19 before cutting out, good in an emergency. When you top up again it just takes away the 19 defecit.
Hope you enjoy Turkiye as much as I do.
regards
Kim
|
|
|
