Posted 26 June 2022

UK Sim card for travelling in Turkey for 3 - 6 months

Apart from buying a tourist sim on arrival in Turkey ....

Does anyone know a UK sim that covers Turkey for that length of time at a reasonable cost? Anything up to £20 ish a month?

Doesnt need to be masses amount of data ...mainly mins and texts with some data for banking apps and whatsapp messages.

Thanks
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  1. pekoz1's avatar
    Author
    Thanks for that. I did do a search but I must have been half asleep when I did it.

    Needed to search for Turkey Sim not Turkish Sim (edited)
  2. Gollywood's avatar
    I think it's scandalous that we in the UK can't buy a cheap Turkish SIM like we buy Turkish Netflix or YouTube
    cecilmcroberts's avatar

    Replying to

    The only UK one is the top tier Vodafone package at double your budget and only available on min term of 12 months. For all the time you need to use a banking app, it would be best to plan that time when you on wifi. Or access via online banking if possible rather than app (if you with a traditional bank). Presume you are also aware you need a visa for over 90 days. Off course it will be very region specific but Turkcell when I was over in May had terrible internet speeds. Vodafone Turkey on the other hand in October, in same region was much better.

    You cant buy a Turkish sim outside of Turkey as they require residency to register, its so every number can be traced to a person, unlike UK where numbers can be untraceable to a person.

    Example 12 month Vodafone contract. (is only one that includes it)

    47686324-SsCGp.jpg (edited)
  3. kasimjh's avatar
    That's alright @pekoz1 so with the Airalo esim, there is no phone number associated so you were correct with the latter. You just install the sim via the app and follow Apples or Samsungs on screen instructions. The esim will use the Turk Telecom network in Turkey. Once installed you will have 2 Sims in your mobile networks area.

    47696851-sq0UT.jpg

    That's what the settings look like with the esim, you have a few options just like you would with a normal sim but you just don't have a phone number.

    I hope this helps and if you have any questions, I'll be happy to help you.
    pekoz1's avatar
    Author
    Thanks for that ...much appreciated.

    So say you had a phone with a traditional UK sim (with no roaming in Turkey) and an Airalo esim for Turkey. Both in 1 phone...

    1/ Presumably the uk sim would be inactive in Turkey and on arrival you couldnt make any calls or receive texts?

    2/ Presumably to get any data you would have to switch over to the esim?

    3/ If you had whatsapp on a mobile number on the uk sim....and data on the esim would there be any way to combine the 2 and use whatsapp using esim.

    4/ I suspect the answer to 3/ is no....if you were using the esim only could you still use whatsapp in some way ....as you have no mobile no.
  4. kasimjh's avatar
    While I was in Turkey, I used an esim with Airalo, the highest package they have for Turkey is 10gb for 30 days for $18, although you don't get minutes or text , the data was good.

    If you do need to make calls, then you can use Skype, you can top up €5 and you get 115 mins to call mobile and landlines, it can also be used for SMS.
  5. pekoz1's avatar
    Author
    Thanks .... Considering I work in IT ... Im pretty thick when it comes to phones. Just had a look at the Turkish packages .... since its a data sim only is there any phone number associated at all with this esim ? Or is it simply a way to get data through airola 's local partners in Turkey.

    I presume its the latter...but I am thick....and Ive only just recently heard of esim's ..so humour me.
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