Talk:Turkey/@comment-78.186.51.34-20120906080606

I just wanted to say that I had an easier time buying and activating a Turkcell SIM than any country I've purchased pre-paid UMTS/HSPA+ in (around 16 different countries). Contrary to the warning at the beginning of this article, the place I went to required no IMEI registration. I bought it at the primary bus station in İstanbul (named 'İstanbul Otogarı' in Türkçe) at the very first sign I saw advertising Turkcell. I bought a pre-paid SIM card that for 40 TRY (today worth 17,45 EUR) and it was already activated and functional and registered with the GSM network on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus immediately on boot.

I noticed the "H" logo next to my GSM signal bars, so quickly turned off the data radio so that only GSM was functioning so no extra charges came. I then topped up 90 TRY (just under 40 EUR) and the employee handled the top-up for me, and I noticed the credits appear almost instantly. Then I sent the 'ABONE 4GB' SMS to 2260, and again almost immediately I received an SMS telling me it was activated (in Türkçe however). No ID or personal information was ever asked. I do not know if an official Turkcell store would be different, but this was extremely speedy, and if you SMS 'KALAN' to 2260 it gives you VERY detailed information about how much credits you have and how much data you have used and how much data you have left.

Thus far I am very pleased with the process of registration, and I've never been somewhere that offers 8GB pre-paid packages (Sept 2012).