On 1 October 09, my wife and I arrived at Istanbul International Airport. At the Vodafon shop in the Terminal, we both bought prepaid SIM cards whose phone numbers are [protected] and [protected] and paid 94 Turkish Liras. We were told that these cards would be valid for three months and usable in all parts of Turkey. We reckoned that the number of credit units in the cards would be more than sufficient to meet our needs during our 30-day stay in Turkey.
The cards worked well during our stay in Istanbul 1 - 6 October and Cappadocia 6 - 11 October. However when we arrived in Antalya on 12 October both mobile phones kept on showing "SIM Card Registration Failure" whenever we turned them on. A Vodafon shop in Antalya checked and told us that both cards were ok but our mobile phones were faulty. The information given to us seemed ridiculous but we had no choice but to accept the diagnosis. We then proceded to another mobile phone shop to have our phones checked and this shop concluded that both phones were working perfectly well and that something must be wrong with the Vodafon cards. Finally, after a lot of frustration and time lost, one shop said that either the phones or the cards would not work in Antalya because of incompatibility and they should be checked again when we arrive at our next destination, Fethiye on 17 October. This we did as soon as we arrived. Here we were told that both SIM cards were good but our phones needed to be registered for use in Turkey which had not been done. So we requested them to do what was necessary but was immediately told that the entire Internet registration system had been out of order in the entire Turkey for the last 3 days and it might take several more days before the system could be restored.
Sir, please advise what we should do to activate our mobile phones soonest possible. We are an aged couple, one 80+ years and the other 77+ years, with different interests when traveling in foreign countries and often need to contact each other and others. We find sorting or solving this problem of ours very tiring and causing us to lose too much of our precious holiday time. Your early response would be greatly appreciated.
Wong Hee Deong Was this information helpful? | 
Post your Comment