Travel Technology - Help! re att iternational roaming in Turkey

Leaving for Turkey and am confused about this message on the ATT website

I am trying to add the PDA international roaming data plan and this message appears


You may not be able to place calls to international destinations other than United States while roaming in this country. Calls can be completed within the visited country and back to the United States.

I need to be able to call my daughter in Australia- will I not be able to do that?

Or do I need to have a local SIM card put in my other phone to make an Int'l call. Any experience with that?

Thanks

First of all, are you 100% the global data plan even works in Turkey? All the lists I've found show that Turkey is NOT included in the PDA international plans.

Secondly, I would not use a mobile phone to call Australia. Even if it does work, you are looking at around $4 per minute.

Get a local prepaid card, a calling card and make the call through that.

Using a third party service like Rebtel, you should be able to make the call for as little as 20 cents a minute. (www.rebtel.com )

Well I am not 100 % sure of anything regarding AT&T. When Inoticed that Turkey was not on the list I called and spoke to a CSR who assured me that it is on the list ( which can change at any moment) and she took me to this page on their website


http://www.wireless.att.com/travelguide/coverage/coverage_details.jsp?CIDL=792&MNC=CING&DID1=323&DID2=&STEP=5

and then proceeded to sign me up for the plan. I took her name and she assured me that the 24.99 USD would cover me for the month.

Thanks for the cell SIM referral.

Using a third party service like Rebtel, you should be able to make the call for as little as 20 cents a minute. (www.rebtel.com )

Word of warning. Rebtel is a great solution when both parties are in their respective home countries (ie you use it as a nifty way to make a regular international call), but it's not really designed for roaming.

It works on the assumption that you have free or cheap local calls in your country, and the other party has the same in his/ hers. When you're roaming, you would have to call your access number back in the US.

Local prepaid SIM is the way to go. Or see if you can get a prepaid phonecard (then you dial a free or cheap local access number from a payphone/ hotel phone).

Word of warning on Turkey, you need to register your mobile with Customs. If you don't your Turkish prepaid SIM will stop working in your US handset after roughly two week.s

Word of warning on Turkey, you need to register your mobile with Customs. If you don't your Turkish prepaid SIM will stop working in your US handset after roughly two week.s

That's interesting. I've never registered my mobile in Turkey, however I'm never in Turkey for more than a few days at a time. I'll be there again this week and we'll see...

No need to rehash what others said. Roaming will cost you dearly. What AT&T is saying is that depending on your account roaming code, you may or may not be able to call other countries besides the country you are in and back to the US.

You should have one of the following on your account if roaming is enabled.

STANDARDINTLROAM - You can only call the US and the country you are visiting.
EXPANDEDINTLROAM - You can call anywhere.

We will keep one phone with our US number and hope that the international data plan works on the ATT Tilt as was promised even though Turkey does not appear on the list on their website.
I will get a local SIM and I had heard about the possibility of service cut-off which is why we were going to keep one phone with our US paln and pay roaming charges if we have to- better than having our phone service cut off since we will be in Turkey more than 2 weeks.
Thanks all-

That's interesting. I've never registered my mobile in Turkey, however I'm never in Turkey for more than a few days at a time. I'll be there again this week and we'll see...


http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/details/Communications/sim_cards.html

As others have suggested, why not just get a local SIM? There are a few places at the airport, although they are pricey. Inside IST proper you will find a cell store on virtually every corner. If you know where you are staying, PM me and I can recommend a good (and honest) store nearby.

We will keep one phone with our US number and hope that the international data plan works on the ATT Tilt as was promised even though Turkey does not appear on the list on their website.
I will get a local SIM and I had heard about the possibility of service cut-off which is why we were going to keep one phone with our US paln and pay roaming charges if we have to- better than having our phone service cut off since we will be in Turkey more than 2 weeks.
Thanks all-

I was in Turkey in 2007. I had wireless data. I'm pretty sure that I had UMTS, but don't want to swear to it. (My phone handles 2100mhz 3g). I can't check today, but I'm pretty sure that I paid for the data. (I'm on PDA International).

Look also at Vodafone. For data roaming INSIDE the EU, they now have some great rates on their prepaid. I'm not sure if it extends to Turkey.

If you travel a great deal, get a roaming SIM with a US number forwarding to it. It is significantly cheaper.

I'm in Istanbul now happily using a Turkcell SIM in my US phone. I didn't bother registering it, but again I'm only here for a few days. I've never had a problem before and I don't expect to now.

I was in Turkey in 2007. I had wireless data. I'm pretty sure that I had UMTS, but don't want to swear to it. (My phone handles 2100mhz 3g). I can't check today, but I'm pretty sure that I paid for the data. (I'm on PDA International).

There is no 3G/UMTS in Turkey. The govt is soon to try re-auction the licenses.

According to my iPhone there is EDGE available here, but my basic Turkcell SIM says it isn't subscribed to use EDGE.

stimpy-- did you see where one could register a phone when you arrive should we choose to do so? Is there a designated place to do so?

No, but I wasn't looking for anything like that. Sorry. However I would expect that if you formally buy a pre-paid SIM from Turkcell that they would handle this for you. Obviously there are thousands of tourists arriving every day and lots of them get pre-paid SIM's. It can't be that difficult. If there were truly a problem then thousands of tourists and business people would be shouting to the heavens about this. It sounds like urban legend to me.

Or what it really sounds like is an anti-terrorism move. The Turks are very wary about Kurdish attacks. But they love American tourists so I am sure that if you get a SIM through the normal channels you will be fine.

Thanks-- I am pretty certain that is an anti-terrorism rule- I will take my chances. i appreciate the feedback.

The text of the regulation is available in English on the Ministry of Transportation website (http://www.tk.gov.tr/eng/duzenmaineng2.html). It states clearly that "Devices of international roaming subscribers ... are out of the scope of this Regulation."

You're only supposed to register it if you get a local SIM. Then all the documentation you need is your passport.

Thanks Louie_LI

Leaving for Turkey and am confused about this message on the ATT website

I am trying to add the PDA international roaming data plan and this message appears


You may not be able to place calls to international destinations other than United States while roaming in this country. Calls can be completed within the visited country and back to the United States.

I need to be able to call my daughter in Australia- will I not be able to do that?

Or do I need to have a local SIM card put in my other phone to make an Int'l call. Any experience with that?

Thanks

Please let me add a couple of comments. I went to Turkey last fall. Like others have said, I can assure you that no matter what plan ATT offers you, you do not want to make calls on your ATT phone/SIM card from Turkey, unless you want to break the bank paying your bill. Having said that, here is what worked for me. I was staying at the Renaissance and it had high-speed internet. Using a friend's suggestion, I downloaded a free service called Skype, and was able to call the US for 2 cents a minute. Australia is about the same if I remember correctly. Service is reliable and the call quality is great. All you need is a microphone for your laptop. You might want to go ahead and download it before your trip to get the hang of it, but it really is a great service and easy to use. Secondly, and others here feel free to correct me, ATT told me that even if I did not use my phone and a missed incoming call went to voicemail, I would still be charged international rates for the missed incoming call because the roaming tower found my phone in the overseas country. (As I said above, if this is not true I encourage someone else to add a post to that effect as I am just repeating what ATT told me.) Hence, when traveling, I remove the SIM card from the phone to prevent that from happening. I cannot emphasize how nice it is to be able to talk for an hour for $1.20 or so using Skype versus maybe $200 or so with ATT. If you must make the calls from your phone, then other posters' suggestions about Turkish SIM cards are the way to go. Have a nice trip!

even if I did not use my phone and a missed incoming call went to voicemail, I would still be charged international rates for the missed incoming call because the roaming tower found my phone in the overseas country.

That is troublesome-- I will check that out..

re SKYPE- That will work-- I do not plan to use our ATT phone to make international calls as a rule- I was just struck by the message on the ATT site and my mind went to the just in case scenario. We can text each other easily until we get to landline to use a phone card

Thanks for all your input.