Advice about Mobile phones in TRNC

Becky123


Joined: 01/06/2011
Posts: 144

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 23:29

Hi there, moving out in Aug, can anyone advise please about mobile phones there and is there anyway we can transfer same mobile number that we have in UK? Thanks

erolz


Joined: 17/11/2008
Posts: 3456

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 23:50

There is no equivalent of 'number transfer' internationaly for mobile phone numbers like there is in countries for transfer between operators. Your choice when you come to the TRNC would be to keep you UK number and contract with your current UK operator and use this via their 'roaming' rates which will be very very expensive (and will charge for incomming as well as outgoing calls) or to get a new sim from one of the two TRNC local mobile phone companies complete with a new phone number.

Becky123


Joined: 01/06/2011
Posts: 144

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 23:57

Many thanks erolz - that is what we were expecting. Looks like my husband will need to buy himself out of vodafone contract here and we will get phones when we come over. What are the deals like in TRNC with the two companies please?

erolz


Joined: 17/11/2008
Posts: 3456

Message Posted:
11/06/2011 00:17

The two companies are KKTCell, know as turkcell and telsim. I think they broadly offer similar services and packages, but turkcell seems to have better support for english speaking customers. At least thats been my experience but I am not a big mobile phone user myself and havent really investigated the options. KKTCell has an english language website showing various tarrif options here

http://www.kktcell.com/pages/2305.aspx



If telsim has an equivalent in english I am not aware of it.

me-style


Joined: 03/08/2010
Posts: 150

Message Posted:
11/06/2011 01:48

This is an nosense question, you cannot bring a phone number from one country to another, you can use the phone number from where you come and pay the roaming fees. If you do not want to pay then you will have to get a KKTC number

Earlybird


Joined: 28/04/2009
Posts: 816

Message Posted:
11/06/2011 06:56

Easiest way is to buy a sim free phone in the UK (play.com or Amazon) and buy your new sim here as I believe phones are cheaper in the UK

nostradamus


Joined: 15/04/2008
Posts: 557

Message Posted:
11/06/2011 07:19

Both Turkcell and Telsim offer package deals here but you would need to enquire from both as to which of their offerings suit your circumstances. Contracts are far cheaper than pay as you go deals with both operators. I have a Telsim contract and pay 69TL a month for 500 minutes of calls to any phone in the TRNC which is ideal for me. There are other packages that include overseas calls as well which I don't want because, like most people here, I use Skype for these calls. Bring your phones from the UK though and get them unlocked here as this would be cheaper than buying here and can be done easily.

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
11/06/2011 07:58

I would recommend that you use PAYT to start with, for these reasons...

1. If you take out a Telsim contract and find all your new-found friends are on the other network it's a mistake. One you can easily rectify with a PAYT SIM.

2. A contract is only cheaper for those who make more than the standing contract charge worth of calls per month.

We have never done this as we use Skype most often to call family and friends.

OK at first you are going to make quite regular calls back to UK but once you get sorted with Skype it's got to be the way to go... so don't jump at a contract until you've done your sums and the initial flurry of frantic calls to the UK has subsided somewhat... and if you take to life here, they will.

proger1



Joined: 18/04/2009
Posts: 2919

Message Posted:
11/06/2011 08:01

Groucho,

Not to mention the fact that you can only get a contract if you have residency, unless that has changed recently.

andrew4232



Joined: 04/07/2009
Posts: 1543

Message Posted:
11/06/2011 08:52

when i got my contract i was asked for my resi