Turkey eSIM Block (2026): What Still Works After BTK Blocked 37 Stores

In our 10 September Istanbul check, the websites of Simbye, Breeze, Truely and Firsty loaded on a Türk Telekom connection, while Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad and eleven others timed out. Loading is not the same as buying: Simbye is the one whose checkout we know works from inside Turkey, because readers of this guide have been completing orders through it this week. We have not tested checkout on the other three.

Most guides stop at “buy before you fly”. This one covers the other half: the eSIM you can still buy after landing, the domestic eSIMs that give you a Turkish number, and the 120-day device rule that catches people who stay. Checked from Istanbul.

Prices taken from Simbye’s own checkout on 11 September 2026 with the code applied: 20 GB is $16.15 (from $18.99), 5 GB is $5.10 (from $5.99), and Unlimited 15 days is $25.50 (from $29.99). All nine plans sit on the same page. Prices and exchange rates can change. Our website check and reported purchases are separate evidence; neither guarantees checkout or coverage on every network.

The 60-second version

• BTK’s decisions between July and September 2025 name about 37 international eSIM storefronts. That figure is the regulator’s; our own check covers the 19 largest, of which 15 were unreachable from Istanbul on 10 September 2026. The block is on their websites, apps and activation servers, not on eSIM technology.
• A profile from a blocked provider that you installed and activated at home keeps working for its full validity. You cannot top it up from inside Turkey.
• Simbye’s store is not blocked. You can buy, install and top up from inside Turkey.
• Domestic eSIMs from Turkcell, Vodafone Türkiye and Türk Telekom are sold in stores with a passport and give you a Turkish number. They also start the 120-day IMEI clock on a foreign phone.
• If you are staying long enough to open a bank account, you need a +90 number. No travel eSIM gives you one.

After the block: the short list

Ranked for someone staying weeks, not days, and judged on one question first: does it still work once you are standing in Turkey? The full comparison, with all 22 stores probed from Istanbul and every plan price dated, is in Best eSIM for Turkey, tested monthly.

1. Simbye, the one we know you can still buy after landing. Turkey 20 GB / 30 days at $16.15 with the automatic discount, which is 81 cents a gigabyte and their best-value tier; 5 GB is $5.10 if you are only here a few days. Its store and checkout load from Turkish networks, and readers of this guide have been ordering through it from inside Turkey daily. Roams on Türk Telekom and Vodafone. See Simbye plans · 15% off (affiliate link).
2. A domestic eSIM from Türk Telekom, Vodafone or Turkcell, best if you need a Turkish number. The only route to a +90 number for bank codes, e-Devlet and delivery apps. Bought in a store with a passport, roughly 1,000 to 1,500 TRY for a 20 to 25 GB tourist pack. Starts the 120-day device clock on a foreign phone.
3. Holafly, best pre-flight option if you want unlimited data. About $47 for 30 days, fair-use policy applies. Blocked inside Turkey, so buy and install at home and accept that you cannot top up. Holafly Turkey page.
4. Nomad, best pre-flight option on price per GB. 20 GB for $20, 50 GB for $29 on Türk Telekom. Same rule: install before departure, no top-ups after.
5. Saily and Airalo, fine if you already have an account. Saily 20 GB $22.99; Airalo now shows only unlimited plans for Turkey. Both blocked inside Turkey.

Most “best eSIM for Turkey” lists put Saily, Nomad or Sim Local first. They are written for people who buy at home and never run out. If that is you, they are fine choices. If you are reading this from an Istanbul café with a dead Airalo app, they are not.

What BTK actually did

On 10 July 2025 BTK issued decision E-98966759-450.08-36681 blocking eight eSIM sellers: Airalo, Saily, Holafly, Nomad, Instabridge, Mobimatter, Alosim and BNESIM. A second decision on 17 July added ten more, and a third on 15 September 2025 added fourteen, bringing the total to roughly 37. The decision numbers are documented by the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD), which tracks Turkish access blocks. BTK has not published a consolidated list or its reasoning.

The background, per Turkish tech press, is that these sellers are not licensed Turkish operators and do not store subscriber data in Turkey. The mechanism is a domain and app block on Turkish ISPs and mobile networks. Your phone’s radio does not care. A profile already on the phone connects to Turkcell, Vodafone or Türk Telekom as a roaming subscriber of the provider’s partner carrier and works normally.

Two blocked providers now say so on their own product pages. Nomad’s Turkey page tells buyers its website and app are not accessible in Turkey and to buy enough data before arrival. Yesim’s page says access to its app and website may be limited in Turkey.

Blocked or working: provider status, September 2026

Provider	Buy from inside Turkey?	Top up from inside Turkey?	Turkish network
Simbye	Purchases reported	Top-ups reported	Confirm the networks for your plan
Airalo	No, blocked	No	Türk Telekom
Holafly	No, blocked (app sometimes loads)	No	Turkcell, Türk Telekom
Saily	No, blocked	No	Not disclosed
Nomad	No, blocked	No	Türk Telekom
Yesim	Limited, by its own statement	Unreliable	Not disclosed
Ubigi, Roamless, GigSky	Reported blocked in field tests	No	Roamless: Turkcell
Turkcell, Vodafone, Türk Telekom domestic eSIM	Yes, in store with passport	Yes	Own network

Simbye’s status is confirmed by Simbye in writing (September 2026) and matches the independent status table at esim-urlaub.de. Every other row is from the BTK decisions, provider product pages, or field tests cited in the sources below. BTK has added providers three times without notice; if a provider is not on this table, do not assume it works.

Pick your route by length of stay

You are staying	Use this	Why
Under 14 days	Simbye, bought whenever you like, or any blocked provider installed before departure	Cheapest per GB, no store visit, no number needed
14 to 120 days	Simbye for data plus a domestic prepaid line for a Turkish number	You will need the number for banking, deliveries and e-Devlet within the first two weeks
Over 120 days	Domestic line as your main line, and decide on the IMEI question early	The 120-day device clock starts the day a Turkish SIM goes in a foreign phone. See the BTK guide

Route 1: Simbye, the eSIM you can buy after landing

This is the route for most readers of this guide, because it removes the two problems the block created: you can buy after you land, and you can top up when you run low.

What you get. Turkey 20 GB for 30 days at $18.99, or $16.15 with NOMADISTAN15 (read from Simbye’s own checkout on 11 September 2026). That is 81 cents a gigabyte, their best-value tier. Larger plans up to 50 GB and unlimited on the same page. Hotspot allowed. 5G where the network provides it. No throttling on the 10 GB plan. Top-ups from inside Turkey.

Network. Our comparison lists Türk Telekom and Vodafone. Confirm the networks for your specific plan before buying; coverage and network selection depend on the plan, phone and location.

What you do not get. A Turkish number. Simbye’s plans with a number attach a French +33 line, which works for foreign verification codes and calls abroad but not for Turkish banks, which only send codes to +90 numbers. See the Turkish-number section below.

How to buy and install.

1. Open the Simbye Turkey eSIM page (affiliate link; 15% off through our link, or use code NOMADISTAN15 at checkout). Pick the plan. Check out.
2. The QR code arrives by email within minutes. On iPhone: Settings, Mobile Data, Add eSIM, scan. On Android: Settings, Network, SIMs, Add eSIM.
3. Turn on data roaming for the Simbye line. Keep your home SIM on for calls and SMS, with its data off.
4. The 30 days start when the profile first connects to a Turkish network, so buying early costs no validity.

Why this is our pick. Our editorial record reports purchases and top-ups from Turkey. That makes it an option to compare after arrival. Other stores also loaded in our website check; we have not established that Simbye is the only option.

Route 2: a domestic eSIM from a Turkish operator

All three operators sell prepaid tourist lines to foreigners in official stores against a passport. Vodafone states on its tourist page that the line can be issued as an eSIM in its shops. Turkcell and Türk Telekom also issue eSIMs, but staff familiarity with doing it for a tourist line varies by store, so ask before you queue. Airport counters are convenient and 50 to 70% more expensive than a city-centre store for the same package.

What the official pages say as of this update:

• Vodafone Türkiye. The Welcome to Turkey pack is applied automatically when a foreigner activates a new line on the New Easy tariff: 20 GB, 750 minutes, 1,000 SMS, unlimited WhatsApp data, valid 28 days. You can pre-register on their tourist page with passport details and collect in store.
• Türk Telekom. Welcome packages at airport dealers and stores: Welcome 10 GB (7 days), 25 GB and 50 GB (28 days), 75 GB (15 days). Activated by SMS code to 5555. One-time, not auto-renewing. Usually the cheapest of the three.
• Turkcell. Hazır Kart prepaid bundles priced per 4-week cycle, roughly 700 TRY for 10 GB up to 1,800 TRY for 80 GB, with a tourist starter pack around 20 GB. Best 5G in central Istanbul and the strongest network in rural Anatolia. English-speaking staff at the Levent stores.

Prices move with the lira and with promotions. We could not verify a current Vodafone or Türk Telekom price from an official page at the time of writing, so confirm in store. Third-party guides in 2026 put a 20 to 25 GB tourist pack between 1,000 and 1,500 TRY at city stores.

What a domestic line gives you that no travel eSIM does: a +90 number for bank OTPs, e-Devlet, BiTaksi, Getir, Yemeksepeti, and every form that asks for a Turkish mobile. What it costs you: the 120-day IMEI clock starts the day it goes in a foreign phone.

Route 3: a blocked provider, installed before you fly

Still valid if you already have an Airalo, Holafly or Nomad account and want to use it. Buy the plan at home, install the profile on Wi-Fi, and activate it before boarding if the provider allows early activation. Check that the profile shows a network name under Settings before you leave for the airport.

Rules that follow from the block:

• Buy more data than you think you need. You cannot top up from inside Turkey. Running out on day 20 means buying something else anyway. That something else is Simbye or a domestic SIM.
• Screenshot the QR code and the ICCID. Support pages will be unreachable. If the profile fails on arrival, you need the raw details.
• Keep your home SIM active for SMS. You will want it for verification codes while you sort out a Turkish number.

The Turkish-number problem

This is the gap every eSIM comparison skips, because their readers are tourists and ours are not.

Turkish banks send one-time passwords to a +90 mobile only. So does e-Devlet for most logins, and so do the delivery apps. A data-only eSIM, however good, cannot receive them. Options:

1. A domestic prepaid line as a second eSIM. The standard answer. Twenty minutes in a Vodafone or Turkcell store with your passport. Keep it topped up so the number stays alive; prepaid lines with no credit for several months get recycled.
2. An eSIM bundled with a foreign number. Simbye and a few others sell a data eSIM with an attached European number, usually +33 or +44. Useful for foreign services that want SMS verification. Useless for Turkish banks.
3. Postpaid line after you have a residence permit. Better rates, needs the permit card and a Turkish tax number.

For what the bank requires, see how to open a Turkish bank account.

Cost comparison, 30 days

Approximate, from provider pages and 2026 guides. Verify at checkout.

Option	Data	Price	Turkish number	Buy inside Turkey
Simbye with NOMADISTAN15	20 GB	$16.15	No	Yes
Simbye with NOMADISTAN15	20 GB and up	See plan page	No	Yes
Nomad (Türk Telekom)	20 GB	$20	No	No
Airalo (Türk Telekom)	Unlimited, 30 days	$69	No	No
Saily	20 GB	$22.99	No	No
Holafly	Unlimited, fair use	~$47	No	No
Türk Telekom Welcome	25 GB + minutes	1,000 TRY ($21)	Yes	In store
Vodafone Welcome to Turkey	20 GB + 750 min	1,300 to 1,500 TRY ($28 to $32)	Yes	In store
Turkcell tourist pack	20 GB + 200 min	1,300 TRY ($28)	Yes	In store

For a month where you need a bank account, pair Simbye for data with the cheapest domestic pack for the number. For a two-week visit with no banking, Simbye alone.

Simbye’s own explainer, Turkey’s 2025 eSIM block explained, lists the BTK decision numbers for each wave and is the clearest vendor-side account we have found; it is a source for the dates above, and not an affiliate link.

VPNs

The block is at the domain level, so a VPN that works in Turkey does route around it. The catch is that Turkey has also blocked 27 or more commercial VPN services, and the list grows. Cloudflare WARP and obfuscated modes on the big providers work for some people on some networks. A connectivity plan that depends on one is a bad plan. Treat it as a way to recover a failed install, not as a way to shop. If you want one anyway, install NordVPN before you fly; its website is blocked here but the app keeps working once installed (affiliate link). Which VPN sites still load from Turkey, and what else is blocked, is in What is blocked in Turkey.

Day-one checklist

• Data eSIM sorted: either Simbye bought on arrival (affiliate link) or a blocked provider installed before departure.
• QR code, ICCID and provider email saved offline.
• Home SIM still active for SMS.
• Medical cover from the day you land. Turkish private hospitals bill in full at the desk; SafetyWing (affiliate link) covers the arrival phase and can be bought after departure, but it will not count for a residence permit, so read the permit insurance guide before you file.
• Passport in hand for the operator store if you need a Turkish number.
• Decide before you buy a domestic line whether this phone will still be in Turkey on day 121. If yes, read the IMEI registration section first.

Disclosure

Simbye and SafetyWing links on this page are affiliate links. Using them, or the code NOMADISTAN15, supports this site at no cost to you. Simbye did not write or review this page, and the block status of every other provider comes from BTK decisions, provider pages and field tests cited in the sources. If a provider’s status changes, email hello@nomadistanbul.com and we will update the table with the date.