Wind
 

Just discovered something new on 155.it called Wind Ricarica Smart.

Signed up for it and they sent me a pass code but when I tried to use it they said they were having technical difficulties!

I was unable to recharge my TIM SIM from Canada because I was out of credit, even though the card was still active. Sending an SMS to 4916 did not work. *123# to get a balance did not work either.

But then I dialed *123*4916#, got an immediate callback and was able to recharge on the phone by entering my ricaricard PIN. Menus in english.

Maybe this will work for you for your TIM SIM...

unfortunately, i don't have a ricaricard. i was hoping to be able to recharge the tim sim online.

for wind, i did the smart ricarica because i had credit on one sim but not the other. so i transferred 4 euro from one to the other via sms. is that enough to keep the cards active?

No, you have to recharge your sim, 'cause the smart ricarica doesn't keep the card active :(

if i send a text from one phone to another, will that keep both active?

I am experiencing the same problem. I cannot send my codice by text to 4916 or get a balance, my handset (I have tried two handsets) gives a message to refer to operator! I have dialled 4916 and hear the balance message in English but when I press '0' to recharge it tells me that I am not able to use the service.
Have TIM barred rechargeing from outside Italy? I have also noticed that on ebay UK there was once many offers to recharge TIM but now there are none. I tried to recharge €10 on ebay Italia but when I confirmed the purchase it said that I would outside the area. I have emailed the seller but he never replied.
Can some of our Italian friends inform us if TIM have changed their policy?

Italian operators don't have a public policy on recharging with foreign credit cards or from abroad. It's a total mess. Another mess was done by eBayers selling prepaid cards with no registration or false registration. In Italy we have a very stupid law for registering prepaid cards: it makes things complicated for foreigners and doesn't stop any "crime" (yes, it's supposed to be an anti-crime law).
So, as I always said, unless you are very lucky, or you visit Italy at max every 11 months, forget your cards and buy a new one every time you come here back.

@ Effendi,

Thanks for the comments.

You may have a point here, I purchased this sim card on ebay about four years ago. It was pre registered which saved me the hassles of doing this when I arrived in Italy, it also gave me a working phone when I got off the plane.
I also found that some of my online account details had been changed a while ago. This point has been posted on this forum several times, it was not my personal details but the details that were registered by the seller of the sim.
I think you are correct about buying a sim card on every visit.

no, unfortunately. Effendi has explained very well the italian policy about sim card:(

if you haven't an important reason to keep active 1 number, it's better to buy a new card on every visit:)