Is there any independent web site where one can recharge Vodafone PrePaid and TIM PrePaid cards?

We used to be able to top up Vodafone cards at www.vodafone.it but since about a year they refuse to accept non-Italian bank cards. TIM has always rejected foreign bank cards.

Any suggestions?

Use Wind! :D

Thanks, please elaborate. In what way would that help me?

We've had our TIM Card since the "early days" in 1997 and we've managed to get a real good number. But nowadays there are restrictions in the form of, purchase with Codice Fiscale, registrations, recharging with bank cards and probably more that we haven't come across yet.

And we've had the Vodafone card since early Omnitel days. But we can't recharge the account with our non-Italian bank card anymore.

Do you mean that Wind Prepaid doesn't suffer from those problems?

The "restrictions" using Codice Fiscale for registration apply to ALL italian prepaid and postpaid cards. And it's not something new, there has always been. And it's really not something difficult to deal with.

My suggestion is to use Wind since they offer refill through PayPal on their website. So you can reload with any credit card associated with your PayPal account.

So with TIM and Vodafone you need an Italian card, with Wind no. And it's also cheaper.

No, you're right, it's not new, but it hasn't been there all time, not when we bought our TIM Card and Omnitel Prepagato. And yes, it's easy to deal with.

Vodafone has the Paypal option, too, but it doesn't work if the underlying bank card isn't Italian.

And there is absolutely no other source of recharge codes?

I don't know, since I live in Italy I don't have this problem so I never looked for another solution. Surely with Wind it works easily through their website, for the others I don't know.

Bene, tanto grazie.

Thanks

@Effendi,

Could you offer some more info on this, please?

A while ago I downloaded a 'Codice Fiscale' from a link which had been posted on this forum. Fortunately for me before I used it I read that this was illegal.

My TIM prepay sim card has now expired and I would like to buy another for my trip next month, what is the way round this for a visitor to Italy?

Grazie.

It's all written HERE, at the bottom of the page.
It's not "legal", but it's the way to go if you don't want to get mad ;)

Codice Fiscale
 

Nobody seems to care. The stores make a copy of your passport and give you a sim card. The bank gave us ours when we opened a bank account in Pescara and it worked for buying a house.

Effendi & BLC,

Thanks for the info, I still have the CF number that I had generated so I will use it.

:)

Prepaid SIM card for mostly Data and some voice for my Nexus One
 

Thank you so much for this forum, it's a great resource for us traveling abroad. I'm going to Italy for two weeks and I'm looking for a Prepaid SIM for mostly Data but some amount of calling both to Italy numbers and US numbers. All the issues I've seen addressed on here seem to either focus on a Data SIM or a calling SIM. Do the Data SIMs include voice calling as well? I think I want to go with Vodaphone just because I'd like to get a card and activate as soon as I get to the airport. Thanks!

Data sims nearly don't exist in Italy.
Here we always talk about voice sims which all have data capabilities and you have to add a "data add-on". TIM and Wind are almost always the best choice.

I can assure you that wind will continue to charge for services that are not discontinued by you. I had a Wind SIM on a recent trip and didn't bother to discontinue mega ore thinking my balance was zero and that would be it. When I returned and inquired about a recharge I was told I needed to recharge at least €60 to bring my balance to a positive value. I, therefore, purchased a new SIM and new number and de-activate any service I do not require during my leave.

Regards
Sandro

They are quite clear on the website that the option will automatically renew every month until discontinued. All it takes is a sms message to activate or deactivate. Sometimes I forget but Wind roams on Rogers so you can do it even from Canada. You can recharge Wind prepaid on their website from Canada using a Canadian credit card (only one in Italy that allows non Italian credit cards) as well which is convenient.

Prepaid SIM in Italy?
 

Hi
I have an unlocked i Phone that I will be traveling with in Italy for a month, so I'll get a SIM card when I arrive. I don't care so much about call and text prices. Which network will give me the best rates (ideally a flat daily rate for example) for data access?

I'm hoping the Italian carriers will start selling affordable unlocked Mifis as they've been selling the USB keys.

Then people can use iPhones on the road, with all the GPS-centric apps.

Finally got around to checking my account online. Here is my balance info:

"Questo il credito disponibile sulla tua linea prepagata Wind: 7,35 Euro
Il tempo a sua disposizione per utilizzare il credito telefonico scadrà il 18/05/2011"

So out of the original 20 Euro purchase, I have a little over 7 Euro credit and I have until 18/5/11 to recharge, which should give me another year before the 7.35 Euro plus the amount that I top off expires, right?

It shows I'm on the Wind 12 plan, after I had canceled the Mega Ore 12 plan.

Can you activate a new data plan online or only via SMS?

You can activate also online, just login, go to the page of the offer you like and click on "ATTIVATI SUBITO".
Otherwise login on 155.it, go to "Modifica la tua offerta" and then choose among the different options available.

OK, I'll check those out.

First to recharge before expiration and then activate the plan just before I arrive.

If I'm not mistaken, it takes a few hours to activate? Or is that just the new SIM?

It can take some hours, also on old sim-cards.

Hmm, I can't recharge on wind.it.

When I try with Visa, the transaction terminates with "invalid session" the only message.

When I try with American Express, trying two different Amex cards, it says it can't be paid with those cards.

When I try with Paypal, I log in and it says it can't be completed at this time and only offers to return me to the merchant.

Frustrating as using an American credit card to book on trenitalia.com.

3's data plan
 

@effendi: Thanks for your very detailed information on acquiring prepaid SIM and data plans in Italy. I will be going on a one-week cycling tour of Tuscany later this week. I would like to get a prepaid SIM with data for one week. From the information you provided, it appears 3 would have the best plan: The Super Internet plan at 3GB (100MB limit per day) for 5 euro per month. Is there any reason you recommended WIND and TIM over 3?

Super Internet

Thanks!

Coverage, of course. If you go out of main towns you most probably get no or weak 3 signal and you could find yourself roaming on TIM network, paying expensive extra costs.

OK, unable to recharge my Wind SIM so I have to buy a new one.

Lot of Wind resellers listed for Sicily.

But I also have an almost 4-hour layover at FCO. My flight arrives at T3. Not sure where my connecting flight to PMO flies from.

I found a shop called Smartphone at T3 which apparently sells at least TIM SIMs.

Anyone know if this shop also sells WIND? Or any other shops at FCO? I see listings for TIM, Vodaphone and 3 shops in T1 and T2 (assuming I'm able to go to these shops).

The Wind Rivenditori search lists only shops that appear to be outside the airport, but relatively nearby.

I'm thinking of getting a Wind SIM and probably Mega Ore 100, probably more than I need for 2 weeks but if some hotels have poor Internet speeds, may be nice to have an option to use mobile access.

How does the time-based plan compare to the data-based plan?

Alternatively, the fallback is to get the TIM Internet 100, which sounds comparable but costs more.

This time, I'll buy an extra charge card so that I can recharge using a code online, assuming that works for Wind and TIM.

Time-based plans = shit
Go with the data-based plans such as Internet No Stop or Mega Unlimited by Wind.
AFAIK there's no Wind shop at FCO and I fear the Smartphone shop also has closed. There's a Wind shop at a shopping mall close to FCO, but I don't know if it's a good idea to go out and in again (I fear you cannot go there on foot, and it's no sense to take a taxi at the crazy prices they have in Italy). I'd wait to buy it once you are in Sicily.

Hmm, okay, I may consider TIM then, since there is suppose to be a TIM shop in T1, which I understand would be where my connecting flight is.

I've mapped the location of the Wind store in the first city I'll be staying in but I'm thinking the chances of finding an English-speaking store employee might be better at the airport?

Can you renew the Internet No Stop or Mega Unlimited options after you hit the quota or are they just once a month options?

TIM is more expensive but maybe I'll have better luck recharging it over the Internet than I did with Wind.

Uhm, I wouldn't be so optimistic about recharging with foreign credit cards, but you can give it a try!
At the airport it's more likely to find an English speaking dealer, that's sure, BTW that shouldn't be a big problem in any case: Sicilian people are so friendly and will do their best to help you also if they don't speak much English! ;)

With Wind you can renew the option before the 30 days, just send an SMS to 4033 writing RINNOVA SI.
Wind would be better since it's cheaper and gives you more data than TIM.

Do the top up cards expire? I can try buying an extra one and then enter the code from the card over the Internet?

Otherwise, not sure why the Paypal option didn't work on Wind either.

It seems the 1 GB limit of the Internet No Stop would be easy to reach if I use 3G for the laptop. The 10 GB is safer but the Mega Ore 100 is 5 Euro cheaper and would allow for 7-8 hours of use per day over 2 weeks with presumably no cap?

I use to be able to top up my Wind card over the internet with my Canadian visa card. About a year ago it stopped working. My wife's Tim card has never worked topping up with our credit cards. The scratch cards are becoming harder to find as well.

Really, they don't sell scratch cards any more?

The still have them but harder to find. You now go into the tobacco store, give them your phone number and they refill your card by machine (internet probably).

Hmm, that's unfortunate.

The idea is to buy the cards and then use them from overseas to recharge.

You can still find scratch cards, but I confirm that's now a bit harder.

I've had good luck with Save on Roaming. They charge but all you need is to add a little bit once a year to maintain the number then fill up when you arrive in Italy.

Just an update.

I couldn't find a shop selling Wind SIMs at FCO. But saw shops for TIM and 3 and understand there is a Vodaphone shop as well. There were ads for Wind, Vodaphone and 3 all over the place in Gate B.

Went ahead and got the TIM. Figured I probably paid 10-15 Euro more than I would have paid for Wind. But using the layover time rather than an hour or two when I could be seeing things seemed like a worthwhile tradeoff. Actually, it was more than an hour or two saved as I used the rest of my layover time to try to figure out how to get my Huawei E585 device working -- it does an auto configuration thing so you have to set up a profile and then enter the APN there.

My iPhone has been roaming on Wind most of the time (data roaming is turned off). Comparing signal strength on iPhone and the E585, the TIM seems to get more coverage, at least in the parts of western Sicily I've visited so far. That included my hotel room in Castellammare del Golfo, where I could get a better TIM signal than the hotel Wifi. Speed tests showed about 1.5 Mbps down. Forget the upload but it was slower. Found it very usable for laptop and iPhone.

Out and about, found a lot of places with only 2G coverage, including Marinella di Selinunte, a sleepy coastal village near a big archeological park -- iPhone shows no coverage in the hotel room while the TIM 2G signal is strong. Still useful for most apps. in iPhone. Actually EDGE back home would render the iPhone unusable.

I'll have to set up the online access at the TIM site. But as I alluded to earlier, I guess I could work on getting a scratch card to recharge from back home, to keep the SIM. But I think at most I have 5 Euro credit on it.

If I were to activate the unlimited plan again in the future, I suppose it would still be the 5 Euro activation fee so there's not a huge advantage in keeping it alive, other than to save a bit of time getting a new SIM -- well that's 10 Euro right there I suppose.

But then again, there could be price increases on these plans too.

Re-stock prepaid WIND from USA with non-Italian credit cards
 

1) Can the pre-paid WIND SIM card be re-stocked from USA using a non-Italian credit card??????? I've seen a number of threads on this and obviously it is problematic. I'm having difficulty.

2) Does anyone have a telephone number I can use to contact WIND from the USA to attempt to resolve the issue of using my non-Italian credit card? The only publish the 155 number to contact them on their website and obviously that doesn't work from USA.

Background info -- I have a WIND prepaid account in my name that I obtained recently using a legal codice fiscale and my passport. I am now back in USA and tried last evening to restock the SIM card using my American credit card but it didn't accept any of them OR my PayPal account. I want to keep the same Italian cell phone number to be used when I travel into Italy every few years. I have many Italian friends and it is a pain to have to continually provide them a new Italian cell phone number.

If someone can help resolve this, you will forever more be my hero.

Ciao,
Dee

PS -- note that someone on page 19 of this thread posed this problem but I saw no response. Here is what they wrote:

Hmm, I can't recharge on wind.it.

When I try with Visa, the transaction terminates with "invalid session" the only message.

When I try with American Express, trying two different Amex cards, it says it can't be paid with those cards.

When I try with Paypal, I log in and it says it can't be completed at this time and only offers to return me to the merchant.

Frustrating as using an American credit card to book on trenitalia.com.

May be out of luck. I'm in Italy right now and tried to get some gas the other day. Doesn't like my card.

Fulfillment of these sites are usually done by Italian banks, which for whatever reason doesn't want to work with American CC issuers. Maybe try to contact the bank that issued your card or better yet, Visa?

I'm going to probably look at getting a scratch card. I was the one who couldn't recharge my SIM. Basically, it expired about 2 weeks before I came on this trip.

that's very easy: ask one of your Italian friends to do a small refill on your card (5/10 euros) every 11 months so you are sure your card will be active every time you go back to Italy. And of course when you go back to Italy you'll surely be glad to offer your friend a good glass of wine! :)

BTW you can call 155 from abroad, just dial *124*155# from your Wind card, it's also free of charge. The problem will be to find someone speaking English and understanding your problem (which is probably not Wind's problem).

I was able to recharge it a couple of times in the past with a UK debit card, but not this year and it caught me out as I'd left it a bit late. Another card didn't work. Using Paypal was also impossible. Altogether about a dozen failed attempts.

I tried phoning some phone numbers I found, asking for a call centre for prepaid customers, with a mixture of unsuccessful results. I was told to call 155 which is impossible from outside Italy. I was put through a couple of times to what seemed to be a department for business customers, but either I was confused by the IVR menu, or there was no answer or the call answered and hung up before I spoke

In the end the SIM expired with quite a bit of credit on it, and much of the account detail disappeared pretty quickly amd within a couple of days I was unable to log in to the account.

Since then, my email address used for Wind, i.e. wind @ ... seems to have been either sold to or stolen by a firm of spammers, who ironically have promoted Vodafone and Wind to me, as well as insurance amongst other things. I've even posted about this on an Italian newsgroup where some other people had received spam from the same firm and were convinced it was related to their Wind account.

I'm not very amused, especially as they accepted foreign cards in the past, and there is no information to declare that this is not possible. I hope you find a better solution and keep ahead of things