O2 UK - topup from overseas?
 

Hello...

I'm a Canadian who is planning an extended European vacation in the summer. I'll primarily be in the UK.

I've gotten an O2 SIM (O2's rates are good enough for me) but I'm having trouble activating it. O2's automated topup service won't take Canadian credit cards.

In North America we are able to buy topup cards with Canadian credit cards, even on American services. Also, a person can buy topup cards online and have the codes emailed, permitting instant topping up. (I got a T-Mobile code just yesterday - it took about two hours.)

What is the best way to top up O2 from Canada, when I don't have a UK credit card? My wife has a friend in London on whom we can impose, but I'd prefer to avoid that if at all possible. I want to get this working and tested prior to arrival in Britain, if at all possible. (I have a second SIM for my wife but I will probably just activate that there - if we already have one working then it isn't the end of the world if it takes a couple of days to get the second one online.)

Thanks in advance,

Jim

Many of the British telcom PAYG services have this idiotic policy of only accepting UK credit cards for top ups....O2 is apparently one of them. Of course this flies against the international nature of credit cards and the amounts involved are rarely large enough to make fraud a problem but that's the way it is.

I'm afraid about the only way is to have your wife's friend buy a voucher an get you the number.

I'm afraid the only thing to do is to get your wife's friend to buy a voucher but you know something, I am not sure that even this will work as you would have to dial a number to enter the voucher number and I'm not sure if the account is not activated whether this can be done.

I receive text messages so I think I can call to enter the voucher number. If I can't, then I top up when I get to the UK I suppose.

Or try eBay. You can get the topup code sent to you via e-mail and pay via PayPal, depending on the auction terms.

That'd be perfect. I was looking but didn't find any. It's good to know that these vouchers do come up occasionally. Thanks!

Hmm, you're right, at the moment there aren't very many O2 topup cards available, possibly due to the holidays. Be sure you're searching ebay.co.uk, as many sellers only list in the UK, but it's academic if it's just a code you're after, and they haven't specifically blocked bids from elsewhere. At present, I only see one person selling them (ahnerak), but they have several 15-pound cards up for auction (for example http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/15-02-top-up-c...QQcmdZViewItem), and you could always ask about terms. (Remember that foreign PayPal accounts take a bigger chunk of the final value, so offering to throw another 50 cents in to cover this can sometimes make a difference with balky sellers.)

Thanks for the tip. I actually found those a couple of hours ago and I bookmarked them. I also contacted the seller of my O2 SIM cards and she's expressed willingness to get topup vouchers too. Between the two I should be good to go!

Topping up
 

The British telecoms only accept UK credit cards for top up but you can also purchase the UK mobile vouchers at ezminutes.com

Orange takes my Canadian MasterCard. I'm not sure if it's because I called and asked to register it (and they allowed it) or if it's the default state. I was able to change my credit card number online without talking to them, though.

O2 topup
 

Did you ever get an answer to your question about topping up your O2 sim card outside of the UK. I know you can use cash in the UK, but what about in France or Barcelona? Or even from Canada before going over seas? Please let me know if you have any ideas. Thanks.