Purchased WIND sim on Ebay - heading to Italy 7/24
 

I have been lurking on this site for months - I was able to purchase a used wind SIM on Ebay and was wondering if I could get some clarification on couple things.

Can I recharge the card before I leave? I have viewed the mondowind site which is in Italian and was wondering if I could have some instructions on that.

I am using a BlackBerry pearl. I am assuming I cannot get BB connectivity w/ the card but would like data services that aren't going rack up a huge bill.

Basically just need some guidance on how to get the best experience from this card. I will be using it primarily to call back to the states but will probably be making some in-country calls as well.

Thanks for any help!!!

Also, I tried registering the # at the 155 site and it said I couldn't and that I;d have to mail in registration info. Any help there would be appreciated as well.

It's always a bad idea to buy Italian cards on eBay... :(

You probably won't have the chance to refill the card with an American credit card, you won't use the Blackberry without a Blackberry contract and you won't be able to register to the very useful 155.it without knowing the details of the registration of your simcard (which should be your details, but who knows...).


My advice is always the same: BUY ITALIAN SIM-CARDS IN ITALY. It's cheap, you can activate Call Your Country (cheaper international calls) for free and most of all it will be regularly registered with your details, with no problems for you (and the 155.it) and without breaking the Italian law...

Now, ask the seller about the registration. Did you give him copy of your passport? I won't give it to an unknown person, anyway... If not, ask him the details of the registration, including CODICE FISCALE of the registrant. With those details maybe you can register to 155.it.
Then you can try to register on Mondowind.it, all in Italian of course but we can help, and try to refill with your credit card. Sometimes it works, usually it doesn't.
About the Blackberry, I honestly hate those phones and I'm not an expert at all, but I fear there will be no chance to use it for data without a specific plan (business, postpaid).

Who is the carrier for your BB Pearl?

I used my BB in Italy last summer for data with no probs. I'm on TMO and they have a pro-rated plan for intl BB data for $20/month.

Of course you wont be able to get BB service using a Wind sim.

I carried 2 devices last summer. One for voice using a TIM card and my BB. I bought the TIM card in Milano @ a TIM store and it was a hassle. Much paperwork and then I was put on an expensive plan to boot.

I'm on TMO. What I will probably do is use my Wind sim for calls and occasionally put my TMO sim in if I want to check my blackberry.

Did the International Blackberry service cover all data? I have heard differing comments on whether it was all data or just email. I asked the CS rep if I could use my gmail app because it wasn't just my push mail (thus using regular data) and she said it would be covered. I'm just wondering if I could jump on my browser or tether to my laptop w/o ending up with a billion in data charges.

I think so. If TMO has a data agreement in Italy BlackBerry will work :beer: