anyone been able to keep a SIM from TIM active from abroad?
 

I've had 2 bad experiences now, and I'm wondering if its just my bad luck or a deliberate TIM strategy. :( In Fall 2007 I was in Italy and got a SIM chip from a TIM store to make local calls as well as call home cheaper than with AT&T. Worked fine when I was in Italy. TIM promises to keep your number going if you add money to it at least once every 12 months. About 9 months later I was back in Italy, chip did not work. Went into a TIM store and the clerk who spoke only Italian eventually got across to me that the chip was expired, I'd have to buy a new one. I said I had bought it less than a year ago, she asked for the paperwork which of course I didn't bring to Italy with me because I expected it to work. So I bought another SIM.

Here it is 11 months later. I'm not in Italy; with the weak economy I'm probably not going to be able to go overseas for a while. But I wanted to keep my number active. Last summer I had thought of this eventuality, and bought a scratch-off ricarica card for TIM. It was sealed, looked bona fide, and has an expiration date in 2010. So this week I try to add the money to my account by scratching off the silver paint and then texting the numbers from the card to 4616. If I text the string for them to read my balance it shows I have the 8E left from when I returned last summer, which to me shows I am sending SMS messages properly. But it won't add the money from my ricarica card. And when I tried to call the number instead of getting the voice message I had left on the number (and had heard work when I called my number after returning to the States last summer), I got some italian equivalent of "we're sorry, your call can not be completed as dialed. Sorry, sucker".

I'm beginning to suspect that their keep-alive-for-a-year policy is just hype. So I'm wondering; is there anyone out there who can say that they bought a SIM chip from TIM, did not use it at all for 8 or 9 months, and then were either 1) able to return to Italy and continue using it 2) able to add money via SMS using a ricarica card?

The TIM website mentions that you can topup your account on the web ("RicariCard da Web"). I guess you can also enter the voucher code online, can't you?

while trying to add the my SIM I found 3 ways to check the balance and add money, so I figured I'd I'd post them in case the adding money portion works for someone else.

checking the balance

• * dial *123# and a message will pop up on your cellphone with the balance
  * call 4916 from your cellphone and you'll get a message announcing your balance (free call, sometimes it takes several tries for it to go thru)
  * send the message PRE CRE SIN via SMS to 4916

adding money from a ricarica card

• * dial *123*XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX# where the X's are the secret code from the ricarica card
  * call 4916 from your cellphone and choose option 0
  * send the message RIC XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX via SMS to 4916

Note: for calls to 4916 it is possible to have your account configured at the TIM store so that the prompts when you call 4916 are in english. I'm guessing it may also be possible to do this thru the 4916 menu choices itself, but don't know for sure.

I did not try the web for adding to the card since it is in italian (which I do not speak), and I think you have to set up a password for your account at the TIM store.

TIM FROM Canada
 

I filled my wife's TIM card from a voucher by setting up an account on the TIM website. It's free to set up and the 50 euro voucher worked fine. I also tried filling it with my credit card but it appears TIM dosen't accept non Italian Visa cards.
I have a Wind phone and am able to refill using my Canadian credit card on their website with no trouble so unless TIM changes will get my wife a Wind card next time over.

I may add here my weird experience of such kind, I have a TIM SIM registered to my Italian friend as well as it has his data in 119 self service. A few months ago I tried to recharge the card myself through that service both via PayPal and directly from my card. PayPal told me something strange in Italian after I had tried to pay (something about wrong authorization even though I logged in using my existing PayPal account and it got shown there) and did not work while a direct recharge from my Russian MasterCard seemed to work (card got billed) but no money arrived at the TIM SIM account. Some days later the money spent returned to my card. I guess this is really crazy.

I bought my SIM March 2008 in Rome. Didn't use it again until Jan 2009. Made a test call and it worked. Recharged it March 2009 using the card and the 4916 number and it worked.

Recently received a text message from TIM that wants me to present my identification documents at a TIM store. They got all that info when I bought it, so don't know what is going on with that. Recharging doesn't seem to put an end to troubles with TIM.
:confused: