Prepaid SIM in Italy?

[deeras]

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.

[Effendi]

Originally Posted by deeras

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.

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).

[andy]

Originally Posted by deeras

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.

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

[BLC]

Up to a year ago I could recharge my Wind number with my Canadian credit card but no more. I now use Saveonroaming. They have a service charge (5 euro I think) but I only use them once a year to keep both my Wind and my wife's Tim cards active.

[sdoe21]

If I want to deactivate the auto restart of my programm from free MB leaving from Italy, I have to do it the last day?
When I send the sms with stop, it just stops the auto restart or stops the programm and cancells my (allready paid) free mb?

Grazie amici!!

[sdoe21]

Any Help???

[sdoe21]

Originally Posted by sdoe21

If I want to deactivate the auto restart of my programm from free MB leaving from Italy, I have to do it the last day?
When I send the sms with stop, it just stops the auto restart or stops the programm and cancells my (allready paid) free mb?

Grazie amici!!

Any help Effendi???
Thanks in advance!!

[cs2797]

Hello! Just wanted to apologize if a similar question has been answered previously, but this thread is rather long.

Thanks Effendi for answering so many questions. I have another slightly more complicated one. I'm going to be an exchange student in Milan, and I am studying there from September till the end of December. However, I plan on traveling around Europe a lot (places like Spain, France, and the UK, among others). I need to get a pre-paid SIM that I can use on an unlocked iPhone 4 that will allow me to use 3G data in Italy and affordable data roaming when I travel. I usually don't talk on the phone a lot, but I do text. Some people have suggested that I use Wind. What would be the best plan for me?

Thanks in advance!

[DRNewcomb]

Originally Posted by cs2797

and affordable data roaming when I travel.

I really don't know if there's such a thing as "affordable data roaming". I might suggest that you check out Boingo Mobile's WiFi roaming. It might help take the bite out of your data roaming problem.