Prepaid SIM in Italy?

[BLC]

Originally Posted by bauruine

Hello BLC,

my problem is that I will use the SIM immediately after the arrival. Thus it is necessary to activate Internet access from abroad.

The other is that coverage from TIM is clearly better in my driving/sailing area, than those of WIND.

Thanks.

Unfortunately I haven't found a simple solution to the problem of maintaining a TIM sim. I suppose as we have an Italian bank account we could try and set up a periodic payment scheme but it dosen't seem worth the effort when WIND is so easy to work with. A simple text message when we go to Italy gets me a data plan and the same to cancel it when we leave and every 10 months or so I addsome money via my Canadian Visa card.

[Effendi]

When you land in Catania you go to the Tabacchi store (there's surely more than one inside the airport) and refill it in a couple of minutes. If you didn't de-activate the option before you left Italy your option will be still active (but you will pay also for the months you didn't use it...)

[bauruine]

Hi Effendi,

thank you for that hint and ..

Originally Posted by Effendi

If you didn't de-activate the option before you left Italy your option will be still active (but you will pay also for the months you didn't use it...)

.. is that really true, that the 100 ORE rate will be charged for these 3 months even if it was not used?
I understood that the option ist stopped if the amount of money is do low for the next month.

regards bauruine

[wco81]

I canceled my 100 Ore plan by SMS but it was still showing up on wind.it when I logged in just before leaving Italy.

[Effendi]

When you run out of credit they should stop billing you (it's prepaid, if you go to zero you shouldn't go further below...). But that doesn't always happen.
I never used TIM so I don't know how they behave. But my suggestion is always to DEACTIVATE the option when you leave. Otherwise prepare to get bad surprises...

@ wco81: what does the 155.it say now? The option should be inactive, I suppose. Wind works quite well with these things.

[dg7feq]

@effendi:
by the way: my brother is surfing with the TIM prepaid-card in "Südtirol" at the moment and he says the speed and coverage is excellent! He made network search with the UMTS stick (the 10 euro offer from Vodafone germany, was mentioned in another thread here already), and TIM is the only UMTS signal available most of the time.
He bought it in an electronics store as the fuel station at passo di brennero was closed for some reason when he passed by...

Chris

[bauruine]

Hello Effendi,

my problem is done. I found someone who recharged my TIM account. He went to a TIM store, payed the amount of 24.- Euro (19+5) and activated the 100 Ore option for me. There was no charge for the last 4 months.

Originally Posted by Effendi

When you run out of credit they should stop billing you (it's prepaid, if you go to zero you shouldn't go further below...). But that doesn't always happen.

In this case it did not happen

Originally Posted by Effendi

I never used TIM so I don't know how they behave. But my suggestion is always to DEACTIVATE the option when you leave. Otherwise prepare to get bad surprises...

I will do so by sending INTERNET100 OFF as a SMS to 40916 .

regards
bauruine

[sgr]

Originally Posted by Effendi

When you run out of credit they should stop billing you (it's prepaid, if you go to zero you shouldn't go further below...). But that doesn't always happen.
I never used TIM so I don't know how they behave. But my suggestion is always to DEACTIVATE the option when you leave. Otherwise prepare to get bad surprises...

@ wco81: what does the 155.it say now? The option should be inactive, I suppose. Wind works quite well with these things.

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

[BLC]

Originally Posted by sgr

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.

[wco81]

Originally Posted by Effendi

When you run out of credit they should stop billing you (it's prepaid, if you go to zero you shouldn't go further below...). But that doesn't always happen.
I never used TIM so I don't know how they behave. But my suggestion is always to DEACTIVATE the option when you leave. Otherwise prepare to get bad surprises...

@ wco81: what does the 155.it say now? The option should be inactive, I suppose. Wind works quite well with these things.

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?