Prepaid SIM in Italy?

[wco81]

Really, they don't sell scratch cards any more?

[BLC]

Originally Posted by wco81

Really, they don't sell scratch cards any more?

The still have them but harder to find. You now go into the tobacco store, give them your phone number and they refill your card by machine (internet probably).

[wco81]

Hmm, that's unfortunate.

The idea is to buy the cards and then use them from overseas to recharge.

[Effendi]

You can still find scratch cards, but I confirm that's now a bit harder.

[BLC]

Originally Posted by wco81

Hmm, that's unfortunate.

The idea is to buy the cards and then use them from overseas to recharge.

I've had good luck with Save on Roaming. They charge but all you need is to add a little bit once a year to maintain the number then fill up when you arrive in Italy.

[wco81]

Just an update.

I couldn't find a shop selling Wind SIMs at FCO. But saw shops for TIM and 3 and understand there is a Vodaphone shop as well. There were ads for Wind, Vodaphone and 3 all over the place in Gate B.

Went ahead and got the TIM. Figured I probably paid 10-15 Euro more than I would have paid for Wind. But using the layover time rather than an hour or two when I could be seeing things seemed like a worthwhile tradeoff. Actually, it was more than an hour or two saved as I used the rest of my layover time to try to figure out how to get my Huawei E585 device working -- it does an auto configuration thing so you have to set up a profile and then enter the APN there.

My iPhone has been roaming on Wind most of the time (data roaming is turned off). Comparing signal strength on iPhone and the E585, the TIM seems to get more coverage, at least in the parts of western Sicily I've visited so far. That included my hotel room in Castellammare del Golfo, where I could get a better TIM signal than the hotel Wifi. Speed tests showed about 1.5 Mbps down. Forget the upload but it was slower. Found it very usable for laptop and iPhone.

Out and about, found a lot of places with only 2G coverage, including Marinella di Selinunte, a sleepy coastal village near a big archeological park -- iPhone shows no coverage in the hotel room while the TIM 2G signal is strong. Still useful for most apps. in iPhone. Actually EDGE back home would render the iPhone unusable.

I'll have to set up the online access at the TIM site. But as I alluded to earlier, I guess I could work on getting a scratch card to recharge from back home, to keep the SIM. But I think at most I have 5 Euro credit on it.

If I were to activate the unlimited plan again in the future, I suppose it would still be the 5 Euro activation fee so there's not a huge advantage in keeping it alive, other than to save a bit of time getting a new SIM -- well that's 10 Euro right there I suppose.

But then again, there could be price increases on these plans too.

[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.

[wco81]

May be out of luck. I'm in Italy right now and tried to get some gas the other day. Doesn't like my card.

Fulfillment of these sites are usually done by Italian banks, which for whatever reason doesn't want to work with American CC issuers. Maybe try to contact the bank that issued your card or better yet, Visa?

I'm going to probably look at getting a scratch card. I was the one who couldn't recharge my SIM. Basically, it expired about 2 weeks before I came on this trip.

[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