Prepaid SIM in Italy?

[borjeg]

Is there any independent web site where one can recharge Vodafone PrePaid and TIM PrePaid cards?

We used to be able to top up Vodafone cards at www.vodafone.it but since about a year they refuse to accept non-Italian bank cards. TIM has always rejected foreign bank cards.

Any suggestions?

[Effendi]

Use Wind!

[borjeg]

Originally Posted by Effendi

Use Wind!

Thanks, please elaborate. In what way would that help me?

We've had our TIM Card since the "early days" in 1997 and we've managed to get a real good number. But nowadays there are restrictions in the form of, purchase with Codice Fiscale, registrations, recharging with bank cards and probably more that we haven't come across yet.

And we've had the Vodafone card since early Omnitel days. But we can't recharge the account with our non-Italian bank card anymore.

Do you mean that Wind Prepaid doesn't suffer from those problems?

[Effendi]

The "restrictions" using Codice Fiscale for registration apply to ALL italian prepaid and postpaid cards. And it's not something new, there has always been. And it's really not something difficult to deal with.

My suggestion is to use Wind since they offer refill through PayPal on their website. So you can reload with any credit card associated with your PayPal account.

So with TIM and Vodafone you need an Italian card, with Wind no. And it's also cheaper.

[borjeg]

Originally Posted by Effendi

The "restrictions" using Codice Fiscale for registration apply to ALL italian prepaid and postpaid cards. And it's not something new, there has always been. And it's really not something difficult to deal with.

No, you're right, it's not new, but it hasn't been there all time, not when we bought our TIM Card and Omnitel Prepagato. And yes, it's easy to deal with.

Originally Posted by Effendi

My suggestion is to use Wind since they offer refill through PayPal on their website. So you can reload with any credit card associated with your PayPal account.

Vodafone has the Paypal option, too, but it doesn't work if the underlying bank card isn't Italian.

Originally Posted by Effendi

So with TIM and Vodafone you need an Italian card, with Wind no. And it's also cheaper.

And there is absolutely no other source of recharge codes?

[Effendi]

I don't know, since I live in Italy I don't have this problem so I never looked for another solution. Surely with Wind it works easily through their website, for the others I don't know.

[borjeg]

Originally Posted by Effendi

I don't know, since I live in Italy I don't have this problem so I never looked for another solution. Surely with Wind it works easily through their website, for the others I don't know.

Bene, tanto grazie.

Thanks

[Intasun77]

Originally Posted by Effendi

The "restrictions" using Codice Fiscale for registration apply to ALL italian prepaid and postpaid cards. And it's not something new, there has always been. And it's really not something difficult to deal with.

@Effendi,

Could you offer some more info on this, please?

A while ago I downloaded a 'Codice Fiscale' from a link which had been posted on this forum. Fortunately for me before I used it I read that this was illegal.

My TIM prepay sim card has now expired and I would like to buy another for my trip next month, what is the way round this for a visitor to Italy?

Grazie.

[Effendi]

It's all written HERE, at the bottom of the page.
It's not "legal", but it's the way to go if you don't want to get mad

[BLC]

Originally Posted by Effendi

It's all written HERE, at the bottom of the page.
It's not "legal", but it's the way to go if you don't want to get mad

Nobody seems to care. The stores make a copy of your passport and give you a sim card. The bank gave us ours when we opened a bank account in Pescara and it worked for buying a house.