Questions on Italy WIND 64K SIM and Samsung GT-S3600

[wesley]

I just received a new Wind 64K Sim from a friend who lives in Italy. The chip is still attached to the card, since the Samsung phone is in my possession.

1. Is it safe to assume that the Sim is activated at the time of purchase? I won't be able to use the Sim until I get to Italy next month. But I'd like to know that the Sim will be useable the moment I turn my Italian Samsung phone on.

2. To set English prompts, do I dial 4242?

3. To check credit, do I dial -- *123# --?

4. When I have turned on the phone during previous trips to Italy, a request for a PIN code appears. Is there a way to dismantle this feature? Some people say this is a feature of the cell phone but there's no reference to it in the Samsung User Guide. And it's the SIM card that provides the PIN, so what is the truth?

Thank you!

[Effendi]

Wind prepaid cards have a PIN code which is written on the plastic card where your sim is attached to. To disable it you have to check on your phone's settings. If it's an Android phone it should be under Settings, Security, Sim block settings or something like that (mine is in Italian). It's something similar on any phone, look for the security settings.

To check if your sim-card is active just put it inside your phone and see if it connects to a network. I don't know if it needs to first connect to Wind Italy network before working on roaming, but probably not. Dial 4242 once you are in Italy, or *124*4242# if you are outside of Italy (free) and wait for the English prompts. To check your credit dial *123# (free also abroad).

[wesley]

Thank you, Effendi, for coming to the rescue.

I knew about the PIN code on the Wind card (fairly obvious), but I've never checked to see if the Samsung (not an Android) has a "security" setting. Of course it should have one, and I'll look for it.

Since my phone is an Italian phone, I just assumed the Wind would not connect to a network here in the U.S. I have experience turning another Italian phone on here in my home, and the Italian TIM in that phone would not connect (or try to roam). I'll try the Wind card and see what happens. If nothing, I won't know much more until I turn the phone in Italy.

Thank you, too, for confirming the codes for credit and English.

[wesley]

I just installed the Wind SIM, turned the phone on, and lo and behold got a signal (in the U.S.). The Wind SIM immediately offered a "phone set-up" menu, with the option for English. Found the Security link in Settings, found the PIN Unlock link, and successfully unlocked the PIN.

Looking forward to a working phone in Italy. Thank you.

[Effendi]

Excellent, I'm glad everything worked so far.