Quick Question For German Vodafone Sim Card

[0700700]

i am going to buy one on ebay and it is without credit... the seller has told me
that you can recharge it with vodafone top-up vouchers bought from the UK??


also he says that you can recharge it with any amount to get another 12months of service on the card.. is that true... i checked the vodafone page here and its says

Validity period 12 months since last refill but it doesnt specify how big the refill is ??? thanks

[andy]

when mine was new, it had ?10 credit and 15 month life - cost ?20

when you add ?15, it adds 9 months, up to a maximum life of 15 months
other values ?25 and ?50 - I think these give 15 months, but can't find the info

you can buy CallNow vouchers and keep them for a while (maybe a year?) - careful though as it's thermally printed - I bought one last Dec and applied it in July

you can call 22922 free from here - probably elsewhere too?
- menu options

1 balance
2 top-up
4 change language - English = 2
6 top-up using foreign scratchcard

make sure you get the PIN and PUK codes

[snaimon]

Originally Posted by 0700700

i am going to buy one on ebay and it is without credit... the seller has told me
that you can recharge it with vodafone top-up vouchers bought from the UK??


also he says that you can recharge it with any amount to get another 12months of service on the card.. is that true... i checked the vodafone page here and its says

Validity period 12 months since last refill but it doesnt specify how big the refill is ??? thanks

See

http://vodafone.de/callya/guthaben_aufladen/51794.html

Works from the following countries.

Vorteile:

* Aufladen des CallYa-Kontos auch mit den Guthaben-Karten* von Vodafone-Netzbetreibern im Ausland m?glich (siehe L?nderliste weiter unten).
* KontoServer kostenlos erreichbar - vertraute Bedienung, auch wenn keine deutsche CallNow-Karte verf?gbar ist.

L?nderliste
?gypten Australien
Frankreich Griechenland
Gro?britannien Irland
Italien Kroatien
Malta Neuseeland
Niederlande ?sterreich
Portugal Schweden
Slowenien Spanien
Ungarn

Also details on how to. Andy has the right #.

Stan

[snaimon]

Oooops.....

Beware of the fine print -- must be IN UK to use a UK card, for example.
There will be a FEE to process the foreign top up -- starting at 2 Euros. In Italy it can be 4 Euros for a larger recharge.

It does NOT seem you can top up on the vodafone.de site using a credit card. There are sites (teltarif.de) where you can purchase a refill card with a credit card.

Maybe our German friends have other info.

Stan

[andy]

oh, right. I thought there was a small fee, but forgot to say

the top-up options in the book are

1 direct debit from bank account
2 CallNow voucher
3 bank transfer
4 Citibank cash machine - if not customer, it says EC-Karte though; Visa and Mastercard not mentioned
5 via Cash & Go

it looks like only 2 and 5 apply to non-residents ... the last seems to be electronic transfer at a shop till, similar to swipe cards here, though it says enter the number twice - that's probably how the Teltarif link Stan mentioned works ...

[snaimon]

For purchasing top ups in Germany you may try

https://secure.verivox.de/cards/

No experience, however. This is the organization to which teltarif refers. You will need to register at the site. To be expected, however.

I have ALWAYS purchase tops up cards when in Germany. I started a SIMYO account for my wife via credit card while she was there. I will have to top that one up before it expires also via credit card. I can refill my D1 phones via the t-mo.de site and I may do that. They are currently offering a bonus to refill but I don't need to at this point. I would rather let the phone go into message time and then try EITHER my refill cards OR wait until May. Last May they also offered a bonus to top up via their site. The phone time will run out about mid-May 2006.

Vodafone DE has good network coverage in DE, but I have no personal experience with them. I am wondering WHY you would choose them? I chose T-MO hoping I would have some compatibility with my US T-MO phones and that is the case in certain phones.

Good luck.

[snaimon]

Originally Posted by andy

5 via Cash & Go

it looks like only 2 and 5 apply to non-residents ... the last seems to be electronic transfer at a shop till, similar to swipe cards here, though it says enter the number twice - that's probably how the Teltarif link Stan mentioned works ...

I think Cash and Go must be done within Germany -- post office, bank automat and the like (whatever that means). That leaves the voucher/card as the only viable means.

OT:

Funny, Voda Malta let me top up using a US credit card ONLINE. I did NOT see the option for using a foreign Voda top up on there site. ANYWAY (1) US does not have Voda yet (2) I did not or do not have any spare Voda vouchers from DE or other countries (3) was not in DE or other compatible country recently. Too bad.

[0700700]

Originally Posted by andy

when mine was new, it had ?10 credit and 15 month life - cost ?20

when you add ?15, it adds 9 months, up to a maximum life of 15 months
other values ?25 and ?50 - I think these give 15 months, but can't find the info

you can buy CallNow vouchers and keep them for a while (maybe a year?) - careful though as it's thermally printed - I bought one last Dec and applied it in July

you can call 22922 free from here - probably elsewhere too?
- menu options

1 balance
2 top-up
4 change language - English = 2
6 top-up using foreign scratchcard

make sure you get the PIN and PUK codes

Andy i dont care if i lose some money i just want to keep the sim card working !!!

so 15euros gives me 9 months , and then i have another 6 months when the sim card can receive calls (making 15months)... is that right?

also when i add 15 euros and not use them, will they stay on the account when i apply another 15euros nine months later?


I was told i can buy vouchers from vodafone uk stores and they would work ? any experience


also calling 22922 apparently doesnt work from the uk , thats what the seller told me?


i will try though the sim card is one of the used ones and is already registered to some german company !


THANKS EVERYONE !

[0700700]

Originally Posted by snaimon

See

http://vodafone.de/callya/guthaben_aufladen/51794.html

Works from the following countries.

Vorteile:

* Aufladen des CallYa-Kontos auch mit den Guthaben-Karten* von Vodafone-Netzbetreibern im Ausland m?glich (siehe L?nderliste weiter unten).
* KontoServer kostenlos erreichbar - vertraute Bedienung, auch wenn keine deutsche CallNow-Karte verf?gbar ist.

L?nderliste
?gypten Australien
Frankreich Griechenland
Gro?britannien Irland
Italien Kroatien
Malta Neuseeland
Niederlande ?sterreich
Portugal Schweden
Slowenien Spanien
Ungarn

Also details on how to. Andy has the right #.

Stan


Vodafone DE has good network coverage in DE, but I have no personal experience with them. I am wondering WHY you would choose them?

Simply because they are offered for the cheapest price, and i also use vodafone in the UK , so ill be sure there will be good interconectivity between the two )))

sorry i CANT read german

[andy]

Originally Posted by 0700700

1. so 15euros gives me 9 months , and then i have another 6 months when the sim card can receive calls (making 15months)... is that right?

2. also when i add 15 euros and not use them, will they stay on the account when i apply another 15euros nine months later?

3. I was told i can buy vouchers from vodafone uk stores and they would work ? any experience

4. also calling 22922 apparently doesnt work from the uk , thats what the seller told me?

5. i will try though the sim card is one of the used ones and is already registered to some german company !

1. no, the credit adds to the life remaining for both call and receive. ?15 adds 9 months, and [I think] ?25 adds 15 months - in either case to a maximum life of 15 months. So if you add 9 months now, then topped up again between 3 and nine months from now, the expiry would be next July [18 months].

2. the credit value will remain, so the 2nd would increase it again

3. I haven't done this, but it is said to be possible, the call menu mentions foreign scratch cards, and Stan said about the ?2 premium on doing it.

4. it does work - I checked it last night for one of the replies (the call menu)

5. it all sounds a bit risky to me - eBay, expiry, PIN number, etc . You can usually get a new one in a shop for ?20 for ?10 value; by the time you've paid postage on this one, will it be any cheaper than ?10? ......... and it seems odd to me that the seller couldn't manage to look up info correctly for you about recharging in UK

* Aufladen des CallYa-Kontos auch mit den Guthaben-Karten* von Vodafone-Netzbetreibern im Ausland m?glich (siehe L?nderliste weiter unten).
* KontoServer kostenlos erreichbar - vertraute Bedienung, auch wenn keine deutsche CallNow-Karte verf?gbar ist.

"top up of the CallYa account also with credit vouchers of Vodafone networks in other countries (see list below)

AccountServer reachable free of charge - reliable operation, even if no German CallNow voucher is available."


more from the Vodafone recharge page ... top-up from abroad

Alles funktioniert genauso einfach wie daheim:

Rufen sie im ausl?ndischen Vodafone-Netz unter der Kurzwahl 22 9 22 den Vodafone-KontoServer an (eine Auslandsvorwahl braucht dabei nicht eingegeben zu werden).
Lassen Sie sich von der freundlichen Stimme des Vodafone-Mitarbeiters durch das Sprachmen? leiten, und
geben Sie die freigerubbelte Geheimnummer an.
F?r die Aufbuchung einer ausl?ndischen Guthabenkarte im Ausland f?llt ein

It all works very easily like this:

. call the 22922 shortcode from a foreign Vodafone network (no need for country prefix)
. let the friendly Vodafone employee's voice guide you through the menu
. enter the secret scratchcard number

- the rest is about the charge that Stan mentioned - ?2 except in Italy: ?2 on ?10, ?4 on ?16, ?5 on others

- and that a foregn top-up voucher can only be applied in its home country

As I said, to change the menu into English - 4 then 2
- to change the voicemail language needed an email, MATHA531 told us - mine is switched off


nb - I got the Vodafone SIM as my brother lives in Germany, and he could check out which calling cards would work from free 0800 numbers (not many). Starting from now, I might choose Simyo or Aldi (if it's available), and use a local area code calling card number, similar price for this but cheaper calls to German mobiles on the SIM tariff. Or, as Stan and others have mentioned, T-mobile has some other cheap calls options, some short-lived though.