How can I recharge my Italian Omnitele SIM?

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M. B. - 12 Sep 2003 22:41 GMT

I have an Italian prepaid Omnitel (Vodaphone) SIM card, which has not been
used since March 2003.
I would like to know if its possible to somehow "re-charge" or "re-activate"
it from here, in the USA.

I went on the Omintel website, but everything is in Italian, so I need some
help...

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Jamie - 12 Sep 2003 23:26 GMT

> I have an Italian prepaid Omnitel (Vodaphone) SIM card, which has not been
> used since March 2003.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> I went on the Omintel website, but everything is in Italian, so I need some
> help...

why? even *if* you could do this you would have to roam to US networks....
Why not just unlock the phone and by and American SIM?
JAmie

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Donald Newcomb - 12 Sep 2003 23:48 GMT

> I have an Italian prepaid Omnitel (Vodaphone) SIM card, which has not been
> used since March 2003.
> I would like to know if its possible to somehow "re-charge" or "re-activate"
> it from here, in the USA.

I had an Omnitel SIM in 2000 but let it expire. Can you register onto any
GSM network in your area? Can you receive a SMS? Can you get an Omnitel
recharge card? There is a number in Italy you can call to recharge your
phone from overseas. You have to understand enough Italian to know when to
dial in your phone number and then the recharge code. If they are still
using the same system, you get a SMS that tells you to turn your phone off
and back on. After that your credits should have increased. I believe that
until you get the SMS, the recharge is not valid.

You might want to ask the same question on the forum section of
www.prepaidgsm.net
--

Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net
Remove 'NOT' from address to reply

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D I E G O - 13 Sep 2003 09:54 GMT

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 17:48:31 -0500, in article
<3f6279ff_3@news1.prserv.net>, "Donald Newcomb"
<DRNewcomb@attglobal.NOT.net> wrote:

>Can you get an Omnitel
>recharge card?

well, apart the credit card he can use a recharge card to top up his
credit. He can ask someone in italy to send him the code of the card,
but then he has to do an international call to the operator to use it

>You have to understand enough Italian to know when to
>dial in your phone number and then the recharge code.

that's why i'd prefer to use a credit card and buy it on vodafone
website. If he's not afraid of the international call, and feels
lucky, he can try to call the "190 dall'estero" (190 from abroad -
that is the number of the customer care stored on the sim in
international format and ending whit 190) and maybe find an english
speaking operator who coud help him.

>If they are still
>using the same system, you get a SMS that tells you to turn your phone off
>and back on.

This is also written on the website, but was referred to old sim who
stored the credit on them. With the new system these informations are
stored on the operator servers only, and to know the amount if your
credit you need to dial a short number that returns an sms containing
the credit information.

>After that your credits should have increased. I believe that
>until you get the SMS, the recharge is not valid.

This was the old system who needed to update the information on the
sim with a "programming sms". In the new system, the sms only has an
informative purpose and can be sent to you even after you have your
credit increased.

>You might want to ask the same question on the forum section of
>www.prepaidgsm.net

Well, i forgot this excellent italian forum in english :)
There you'll surely find the help you need.

--
D I E G O

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AndreA - 15 Sep 2003 14:04 GMT

Il giorno Sat, 13 Sep 2003 10:54:38 +0200, D I E G O
<pinetina@despammed.com> con una bandiera della rinata Fiorentina in
mano e lo striscione "Meglio liberi all'inferno che schiavi in
paradiso" nell'altra cosi' parlo':

>Well, i forgot this excellent italian forum in english :)

you hate me :-)

Signature

Andrea de Florence ©, PrepaidGSM Staff
- ISCF online: www.iscf.info - Know 3: www.mondo3.com
- Prepaid Sim Card of the "Entire World": www.prepaidgsm.net

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D I E G O - 16 Sep 2003 15:25 GMT

On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 15:04:14 +0200, in article
<nkdbmv0uqa2suktc4lqcsjqlvvpbvbngt1@4ax.com>, AndreA
<andtrapACFIORENTINA.NET@smn.sm> wrote:

>you hate me :-)

Not at all! I'm your first supporter :^)
I just got *NO* memory :^(

--
D I E G O

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D I E G O - 13 Sep 2003 02:04 GMT

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 21:41:43 GMT, in article
<r4r8b.695$U41.605@nwrdny01.gnilink.net>, "M. B."
<REMOVETHESPAMmystic02@verizon.net> wrote:

>I have an Italian prepaid Omnitel (Vodaphone) SIM card, which has not been
>used since March 2003.

Vodafone sim cards need to be recharged whithin 12 months from the
date of their activation. You can use the phone to place and receive
calls until the 11th month, and only to receive calls in the 12th
month.
As you live abroad, you are in roaming so you need to top up you
credit to both call and receive calls.

>I would like to know if its possible to somehow "re-charge" or "re-activate"
>it from here, in the USA.

if you just need to top up, you can paste this link into your web
browser

http://www.shop.190.it/190/trilogy/jsp/programPage.do?precPage=Top+OLS&programPa
ge=%2frechargesCatalogue.do&channelId=-8808&pageTypeId=9893&programId=9811&tk=98
93%2cl&ty_skip_md=true

(Your newsreader could have broke it into different rows so you'll
need to recompose it into one line)
On this page you can use your credit card: you have have just to
1)choose the amount of your topping (3 to 150 euros) by clicking on it
2)insert the phone nuber you want to recharge
3)re-insert the nuber to confirm it
4)click on the red button "VAI ALLA CASSA"

at this point - as i remember - you'll be asked your credit card
number (both the front and the back numbers). After you've confirmed
everything, you'll have to wait from few minutes to a pair of days to
get the money on your prepaid sim, depending on how fast your
visa\mastercard\diners\american express is checked by the system.

>I went on the Omintel website, but everything is in Italian, so I need some
>help...

As far as I know there isn't an english version of the vodafone
italian website, and - as it is a mess- you'd better browse it with
the assistance of an italian-speaking at your side ;^)
This way, you could easily register your sim on the website and be
able to send mms and long sms messages to italian vodafone sims...

Hope this helps you!
Ciao!

--
D I E G O

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M. B. - 14 Sep 2003 03:37 GMT

DIEGO,

Thanks for your help. I managed to "register" myself, and then went on to do everything you said, and I entered my phone number, and chose 3 Euro recharge... but then go this message:

Siamo spiacenti, si è verificato un errore durante l'elaborazione richiesta. Ti invitiamo a riprovare piú tardi.

My SIM card (that I used on an unlocked Ericsson T39) is not older than 8 months. And for the first 4 months after I got back to the USA, it still picked up Cingular signal and when called, it would actually ring (incoming only). But about 2 motnhs ago, it tells me now "Emergency calls only".

What could be causing this?

Thanks!

> On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 21:41:43 GMT, in article
> <r4r8b.695$U41.605@nwrdny01.gnilink.net>, "M. B."
[quoted text clipped - 46 lines]
> --
> D I E G O

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D I E G O - 14 Sep 2003 22:51 GMT

On Sun, 14 Sep 2003 02:37:20 GMT, in article
<AvQ8b.1239$Kt4.1058@nwrdny02.gnilink.net>, "M. B."
<REMOVETHESPAMmystic02@verizon.net> wrote:

>DIEGO,
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>Siamo spiacenti, si è verificato un errore durante l'elaborazione richiesta.
>Ti invitiamo a riprovare piú tardi.

I translate:
"Sorry, an error occurred while elaborating you request, please try
again later"

Unfortunately, vodafone's italian website it's very frequently DOWN,
so even italian users have to try again and again until they succeed
in managing their accounts :^(
You have just to try every hour until it works :(

>My SIM card (that I used on an unlocked Ericsson T39) is not older than 8 months.
>And for the first 4 months after I got back to the USA, it still picked up Cingular signal
>and when called, it would actually ring (incoming only). But about 2 motnhs ago,
>it tells me now "Emergency calls only".
>What could be causing this?

Probably you've spent all your credit, so you can't neither get nor
place any call until you top up (cause you're roaming and can't
receive a call if you haven't got any credit on your sim card - and
roamig charges are very expensive!)
As you are only at the 8th month of life of your sim card, you could
go on trying some other time to recharge your credit. In the meantime
you could try to know, entering the website with your registration
data, the expiration date of your sim card - though i realize it's not
that easy to do it in a foreign language.
Feel free to ask if you need help... :)

--
D I E G O

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Franco Barber - 16 Sep 2003 21:32 GMT

If you actually get this to work from the USA, let us know.
I also have an Omnitel SIM and was not able to recharge it
from the web.

This part March when the SIM was about to expire I looked into
recharging it from Omnitel's web pages. It didn't work for me.
What I understood from reading the web pages was that you
could only use the web to recharge the SIM if you used
a credit card issued by an Italian bank to an Italian resident:
they didn't accept VISA or MASTERCARDs issued by foreign banks.

Does anyone know for certain that this is not the case,
and that a foreign VISA or MASTERCARD will actually work?

At about $1.40/minute roaming in the US, the Omnitel SIM is
not very convenient for actual communications. It's just
fun to be able to claim that I have an Italian phone number.
About the only useful thing I've done with it is to send an
SMS to donate to TELETHON last year.

Ciao,
Franco

Signature

Franco Barber
feb AT febsun DOT cmhnet DOT org

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