Online Airtime Purchase

K

Karwats

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Jun 25, 2009
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Abu Dhabi
Hi Guys
Just joined but reading through the posts seems this brain trust is the best place to get some solid straight answers.

As the heading says my problem is simple, as the saying goes the devil is in the details.
In any event read through the FAQ - which seems a bit dated and about 30 pages worth of stuff for a solution, so if there is a ready made solution on page 31, I have missed it and you can move this post. 250 odd pages seemed a bit daunting.

So first a short history for ambiance and background.

I live in the UAE and utilised the 3G modem option to get my folks online for mails chatting and whatnot. Worked like a charm with bundles purchased when I was last in the RSA. Now fast forward to yesterday onto Voda4U site, purchase 1G bundle no problem right WRONG!!. Seems I cannot purchase Bundles online as I don't have airtime?????
OK fine must be fairly easy to purchase airtime online allocate it to the modem sim and then buy data bundle from this. Which is a fairly roundabout way of going about it, but still quite feasible. You guessed it WRONG again!!! I have tried many and varied forms of searches to find someone or something that sells online airtime with credit card ability. So far no luck.
And what is with all the EFT based solutions????? Not geared to expats for sure, since I long ago closed all my ABSA accounts in disgust due to poor performance- but that's another story. In any event no local account torpedoes the EFT route.

So here goes.

1. How does one purchase prepaid airtime or bundles online with a credit card.
This process must be simple and completely online with no registration and no faxing - who still faxes stuff anyway????. No removal of simcards, swapping, sms'ing and assorted madness involved. I effectively have to do this remotely since I am not in the country.

Thinking of solutions outside the box is encouraged. I've come across ebucks who apparently do it online and Nashau who has some sort of phone type service that is credit card enabled. if anyone has some insight into these, information good or bad would be appreciated.

I did speak to Vodacom btw, service was pretty sharp but ultimately useless requiring registration with Cointel??? or something to that effect. Again with the faxing????

So I'm not going to rant and rave - although it is justified- about the lack of CC ability on the Voda4U site, I just want a solution.

Ok guys that's my tale of woe. help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Antonf

Had a look at them but some problems:
a. Site is down due to overdemand
b. They send your pin to the "phone" which needs to be activated, bit tricky if the sim is residing in a modem.

Also had a look at Pinfre - same problem, activation by sms & pin.

Search continues.
 
The only sure way to do this, is with either a Standard Bank or ABSA account.

From an ATM or Internet Banking, one can then load airtime onto the sim in question.

For your needs though, sorry, no other solution to my knowledge.
 
wheunis said:
The only sure way to do this, is with either a Standard Bank ... account.
Click to expand...

You obviously haven't tried it in the past hour or so...
Technical error. Please try again later
 
Last edited:
The easiest way to do it, is to deposit the cash in a friend's bank account with online banking, then he/she can put the airtime on your sim for you.
 
Hi Guys

Thanks for the info so far, albeit not a solution per se.

Checked out Nashau and seems that all suppliers have gone fax berserk - again with the faxes. So scratch that one. O ja +- 15 minutes on cell from the UAE to get the information:rolleyes:

So for the ATM proponents, my searching seems to indicate R275 is the max you can purchase at any one time 1Gb is R289. So it seems you have to purchase 2x vouchers more or less to get the correct "airtime" amount to get the Data bundle.

Jeeez must admit all this is turning into a headache.
 
NIVO offer bundles for purchase via credit card. Loading isn't realtime, but generallly happens within a few hours.
 
Karwats said:
So for the ATM proponents, my searching seems to indicate R275 is the max you can purchase at any one time 1Gb is R289. So it seems you have to purchase 2x vouchers more or less to get the correct "airtime" amount to get the Data bundle.
Click to expand...

Not true.
There is an option to "Enter another amount".
The maximum per sim card loaded per day is however R500, regardless of originating account.
 
My thanks to KaasP for his solution.
Worked like a charm, no hassles.
Guys from Nivo are ON THE BALL!!
 
Last edited:
Pleasure, realtime processing is on the cards, fighting the fraudsters is the challenge. ;)
 
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