Will traditional 5 and 10 euro phone top-ups soon be retired? After the great debate sparked by the premium top-ups (a special top-up cut that provides a lower credit than the amount paid) and the consequent intervention of AGCOM to protect users, Wind is launching a new cut: the 6 euro top-up.
It should be emphasized that this new offer is completely unrelated to the special top-ups that have made so much discussion in the last months of 2019. These solutions, which are still available in the different points of sale and online, scale one euro from the credit to use a series of additional services, such as unlimited calls and data connection use for 24 hours. This is a controversial solution because it can mislead consumers who are not familiar with the new feature. Wind has tried to set things right in the simplest way: launching a cut that allows users to pay for their monthly subscription without having to buy higher denominations.
New 6-euro phone top-ups: what are the features?
Since January 20, Wind customers will be able to choose to top-up their SIM with a range of new denominations. The cheapest is the 6 euro, to this are also added those from 11, in addition to the classic 15, 25, 50 and 100 euros. For the moment, the new offers are only available at Wind outlets, on the official app and on the website.
While, tobacconists, bars, receivers and other authorized retailers will have to wait a little longer. It should be noted that these new types of recharge have nothing to do with the new special recharges proposed by Wind and other mobile operators. In fact, the 6 euro top-up will be effective, that is, it will not involve charges for any additional services.
Why do we emphasize this? Because starting in October 2019, Italian operators have introduced new special top-ups that have made consumers turn up their noses, as well as provoking a warning from AGCOM.
What are special top-ups?
Probably Wind's move comes precisely to appease tempers and give some relief to its customers. It all started between the months of October and December 2019, when phone companies launched the so-called "special top-ups". TIM was the first to open the dances with Ricarica +, followed by Vodafone with Giga Ricarica and also by Wind that proposed Ricarica Special.
The offers have one feature in common: the recharge is 5 or 10 euros, but the actual credit is 4 and 9 euros respectively. The remaining euro is scaled to activate a premium service, the ability to use for unlimited minutes and data for 24 hours. How to recognize the different types of recharge? In the Wind site special recharges are marked in blue, while the actual ones are orange.