B.free - The quick and easy prepaid mobile phone and data service for you

  • 9 September 2016
  • 20 Antworten
  • 34211 Ansichten

Benutzerebene 7
Abzeichen +2
Dear A1 Support Community,

as we have lots of requests by internationals about our B.free product, we wrote this little description for the A1 Support Community in English. We hope this gives you a good understanding about how to buy and use a B.free product and if you have any remaining questions, post them in this thread and we'll get back to you with an reply.



What is B.free?
B.free is our line of prepaid mobile data and mobile phone services. You can choose between a prepaid card for mobile phones and one only for mobile data access which can be used in tablets and mobile data sticks.

Where to get B.free?
B.free comes within a B.free Welcome Package which costs € 9,90 (including VAT) and you can get it from any of our A1 retail locations, franchise partner, Austrian post offices and select retail partner. The complete lists of all shops and chains offering our products are available here.

What is included within the B.free Welcome Package?
The B.free Welcome Package for mobile phones includes € 5,- worth of credit preloaded. The B.free Internet Welcome Package offer 5 GB of domestic data, valid for 30 days. For recharching credit you can choose between three options: Topping up credit in an A1 shop, by means of a coupon code which you can buy at our retail partners and online via credit care. For further information about recharching up your credit please go to the B.free site on A1.net.

How can I check my current credit?
You can check your remaining units and current credit by simply pressing *101# into the keypad of your phone and to press the button to make a call. Shortly afterwards, your credit will be displayed. You can also call the toll-free number 0800 664 2903 with your B.free mobile phone for receiving your credit information. Finally, there's the possiblity to download the Mein A1 app (Android, iOS, Windows Phone and Blackberry) which also shows your remaining credit.

For more information, please visit the product page of B.free on A1.net.

Thanks for checking out this post and have a great day! :D

Esther

20 Antworten

Abzeichen +9
Hallo 

Warum plötzlich in Englisch?.:S
Benutzerebene 7
Abzeichen +9
Hi Rasputin,

weil Österreich ein beliebtes Reiseziel ist und Touristen sehr gerne unsere B.free Produkte nutzen - die Beschreibung auf Englisch soll ihnen das leichter machen 😉!

lg Wolfgang
Abzeichen +9
A1_Wolfgang schrieb:Hi Rasputin,

weil Österreich ein beliebtes Reiseziel ist und Touristen sehr gerne unsere B.free Produkte nutzen - die Beschreibung auf Englisch soll ihnen das leichter machen 😉!

lg Wolfgang
Okey, ist naturgemäss Verständlich!.:D
Hallo Esther,

Thank you for compiling this summary in Engish. As a B.free Internet S 12 Months subscriber for several years now I have a couple of comments from the perspective of a Canadian who visits Austria regularly.

1. I have never been able to install your Mein A1 app (Android) either from Canada or from Austria (where I am now.) Google Play keeps telling me that none of my devices are compatible with your app. This is curious because two of those devices are Google Nexus phones. They should, of course, be compatible with standard Android apps. Is it possible that you have somehow configured the app not to install on non-EU phones? (I have tried this without success from Canada, Canada with an EU proxy and from Austria.)

2. Your B.free Internet pages recommend onlineaufladen.at to buy and load airtime credits. I have tried to do this from Canada using a VISA credit card with Verified-by-Visa. The purchase always fails at the point that VbV is invoked. I suspect that VbV is doing some sort of geo-location checking. There are no problems when I buy airtime credits in Austria or from Canada using a German proxy. It seems to me that this contradicts your desire to make A1 B.free accessible to people outside of Austria.

3. This is a question rather than a comment. What effect will the new EU tariffs on roaming have on A1 B.free accounts? I sometimes arrive here at MUC or ZRH and then take a train to Austria. It would be very convenient if I could use roaming to buy tickets on OeBB and VVT SmartRide before I am actually in Austria.

Thank you for offering such a fine service that works reliably almost everywhere in the Austrian Alps. Your service has literally been a life saver.
Benutzerebene 7
Abzeichen +2
Dear@Beylo Selhi,

thanks for your post.

With regards to your first question, I couldn't get an answer on this from our tech team yet but I wanted to ask you to provide us with the concrete error notification you are receiving when trying to install the app? Perhaps you could send it to us via screenshot, so we can investigate further? You can of course send the screenshof via PM.

The restrictions from onlineaufladen.at are bound to special VISA fraud guidelines. However, when using a german proxy it is possible to recharge your B.free credit via onlineaufladen.at. Next year, with the new roaming registlation in place, it will be possible to access the OEBB internet page from other countries with your B.free product.

Have a nice day,

Esther
Hallo Esther,
1. This experience is from a Google Nexus 5 phone on Android 6.0.1 on the A1 Network. First, on Google Play, when I search for "Mein A1" there are no results. The only A1 Telekom app that is shown is A1 Newsroom. When I go to Google Play using the link to Mein A1 you provided above, it does show the app but says "X This app is incompatible with all of your devices." If I click the Install button anyway it says, ""Nexus 5 This item cannot be installed in your device's country." This is why I suspect this is a geo-location issue. Still it is odd because I am doing this in Austria, not Canada.

Screenshot: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7b3e40j8grc7q7s/Screenshot_20160912-160750.png

2. Thank you for the info about onlineaufladen.at. I can confirm that this works.

3. Thank you also for the info about roaming. I look forward to this when I return to Austria next year.

MfG... Bylo
Benutzerebene 7
Abzeichen +2
Dear@Bylo Selhi,

I tried to find out why you the app can't be installed in your device's country. As our products are designed to be used within Austria (as we sell Austrian telecommunication services) we also limited the My A1 app in the Google Play Store to Austrian android users. I understand, that with a B.free product, you can of course argue that it is bought to a great extent by people only visiting Austria who have their main place of residence abroad. For a quick solution you could try to change the country setting of your Gmail-User for your Nexus Device and then try to install the app again. I hope this could solve the issue for you.

Regards & have a nice weekend,

Esther
Hallo Esther,

Thank you for following up on this. I am now back in Canada. I don't know if I can change my gmail country setting to Austria from here. I will try this later.

In any case, here is something else that is unusual. I went into Google Play and searched for all apps developed by A1 Telekom Austria AG. I can see apps for your discount brands including Krone, WOWWW!, yooopi!, Ge org! and Yesss!. All of these will install on my Nexus 5 phone even though I do not have a SIM card for them.

Perhaps there is a difference in the way these apps are configured in Google Play compared to Mein A1. If so it should be relatively easy to change the settings for Mein A1 to allow it to be installed on non-Austrian smartphones.

MfG... Bylo Selhi
Benutzerebene 7
Abzeichen +2
Hallo ByloSelhi,

could you already try changing the country-settings?

I already discussed this topic with the colleagues in charge of the apps and they are checking if there is a possiblity to adapt this for the "Mein A1" app. We are evaluating it and if possible, we'll put it on our roadmap. If we have a definite feedback on this, I'll certainly keep you in the loop and post it here.

Have a nice day,

Esther
Is it possible to add more GB to plan before the 30 days are up?
Benutzerebene 6
Abzeichen +2
Hello @Hackley06,

yes of course you can add another 1 GB package by sending a SMS with "ja" to 2945.

Kind regards

Frederic
hi i have a b.free prepaid sim card that's valid until july2019. I top-it up by paying online 15euros.
how can i convert this to 15gb internet data?

I initially had 15gb of data. I wanted the same as i am flying to Europe tomorrow.

Please assist. I can give you the mobile number if required.
by the way i am now currently in dubai and not in austria just to make things clear.

Is there a way that the credit on my sim of 15eur be converted to 15GB mobile data?
Benutzerebene 4
Abzeichen +5
You can't use the internet data< in Dubai. If you want to convert the prepaid amount you can go to www.A1.net/bfree/breitband - There you will have to chose the tariff you want and then you will get what you want 🙂 KR Sam
If you read my message correctly. I mentioned that I’m “flying to Europe tomorrow” meaning I’ll use the Internet data in Europe and not in Dubai. Can anyone help me convert the 15Euros I have on my prepaid sim to get the 10gb data? Coz I won’t be able to sent text message from the sim while I’m here in Dubai as the prepaid sim (a1) I have is only for internet and not for text or call..

pls assist
i want to have the same original package that i initially got. which is valid for 12months for eu and at.

I do not see that option from the link you gave. it's only for 4weeks and 6gb out of 16gb can only be used outside at. what i want is the same as what i got initially. here's my number, maybe you can check from your end and would understand better what i'm saying, if i am not clear enough. you can check what i got originally and that's what im looking for to have again.
If you read my message correctly. I mentioned that I’m “flying to Europe tomorrow” meaning I’ll use the Internet data in Europe and not in Dubai. Can anyone help me convert the 15Euros I have on my prepaid sim to get the 10gb data? Coz I won’t be able to sent text message from the sim while I’m here in Dubai as the prepaid sim (a1) I have is only for internet and not for text or call..

pls assist

here's my number xxxxxxxxxxx. I want to activate the same data package i got when i purchased this prepaid number which has internet data valid for EU and AT and is valid for 12 months. I didn't see this option on the link you gave me Sam.
Benutzerebene 5
Abzeichen +7
Hi @@cohenscoke ;

Please no customer data / numbers here in the forum send. Please contact my colleagues at A1 Live Chat-> www.A1.net/kontakt. In order to be able to help you, you still need customer data from you. Since the forum is not suitable. Please contact the colleagues directly so they can help you.

BR, Babsi
Hi,
Given the fact that A1 has recently introduced some changes to the prepaid data plans, I have a question to clarify.

In the past all B.Free Internet packages were working in AT and EU.
EU data quotas were slightly lower vs. the inland, but still.
Also both L and M packages were having 12 months validity option (20/30 EUR)

Now all packages except one are restricted to AT inland use only and there is only one EU L package available (20 EUR) which is valid for 4 weeks only.

Question: What happens to the existing customer who have been using 'old' packages (i.e. B.Free Internet M / 10GB / valid in AT an EU for 12 months)? Will they be automatically extended to the next 12 months on the old conditions (given there will be enough funds available on the account)?
Or should the customer activate a new package manually (from what is being offered now)?

I am having 'B Free internet M (10GB) / 12months' activated now. There is no such package in the current offer.

Thank you.
Benutzerebene 6
Abzeichen +2
Hi @Dusha,
if you want to, you can still keep the B.Free Internet M. Just ask for it. LG Frederic

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