Virtual Top Up service

Posted by Felix Okoli on Friday April 5, 2013 at 17:15:19:

Most GSM networks in Nigeria do offer subscribers the ability to add credit to their airtime balance using a Virtual Top up service(VTU) for free.

VTU is a kind of service that works a bit different form the normal recharge card system which requires you to dial a combination of USSD codes with a secret PIN in order to receive instant airtime recharge. With a VTU service, you can practically add credit to your sim card without having to dial any USSC code or scratch card.

When a customer wishes to load airtime on his phone using a VTU service, he may decide to approach a VTU vendor, request for the service and provide details such as network, VTU amount and is phone number and the vendor would just instantly send credit to his phone. He can then confirm his balance to see the new balance and afterwards makes payment for the service.

Another customer who is also used to ATM services can also request for a VTU service without the need for a physical vendor. He uses the ATM in the normal way by inserting the card, his pin and then selecting Airtime recharge or Quickteller. He would then select the network, enter the beneficiary phone number and confirm. His bank or card account would then be debited while his phone number would be credited with the exact amount of airtime requested using the VTU service.

A third customer who is already used to internet banking can also access the VTU service for most networks in Nigerian using his banks internet banking platform. All he needs to do is log into internet banking, go to airtime recharge and enter the require details too. He would then confirm it, answering any security questions or providing a security key and his mobile phone number or beneficiary's would immediately be credited while his account would be deducted with that same account. If he has also subscribed to sms alerts, he also gets a bank alert of the transaction on his phone.

One of the benefits of using a VTU service is that it eliminates the need for scratching cards which can be a problem for your nails.

A second benefit is that it is also a green initiative since it saves a lot of paper that has been used in printing recharge cards. I just notice that even recharge cards manufactures have started printing smaller paper cards so as to save paper. VTU is good for the earth.

The third benefit is that is also saves time used in entering and dialing a recharge card code.

A fourth benefit is that it eliminates theft or loss or damage of recharge cards either to thieves or over-scratching the PIN before they are used. Believe me, I've lose some money by over-scratching my recharge card PIN and didn't really bother reporting to customer service since that would also mean losing time.

So, with a VTU service, it is hard for your to lose your credit unless you actually lose your phone.

Where to get a VTU service
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- VTU vendor
- ATMs
- Internet banking