Mobile prepay top ups with Vodafone

Hotlink, from Vodafone, is a mobile top up service for prepay customers.  It's not a brand new service; up until the weekend, I had no idea it existed, and was given a demonstration of how to set it up by Vodafone fanboy (and employee) johnr.  What impressed me was how straight forward setup was, and how quickly credit could not only be added to your mobile, but to any Vodafone mobile of your choosing.  If you have leeches teenagers who you regularly top up, Hotlink is the perfect product for you.

The first step involves picking Hotlink from the Vodafone SIM menu on your phone (unfortunately I can't screenshot this as I've already set it up).  It presents you with a list of supported banks.  Once this is done, you then need to login to your internet banking.

I bank with ASB, so under Mobile Banking I enter my mobile phone number under Mobile Top-up and then pick the bank account to debit:

The menu on my Nokia E71 changed about 30 seconds later - I now have the option to top up my mobile, and enter a specific amount, or top up someone else's.  The fact it is part of a menu, and I don't need to remember codes or a number to send a SMS to makes even more handy.

It's free to sign up - you can then become a walking, talking, Vodafone top up machine.