Voda have just hacked their topup / SIM management website at vodafone.co.uk to block all access until a code is sent to the SIM card, which then needs to be entered in the website
This messes up scenarios where you are unable to display an incoming SMS. For example an Ipad/3G cannot display SMS messages unless jailbroken. Android tablets are OK.
Voda have just confirmed this to me; no way around it and they won’t help in any way to restore access to the management website which you have set up.
I guess they did it to gradually kill off PAYG SIM cards used in low-use applications. The cheapest contract SIM cards (which are of any use for travelling) are, here in the UK, close to £10/month. The cheapest ones I know of are £5/month but they don’t roam. One can seemingly restore access after doing this procedure just once but it will be a hassle for many people, especially if the SIM card is a different size to what their phone uses.
For a straight blind top-up (no balance information) you can still use https://topup.vodafone.co.uk/topup/
This is the “Greek approach” (also done in Croatia) where basically a PAYG SIM is just a hassle; needs to be set up with a phone, topped up, and difficult to manage long-term.
Use a MiFi or something similar. I only have a 3G iPad because it includes the GPS and I don’t want to deal with an external GPS. I’ve never installed a SIM in it. For all my data roaming needs I use a MiFi – the iPad, phone and laptop can all connect to it simultaneously rather than needing different SIMs etc. for all of them.
The MiFi has a simple web interface for reading any SMS messages it receives.
Is it a once off code? Is so, can’t you just take the sim card out and put it into a phone to receive the code then put it back into the iPad (permanently)?
The MiFi has a simple web interface for reading any SMS messages it receives.
Yes – a very good point. My E586 can do that.
Is it a once off code? Is so, can’t you just take the sim card out and put it into a phone to receive the code then put it back into the iPad (permanently)?
It is one-off this time but not if they keep doing it 
Also you need a phone which can take the same (or smaller, with an adapter) SIM card. I keep an old Nokia here for this kind of nonsense but it would be yet another thing to carry on a trip.
For UK people, I have gone for the £6/month SIM here and checked it does roaming (20p/MB in Europe) and allows tethering. So ideal for tablets. Network is EE so reasonably good. Downside: 3G only.
The best for roaming in Europe is Three.
Just heard from someone else about this. It seems that Voda are rolling this out to possibly all PAYG SIMs, and send a message to the SIM on every topup.
If true that will kill Vodafone PAYG for all IOS devices, as well as all the other “unattended” applications like security alarms.
Fortunately one can get basic contracts down to £5 (Giffgaff is one) if no roaming is needed, and even less in some specialised cases.
What a stupid company!
In case anyone is interested in another bit of trivia:
I have found out that that there is a process whereby you can register your normal mobile phone number on this SIM card web account and then you can choose to have the message sent to that instead.
This cannot be done online because Voda have blocked all access until they send that SMS and you extract the code from it, however 
