3G USB Internet in Italy

[Burls]

We’ll be entering Italy shortly, and are looking for the best value 3G USB internet service available for visitors. Any feedback or suggestions would be appreciated, cheers!

[anjou]

If you go to any mobile /cell phone shop most ISB providers have pay as you go sim cards for a variety of dongles.
Last year we were paying @ £25.00 a month for 5 hours use per 24 hrs with Vodaphone.

Make sure you take your passport with you to the shops as the law in Italy is very tight for buying a mobile phone connection.

[Ram]

Vodophone has unlimited 3g for 50 euros amonth, but you need to buy the device- its 189 euros-im using it now- you can service for as little as 20 euros a month

[KEKKUL]

The best dial is TIM, Vodafone has bad service terrific slowly. Tre is a tramps, no suggestion. Wind will be second option

[bnizette]

I used Vodafone through italy took the usb modem with me from Australia and just bought a prepaid sim, 30Euro for a month.

The shops to purchase in are hard to find in some areas, so plan ahead

Regards
Brian

[savoir]

Does anyone know whether there is such a thing as a multi country prepaid sim ?

[dmgf]

Try this link. It sounds like it works for many countries, mostly for cell/mobile phones, but also data too. I haven't used it but intend to next year in europe.

TravelSIM - SIM card for international roaming

[savoir]

That will work but looks very expensive for data. eg email from Italy to Australia will be charged at US 57c per 100kb. It would be cheaper to use a cafe.

While I'm here, the cheapest way to use cafes for email is to type everything on board and download to a USB stick. When you are in the cafe plug in the stick so all you are typing is addresses giving maximum use of the time.

I've been researching the wireless data situation in Europe. Detailed post tomorrow.

[savoir]

Ever heard of those people who need to get a life ? I think I must be one of them for I have now spent 3 hours surfing European phone company websites. Yikes ! Tomorrow I am going to spend a more relaxing 3 hours at the dentist getting teeth pulled.

Did I find what I was seeking – namely a multi country data SIM or dongle for use in the EU ? No, but I did find a few things so here goes.

After searching the phone company websites of Ireland, England, France and Italy I could not find a single SIM or dongle giving a good deal on data outside the home country. Even though you can buy a SIM I couldn’t find one that could be used on another company’s dongle limiting your options slightly.

The best deal of all was Wind in Italy which offers time rather than gb. You can get “unlimited” time for 20 euro p/m but it’s down to dial up speed after the first 10g. Then there are 100 hours for 15 euro and 50 hours for 9 euro. Pick up the deal by 3 October and those prices halve. Travel around the EU and your rate becomes 90c/mb.

The prices in Ireland were slightly higher than England so probably not worthwhile unless you are staying there for some time. There were no good deals at all on data in France unless you take an 18 month plan.

The best deal in England is Three which charge 5 pounds for the dongle plus 15 p/m up to 5gb. Alternatively, they have prepaid plans such as 40 for 3gb over 3 months with free dongle. In EU usage costs 1.25/mb.

Vodafone charge 10 for 50mb/day in the EU but their prices inside UK for month by month use is much higher than Three at 15 for 3gb.

O2 offer free WiFi at Starbucks on top of the mg you use on your account which might appeal to some.

18 month deals can beat all of these but I assume no one here wants such a long term.

[Solstice]

Back to the original question about Italy:

We happened to have both Wind and Vodaphone dongles (the Italians call them Internet Keys) on board when we returned to Sicily from Greece this month. The Wind dongle was purchased in Rome, the Vodaphone one in Greece. In our experience the Vodaphone option was faster. The prepaid price was 10€ for 10 days with 350 MB/day limit. If you exceed the daily limit, the dongle slurps the remaining credits quite quickly without warning. Wind was slower, but you got 100 hours for 10€.

Now we're in Spain and find that we cannot simply replace either SIM with a Spanish one. All dongles in Spain are locked. We would have to buy a new dongle and a contract. The size limits are ridiculous, and Internet is generally more available in Spain than in Italy (albeit often slow), so we said forget it. We visited Vodaphone and Movistar stores in Ibiza city to get this information.

[savoir]

Since my last post I checked out Netherlands and Spain and couldn't find a decent month at a time internet data deal from either country. As an example, Vodafone Spain was " 1 month unlimited prepaid" for 59 but dial up speed after the first gb. Ha !

[Solstice]

Ha is pretty much what we said today in the Vodaphone store in Ibiza. By the way, if you're thinking of going into Marina Botafoch in Ibiza for their Wi-Fi (included in the mooring fee), don't bother. It's the worst we've encountered anywhere so far. We spent 8 months in the Netherlands 2008-2009 and never bothered to look for an Internet data deal because the Wi-Fi was good and reasonably priced most places.

[goboatingnow]

3 seems to have a good deal across anyh country it serves, outside of that its expensive as their is no real harmonised cost for inter country data. It coming , ( like text harmonisation), but isnt here yet,

dave

[jacobite]

Was in Calabria 2 weeks ago on the boat and Vodafon has greatly improved since last year. Speeds were very good. Euro 25 for 5 hrs per day unlimited. Also worked very quickly last week on the Tuscan coast. No complaints whatsoever. Last year I also had the problem with Spanish dongle. Was stupid enough to think that as it was Vodafon/Vodafon would be no problem. Anyway, a new dongle later we were in operation.

[jacobite]

Sorry was interupted as I was typing. Did of course mean Euro 25 per month for 5 hrs per day unlimited.