HMO

A friend will travel to Italy (Rome mainly), and he needs a SIM chip for his iPad. He is going Dec 24 and will spend two weeks in Italy.

Any suggestion what to buy and where to buy a good data plan for his stay? Thanks!

(If this thread is more suitable for Travel Tech, mods please move)

Perche

This isn't easy. I used to bring my iPad, but I don't any longer. I bring a laptop and use it when I have WiFi, and otherwise use my phone. Maybe others have had success with data, but I have not. For the last four years my travels have had me in Italy well over half that time, usually months at a time, in Venice, Milano, Torino, Rome, Naples, and various places in the South and in Sicily. Data plans are always difficult, at least for me.

I have an iPhone with an expired contract so I can change the SIM chip. I purchased mine at a TIM store in Rome a few years ago. I can't activate it when I land. It is necessary to go to a TIM store. They say that you can do it online, but I've never been able to. I have been to TIM stores in Rome, Naples, Turin, Venice, Palermo, to complain, and no clerk has ever been able to use their own website to activate my SIM. They always have to call some private customer service line in Rome to activate it. They don't know why their website doesn't work and just shrug their shoulders, and say, "No lo so."

I always swear that I am going to throw away my TIM card and buy one from another company. I haven't yet, and I don't know why. TIM stores are usually closed more often than they are open. I usually fly into LIN, MXP, VCE, FCO. There is a TIM store in the train station in Milan, but good luck with that. Customer service is not like it is in the USA. Take a number, wait for about an hour then miss your train, even if there were only three or four people ahead of you.

Most often I arrive in Venice. Since their website usually doesn't function you have to go to one of the two TIM stores in Venice, one just over the Rialto Bridge on the right, and another one on Strada Nova, on the right walking towards the train station. You get the same customer service headache. They say they can't do it: "It's not possible."

But, they will do it if you protest enough. I was in Venice for the month of October and the worker, her supervisor, and the customer service person on the phone in Rome, all told me that since I bought the SIM in Rome I'd have to go to Rome to activate it. They dismissed me and called for the next customer. I made the person in Rome call the supervisor of the central TIM customer service line and told them no, I am in Venice, and she said, "no problem, my SIM would be activated within two hours." The store told me that I'd have to wait outside because it was 8PM and they were closing. The SIM was actually activated about 15 minutes later. I speak fluent Italian, and this was all argued in Italian. If I didn't speak Italian I would have just been shushed out with, "it's not possible," and that's it.

Shortly after activation I started receiving annoying messages telling me that I was almost out of data, even though I hadn't yet used any data. There were constant offers for me to buy more data on sale with a link to their website, and their website, of course, doesn't work. Since it was costing me money to receive their texts I went to the TIM store over Rialto and asked, "What is this? Do I need to buy more data? I haven't even been online yet?" They both told me to ignore it, it is just automatic advertising. This is not a one timer. It's a similar story every single time: Torino, Milano, Palermo, Napoli, Roma, etc. I just don't find this to be easy.

AT&T's international plan is ridiculously expensive. I'm open to anyone with better advice than I can give. It seems to me that if your friend doesn't want to be too connected, he/she can probably do OK by only connecting via WiFi when in the hotel, and buy a data plan to use sparingly otherwise.

Since I live in Italy half time I've thought about just buying an italian phone and using it when I'm there. However, I have many contacts I need to be in touch with for business reasons, and they need to be able to call me using the number they have for me, rather than make an international call to reach me.

I don't really know a good answer to this. If it is two weeks, I'd suggest just calling the carrier and asking what their international plan is. Go to Settings on the iPad, hit renew, then start using the iPad as it would be used in Italy and get an idea of how much data they use. Then call AT&T and buy that much data, plus a cushion.

If your friend is going to be going back and forth to Italy then he/she should go to a store IF they have a phone that is not under contract, and buy an Italian SIM if they are willing to go through the headache of dealing with italian customer service to get it activated each time they arrive and depart, and not have any service except roaming while in connecting airports to and from Europe.

If anyone has better ideas, I'm certainly open to them. Virtually living in Italy for the last four years I love it, but customer service is not one of their strengths.

maclover

I don't know what exactly you were looking for Perche but I've seen thousands of tourist walking in the chain store I worked for and activating TIM SIM cards with data plan.

HMO, this is what your friend is looking for
TIM WELCOME

If he is going to use the SIM card in iPad only, there's a version called TIM WELCOME Internet that doesn't have any included call time but for the same 20€ has 5GB internet data.

Cheers

Perche

I am sure you are right, and I did plead ignorance here. It's just not as easy as you think. When I say that I basically want a plan that lets me use my iPhone in the same way that I would use it in the USA, the familiar phrase, from Rome to Venice is, "that's not possible."

HMO

Perche & Maclover,

Thanks for the help! I'll let him know! ^

sophiesophie

Perche always has the best advice!

I will add my 2 cents. A few months ago, I was in Italy (passed thru France and Spain) for about 11 days. Luckily, I didn't attempt the activation of a TIM card. (I get aggravated waiting for a long time for things and then not even have it work. Guess better not live in Italy....from what I have read!) I don't have a phone that has an expired contract so I just used my Verizon global data plan. It is $25 for each 100mb of data. I didn't expect to call anyone - just wanted to have access to the internet and email/facebook my travels so everyone would know I was ok. All of the hotels I stayed at said free WiFi in the rooms/hotel. For some reason, this trip, in all hotels, WiFi would not work in my room very well, it would drop almost immediately. Checking into the hotel in Barcelona, I was told their wifi wasn't working very well that day. (I wonder if she says that every day?) I ended up using a bit more data than I had expected. Verizon worked great - I just had to pay quite a bit more than I expected after 11 days. I also texted a lot one night with my sister back home (it was my birthday!) - I had misread the cost of texts (that was about an extra $47 for that!) If he decides to use his cellular plan, better check those rates.

I also was unhappy with Verizon as I called shortly before I left and said I needed to activate it for my trip. I knew my exact dates I would be there and told it to the CSR. I asked if I had to call to cancel, she said no, if you don't use it, you don't get charged. Ha. My bill a few months later was a bit larger than I expected and found they were still charging me $25 a month for the global plan. I called and they said there is a note that 'the customer is to call to cancel'! Liars! Why would I do that! I knew my exact dates of travel, it was not open-ended. I specifically told them the dates.

Overall, the cell/data service worked great. Hotel WiFi did not work consistently and just check your bill when you get back.

JMN57

I used to do Vodafone when in Italy (and prior to that TIM). Price was good but, while it is possible to re-activate a SIM provided it was used in the last 12 months (I have done it), I ended up getting a new one most of the time as it was easiest. As Perche points out, YMMV in terms of customer service and too often YM is a flat tire. Just not worth the aggravation and waste of time.

Last year, with the new T-Mobile US free global roaming, I switched my US line to TMO. I've been to Chile, Italy 3 times, Germany since then and I have found it to be a much more convenient solution. You land, it works. Data is slow but fast enough for e-mail, Google Maps and an occasional web page. I use wifi in the hotel if I need speed.

Perche

That sounds good, and maybe it is. I went with TIM after receiving a similar offer. When I got there it turned out that I had to sign a one year contract to get what was just a one month teaser rate, but they told me that I could break the contract after the first month without penalty. Then when I went back to the store (Torino) they said that they were not authorized to stop the contract. It could only be done in Rome. No problem I thought, since I happened to be going to Rome.

When I got to Rome the one store authorized to discontinue the service was located so far out in the suburbs that I would have had to rent a car and make a day trip out of it. They said my only other option to get out of the contract was to write a letter to TIM, requesting that they release me. It is apparently a common thing, as they actually had a pre-written letter for me to use. I sent it, and figured that this would be an ongoing struggle, but they actually did cancel the contract based on the letter.

It's just not as easy as it seems. Also, in their contract they promise to activate your SIM within 48 hours. Earlier this year I went to Rome for a short one week trip and went to a TIM store to activate my card. It didn't get activated until two days before my return. Even if they do activate it within 48 hours the HMO friend will be without service for up to two days after they go to a store and sign up. Until then, they will either be off-line when not on WiFi, or racking up roaming charges unless they purchase an international plan from their carrier before leaving the USA. I typically buy the cheapest AT&T international plan to tide me over before SIM activation, and for after i deactivate it on the last day but am still traveling.

I agree, definitely check your bill when you get back. It never fails: when I get back, my phone bill is always about $180 higher than usual. I call AT&T, listen to tons of recordings before I finally get to talk to a person, then they look into it and always find an error and credit the money back. I don't think I've ever come back from Italy without having to call AT&T to dispute the bill.

Phone problems just seem to be trouble with travel to Italy. Maybe someone has it figured out, but I don't. Cell phones for travel in Italy, at least to me, have been a pain, and have not been as cheap and easy as they advertise.

ckendall

I travel to Italy a few times per year and have an unlocked US phone with a vodafone sim and it's fine. I top it up when I land at MXP (I buy a card at the news stand just after you get out into the airport) and only need to go to a store to get a new sim when I recycled my old iphone. Vodafone stores in Milan (corso Buenos Aires and San Babila) were fine with good quick service. Coverage is pretty good.

(I also have Tmobile for my US phone which is pretty good under the new deal but my Italian friends can call/text me on my Italian sim without paying a fortune).

LowlyDLsilver

Had exactly the opposite experience with TIM welcome last year. Walked into a TIM store in Sorrento, paid the one month fee, in cash, left with a working phone.

No credit card = no way to Bill ongoing fees, no "that's not possible" lady was actually quite helpful.

HMO

My friend told me he bought TIM Welcome.

So far OK! ^

SuperG1955

I have T-Mobile who has arrangements with TIM and others. I turn my phone on when the plane lands and I have unlimited text and data. You will receive incoming calls automatically at a reasonable cost and I use Skype for outgoing. I had moved my wife's Kindle Fire from ATT to T-Mobile and it also worked fine.

I needed high speed data (my phone is also my hot-spot) and that was reasonable. My extra phone charges for three weeks in Italy in August and September were $16.00 (not counting the high speed 5GB).

Perche

I'm envious. I have AT&T, and I don't believe they have such an arrangement. I don't get TIM service until I make it to their store, and that's usually the next day, but it only costs about 20 euros. How much was the 5GB of data?

Ord Liza

I'm envious too and I have T-Mobile! We usually buy SIM's and have some unlocked phones for travel, but this time I thought T-Mobile's new service would be fine. It wasn't.

It worked pretty well in Florence, but after that it was a mess. We had 4 different phones and an I-Pad on T-Mobile, and we kept having trouble. Even when our phones would show 4-5 bars and say 3G on them, we'd get no data service (or some would and others wouldn't, even as between 2 I-Phone 6's with the same settings, so it wasn't the equipment).

I called the T-Mobile international support number and went through it all with the agent. He seemed almost as unhappy as I was. His take was that T-Mobile pays these carriers to provide the service and we pay T-Mobile and the carriers are dropping their end of the deal. He said he filed a report and indicated that ours was not the first report he'd had to file. Don't know if he was just trying to placate me though.

The one thing he suggested (for I-Phones) that seemed to help sometimes was to go to "Carrier" under settings and de-select automatic. It then took a few minutes to search for available carriers and try them. Sometimes we'd end up with one that worked when the automatically selected one did not.

Good luck.

Perche

You are describing my experience. Some describe Italian cell service as seamless and easy, like drinking water. Other times, it can be a mess. TIM lines at Milano Centrale are such that if there is one even one person ahead of you and your train leaves in 20 minutes, you, probably miss it. If you make it to the train, 15 minutes later they start harassing you, telling you that you are almost out of data, buy more.