RSSrsvp

I am landing in ZRH in a few weeks but immediately hopping on a train and spending my time in Florence, Tuscany and Lake Como, does it matter which sim I purchase for data & some voice usage?

slidergirl

I thought I got great service, both at the store and when I connected. For data usage, I'll definitely recommend it. Just look at the prices closer un-jetlagged

wco81

TIM is suppose to have the best network.

I got the Internet 42.2 plan, which gives you 10 GB for a month for 25 Euros. That's not including the price of the SIM, which would be additional but may come with some credit.

The next plan down is Internet Large, which is 5 GB for 20 Euros but with a 5 Euro activation fee, so you might as well get the Internet 42.2, even if you don't have a DC-HSPA device.

I've been using up a lot of the data because the speeds at the hotels I've stayed have been poor or there are restrictions like you can't connect more than one device to Wifi with a given login at the hotel.

I think for voice and text, you just pay per minute or per message charges.

You can save money with Wind, which should have good coverage in most major cities. If you drive around to smaller hill towns in Tuscany, then there might be a difference.

guy999

When I sign up for any of these sim cards in Italy, do i need to go back in at the end of my time in Italy to cancel the contract.

I don't really want to sign up for an autorenewing contract on accident.

Am I even signing up for a contract at all?

RSSrsvp

There is an Italian company in the office next to mine and I stopped by yesterday to inquire about sim cards. All of the people there who incidentally are Italian recommended Vodafone to me. That seems like a good vote of confidence. @:-)

guy999

i found my own answer, apparently it will take credit from your sim card, but if no credit it will turn off(the sim card). tim et all will not just take money from your credit card.

wco81

You can send a free SMS with instructions to turn off a plan.

Or you can register your phone number and log into a web site to control your plan. In TIM's case, it's 119.it.

I don't read Italian but can figure it out or at worse, copy and paste into Google Translate to see what I have to do.

ddrum2000

How long did it take for your Vodafone SIM to activate because my phone won't register on the network adn its been a few hours.

RSSrsvp

The lady in the Vodafone store told me 3-4 hours and it took about 3.5 hours. You need the pin code on the label of the sim card holder that the sim card comes with to activate once it is recognized.

ddrum2000

Well i guess it's time to go back to the store since it's been about 15 hours

RSSrsvp

It definitely should have activated by now!

JMN57

Couple of hours. If you have internet access at your hotel, Twitter them - https://twitter.com/VodafoneIT

they have English proficient folks and they'll ask you to DM the details. Weekend hours may be iffy.

entrada

I spent six weeks in Italy earlier this year and only needed the SIM for iphone data use. I use Skype to make all local and US calls and don't want to receive calls on the iphone. The TIM prepaid plans for iphone only included 500MB/week of data and I didn't think that would be sufficient. So I asked if there were anyway to get a higher amount of data and the representative (at Milan train station TIM office) was very kind and suggested that I get an iPad plan that provides 10 GB/month for, I think, 25 euro. The only difference was the APN had to be specified differently from the default APN attached to the SIM. That seemed like the right option and I purchased it. It worked fine until a few hours later when I wasn't thinking and I used the iphone SMS to send a text. Since the SMS uses the cell system and not the data portion, the one text sent my account with TIM into a negative balance and my data was shut off. Later that day I went into another TIM store to sort this out and the staff at the new store said I should never have been provided with a ipad data plan. I disagreed and asked them to call the Milan train station office. They did and again the person was very kind and offered to add 1 Euro to my account for free to correct the problem. Now my account was back in the black and I could use the data. I just had to remember to not use SMS or cell phone. The data worked perfectly all over. It turned out that I only used about 2 GB for the entire trip, so I probably could have used the weekly pre-paid plan which would have been a bit less expensive. But having more data available gave me peace of mind that I could always have GPS available while driving and be able to teather to let friends use data if needed.

totlaboy

Guys

It seems the TIM SIM would do for me which gives 500mb/week + data + text so that I can insert it in my verizon s4 global phone

however, I'm landing in paris and spend 4 days there before heading to Italy for 2 weeks. Is the TIM SIM available in France or do I need to look at another option now?

Thanks!

entrada

You will need to find another option. The TIM SIM would work in France (but at a higher cost for calls, texts and data than in italy), however it will not be sold in France.