Jet'Dillo

I'm traveling to Italy this coming weekend and hoping to get some advice here about how to avoid the annoyances that Mrs. Jet'Dillo and I encountered last year WRT SIMs for our phones.

Repeatedly we went to different shops in Italy and had vendors refuse to sell us SIMs because we didn't have an EU/Euro ID to go along with our passport.

We lucked out in Trieste at a Vodaphone store where the clerk sold us two just for looking at our passports, didn't take down any details. Now I'm headed back. I still have the Voda SIM and the PIN # and everything but I'm concerned that it's probably expired at this point and I'll have to go through the whole circus all over again.

Is it just Italy that's particularly anal about this ?
Would I have better luck just trying to get a SIM in, say, FRA or MUC ?

A colleague there and I are working on an Android app together, so going the rental route isn't really an option since we're going to want to be testing this on our respective unlocked Android phones while I'm there.

I'm on T-Mobile here in the US, post-paid monthly, but have been dreading what they might want to roam or even get a SIM that would work over there.

I'm heading over there this coming weekend, so it's probably a bit too late to get anything in the mail.
Thoughts, ideas ?

mrcamp

Most other countries are not like that. I know in Italy they usually want you to have something called "code fiscale". See if you can have one generated for you online, then show it to them when you want to purchase your sim. Your current sim may even still be active if it has not been too long since the last activity.

TrueBlueFlyer

I had no idea it was so difficult to purchase a SIM card overseas.

I'm in a similar boat, leaving for Europe next week... and was planning to buy one when I arrive, although I'm not sure where... I will spend a short time in Spain and France, and will travel to eastern Europe as well.

I do want to get a SIM card for emergency use as last time I tried using a pay phone at Amsterdam Airport when my flight was cancelled during boarding it cost me $50 bux for a 3 minute call!

I'm with Verizon in the US and was ready to take their loaner phone + roaming which wasn't too expensive, but they limit it to 30 days, I will be in Europe slightly longer.

Can I buy a global SIM card here in the US somehow? I've heard people speak about something like that available in Brooklyn for example... not sure how shady of an operation that is, but I'd much rather spend $50 bux and call a few times than have to rely on a pay phone again.

--Russ

Gargoyle

With your old sims, it depends on how long it's been since you added credit to them. I had one of my vodafone sims expire after I went 12 months without feeding it, even though I had used it in that period. I believe that if you do feed it more often than that it will stay active; you can go online and put in ten euro.

You can check the forums at http://www.prepaidgsm.net/ for info on buying sims.

SoManyMiles-SoLittleTime

Just Italy? Probably.

Had no trouble last month in Germany using E-Plus. Seemed to have shops everywhere (white with green awning). Purchased SIM in Darmstadt (suburb of Frankfurt).

Bugaboos

You need to let us know sooner. I have an active sim card from my last trip that's still good until May. Lot's of us here probably do, and would probably be happy to mail other FT'ers one, say with the understanding that you send it back after you return. Adding a recharge of $10 to keep it active another year would be even better. Mine's on TIM which covers all of Italy. PM me if you have time to get it before you leave. Oh, I'm in LA, so it is only 2 day mail to SF.

Bugaboos

By the way, for anyone else traveling to Italy and planning on getting a SIM card, some of the dealers will just do it from your passport (which you HAVE to bring in). But, you can generate your own unofficial Codice Fiscale by going to this site:
http://www.comuni.it/servizi/codfisc/

The info it needs is:

* Cognome – Surname (from your passport)

* Nome – First Name (from your passport)

* Sesso=sex – select M, if you are a man, or F, if you are the female.

* Data di Nascita – Date of Birth

giorno=day – enter a number eg 21
mese=month – select a month eg Aprile
Months in Italian and English

Gennaio – January
Febbraio – Feburary
Marzo – March
Aprile – April
Maggio – May
Giugno – June
Luglio – July
Agosto – August
Settembre – September
Ottobre – October
Novembre – November
Dicembre – December

* anno=year – enter 4 digit year eg- 1967

* Comune di nascita (o Stato estero) – Birthplace – in Italian, for Example ‘Gran Bretagna’ = Great Britain, ‘Stati Uniti’ = United States

* Prov - Your country – for those from outside Italy write ‘EE’.

Then click on ‘Calcola il Codice Fiscale‘. This does not create an official Codice Fiscale, but will almost always be accepted with your passport. But, even with this, once you get your SIM, it may take 1-2 days for the new SIM to be activated by the phone company in Italy.

HobokenFlyer

Back in Sept '08 I was able to get a prepaid SIM at a Vodafone shop in Lido near the Vaparretto with just my US passport. It was also active immediately.

Dope Man

I went to Italy in May of 2007 and got a sim card when I got to Naples. I can't remember which provider but I think it was with Wind.

I generated my codice fiscale and printed it out. This along with my passport enabled me to get a prepaid sim card.

The sim card was activated within minutes of purchase.

swanscn

I actually got a TIM Sim card without even a passport. But, I speak Italian maybe that was the difference.

Bugaboos

I'm sure speaking Italian did help. I'm struggling to learn more Italian now. Also, the likelihood of getting your new SIM activated immediately seems to improve a lot if you get it at an official TIM (or WIND) office, rather than a dealer. The dealers take your info and then send it (e-mail? FAX?) to TIM or WIND and how long it takes for them to process it can be quite variable. Unfortunately, there are many more dealers than there are official TIM stores, even in Rome where I got mine.

weekilter

Go here to generate a "codice fiscale."

dlerner

Got a SIM from TIM with no trouble using only US Passport. SIM was active within 30 minutes. Expires if you don't add value within a year. You can buy a Ricaricard and use it to add value (even from USA) to extend the SIM.

P.S. Noted in checking the account online that the TIM agent must have generated a coda fiscale on my behalf.

Aviatrix

Darmstadt is not a suburb, it's a city in its own right. I suspect that any citizen of Darmstadt reading this "suburb" bit would probably get quite offended...

SoManyMiles-SoLittleTime

That's what happens when you live in LA: we think of San Diego as a suburb!