msdclark

I was in Italy recently and purchased a data-only SIM from a Vodafone store in Alba to use in my Netgear Aircard 785S-100 hotspot. It worked wonderfully all over Italy.
I would like to figure out how to use it again each time I travel to Europe by topping up as Vodafone is in most of the markets where I travel.

My issue is that the paper contract is in Italian and I cannot figure out how to create an account on the Vodafone Italy website due to language barrier. I HAVE TRIED Google Translate and it errors out when using it that way. I think it may be because I don't know what information to pull from the SIM card or contract and input in the correct fields.

I chatted with the UK Vodafone help desk but their recommendation was to use Google Translate or maybe the partially Spanish-speaking customer service rep could help me translate the contract. Of course, this didn't work.

Does anyone have any ideas for me? Do i need to just let this SIM go and try something else next time I'm in Europe? Either way I want to be able to use pay-as-you-go data-only SIMs when traveling abroad.

(I'll post this as a new post under Travel Technology if needed.)

EmptyKim

IIRC this was very difficult. I think the Tax ID was a hurdle and address might have been too. If you can't get it, the other option would be to use twitter and sent Vodafone.IT direct messages for things you want changed on your account. I've had good success doing this while traveling. You can also recharge your SIM without an account here

pilotalan

Through continued digging here, I found a reference to Vodaphone Smart Passport. Basically, for 3 Euros/day, you get each day 500MB of data, 25 min each of incoming and outgoing calls, and 50 sms messages.

The Italian webpage is here, use Google Translate to read it:
EDIT: URL Changed overnight, URL updated. If this one dies also, google "Vodaphone smart passport"
http://www.vodafone.it/portal/Privat...SMART-Passport

Works everywhere in Europe, and the US & Canada
(Italy isn't on the list, because it's from Vodaphone Italy's website).
Andorra
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Canada
French Caribbean
Cyprus
Croatia
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Gibraltar
Great Britain
Greece
Guadalupe
Guernsey
Guyana
Ireland
Iceland
Isle of Man
Faroe Islands
Jersey
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Martinique
Norway
Holland
Poland
Portugal
Czech Republic
Reunion
Romania
Saint-Barthélemy
Saint-Martin
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Hungary
USA

beckoa

Great info!

I ended up with Vodafone as they had a kiosk at the mall I went to- not TIM but worked ok.

ecgz88

really useful, thank you!

richard

I bought a SIM from TIM that wasn't terribly expensive and found 4G almost everywhere in Tuscany and Rome. In the hilltop towns or out of the way, 3G, but most places the data transfer was pretty good.

bbtrvl

Just to clarify for everyone. All SIM cards sold in Italy (including to Italians) must have codice fiscale (Italy tax ID number, similar to US social security number) provided.

However, as some have pointed out, the codice fiscale is not a secret number like a SSN but instead derived from name, birthdate, and birth place. So websites have been created to "generate" them unofficially.

And if you were able to buy a SIM card in Italy by "just showing your passport" then what happened was the person in the store used one of those websites to create a "codice fiscale" for you, or else did it by hand.

Of course, any number created this way is not officially or legally a "codice fiscale" since official ones come only from Italian government. Thankfully, it is actually somewhat easy to get an official one from your appropriate Italian consulate. So, you can do this in advance.

weekilter

http://www.codicefiscale.com/

f1yguy

I am going to be in Rome later this month and early next, and would like to have a cell data and possibly even some minutes (nice to have, not required). In the past I've just waited until in a specific country and opted to stop by a mobile store, but wanted to try to do some research this time.

What is the best options for getting either an iPhone (preferred) or an android (OnePlus one or OnePlus two) working with data in Italy? I've seen a couple providers: Vodafone, WIND and TRE. Anyone have experience with any of these or another option? Since I won't be there more than a week, not looking for a large amount of data, 1-2GB is probably more than enough.

kalderlake

I bought a SIM from TIM at Termini Station.

As I recall, it cost around 20 Euros.

Which was too much, as I only received 2G coverage for most of the time there.

It did have quite a bit of data, and plenty of minutes for calls home to Canada (the most important element).

But when I go back, I will look for a better alternative.

Not directly anwsering what you were asking, I know, but just a data point in case you do add TIM to your possibilities.

rove312

We do regular trips to Italy and I’ve maintained a number with TIM on a non-smart phone. This year I was ready to add value from the U.S. to keep the number when I saw that the balance had gone down to a few cents. I’d been put on a plan that deducts 50 cents a week from the prepaid amount, and if there was any notification of the change, it was by texts to the turned-off phone or to the Web portal where I don’t look when I’m not using the phone. I got it changed to a plan that doesn’t take charges, but they charged a few euros to make the change.

My iPhone 6 with AT&T is unlocked, and I’d like to add an Italian provider’s SIM to it. One question is whether to get over the bitter taste I have with TIM to keep the €5 credit I have with them, if I can do this on a plan that lets me keep the number, or switch to Vodafone, and would they let me keep the number (not a tragedy if I need to change it)?

Even with a good knowledge of Italian, it’s puzzling to me how these plans work. So many of them seem to make automatic monthly charges, and we want service just for the month we’re there. I’m good waiting for Wi-Fi most of the time, but my wife (whose phone is locked) wants access to data a lot. How can I tell if a plan allows my phone to be a Wi-Fi hotspot? Offhand the Vodafone Holiday plan looks good, but I can’t tell if it allows the hotspot. As I think about it, maybe she can use my phone when we don’t have Wi-Fi: so much of her use is Facebook, and our more active friends are mutual.

Whichever we go with, I’d like to get started in Rome at the start of the trip, and the question would be whether to go with TIM, whose store appears to be on our arrival concourse for AirBerlin at FCO (those stores are accessible to arriving pax, right?), or Vodafone, which has a store more convenient to where we’re staying.

wco81

I've gotten SIMs from the TIM shop at FCO but I had a long layover there on the way to other Italian destinations. It was airside.

EmptyKim

I'm a Vodafone fan and have had an active SIM since 2013 or so. Looking at their new plans I see the automatic monthly charges too. Not sure how to avoid this. I assume they will have different plan options for pre-paid in the stores. Let me know what you end up doing.

Worse case, I think I'll stop in a shop for a new SIM, pre-pay for a monthly plan, and let the SIM expire.

wco81

Yup, I don't worry about topping up any more, mostly interested in data so no need to maintain a foreign phone number.

rove312

Yes, there was talk upthread about promo URLs changing often, but for Vodafone Holiday, there's the basic promo and FAQ. There's a monthly fee, which I suppose I suppose I could just not renew and let the account expire. Then this Wikia page seems to give a lot of information comparing offers from different companies. The TIM International plans look interesting: should all be allowable on an existing unlocked iPhone?