Given my flight into Fiumicino, train to Termini, and them Metro to NW part of city, any preference Wind versus TIM? I'm leaning toward TIM so that I can get the SIMs at the airport and use the time on the train for any activation delays and then, hopefully, have service when I get to Termini. It's really not required, but it would be one less thing to worry about.

Sorry for the constant questions...
Rick

I recall reading that TIM had a better network (state owned company :rolleyes:)

In Rome there should be nearly no differences between TIM and Wind, talking about 2G and 3G networks. Of course, talking about whole Italy, TIM has a more widespread network (expecially on 3G). Wind is simply cheaper, but I think that 5/10 euros won't make you any difference, so you can go with TIM with no hassle.

Results on my Trip
 

Well, I arrived in Rome today and had trouble at the airport. Smartphone outside of terminal 3 is closed...out of business.

So, I headed to Termini. There are both Wind (downstairs as you exit I think the North or East end) and Tim upstairs in main terminal. I selected TIM because they were the first that I came to. I could not get the guy behind the counter to give me the Internet Senza Limiti for 24E. His english was not good although it was a little better than my Italian so I can't complain. He kept insisting that the Internet Senza Limiti pre-paid is only available with a "stick" referring to a USB GSM dongle. He stuck me and my wife with a 10E (5E activation and 5E credit) SIM with what appears to be the first month of free Smartphone 250MB plan. I burned through the first 75MB today alone and that was with little effort. I am going to add 25E to the card tomorrow and see if I can then activate the Internet Senza Limiti plan via TXT message as Effendi describes.

I tried to add the money on the web, but it wants me to updated my profile which is a USA address and the website only allows provinces in Italy so that failed.

On the Codice Fisciale front, they didn't ask for one, but apparently generated one for me as the TIM website has a CF in my profile and I didn't give one to them.

I'll keep the thread updated. Wish me luck.

Eheh, I wish you my best luck! ;)
It's absurd that at the main train station in the capital of Italy they don't speak English, but so it is... BTW go to the first Tabacchi shop you find and ask for a TIM refill of the amount you prefer, give them your number, pay and you will be refilled. Then send the SMS for the Internet Senza Limiti activation. There could be compatibility problems with theTIMxSmartphone, but I hope not... ;)

Thanks for the help Effendi. I went to the store and all they had were 10E cards so I bought three. Now I don't know what to do with them. They seem to want me to call or txt to 40916 and I wwould guess I txt the number under the grey coating. Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks

I found the directions for cards I bought, Ricaririo or something lime that. Txt RIC <space bar> and the number under the grey scratch off to 40916 and it worked. I sent the txt for the Internet Sending Limit and it took about 10 minutes and then it was active. The website took longer to update my balance, how I knew the new plan was active, but txt credito to 40916 was immediate.

Thanks for all of your help Effendi.

Updated experience with TIM in Rome
 

I just wanted to update the group on my experience with travel to Rome now that I'm home.

I went with two TIM SIMs purchased in Termini because the SmartPhone store in T3 at Fiumicino was out of business. I tried the first SmartPhone store in Termini down by platform 28 and they said they do not sell data SIMs. Based on similar responses, I think I should have dropped the word "data" from my question and just asked for a TIM SIM card.

If you are unfamiliar with Termini, the main part of the station is quite a ways from the point where the Leonardo Express entered the station. The last time I was in Termini in 2000 this train from FCO came all the way into the station but there seems to be some construction so your trip may be different. Regardless, there is a TIM store upstairs (across from the big boards that show train status) in Termini and a Wind store on the first floor. I can't remember the compass direction or street for the Wind location, but if the trains are to your back when you are the main terminal, go all the way to your right and Wind is on your right before you exit the terminal.

My experience with TIM was not that good. The initial problem was that I don't speak very good Italian even thought the clerk's English was certainly better than my Italian. It was somewhat annoying that he spoke very good English to the pretty blonde in line in front of me but suddenly had difficulty when it was my turn. The real problem was that the clerk I was dealing with insisted that to get the Internet Senza Limiti 10 gig plan I would have to buy "the stick" meaning the USB GSM attachment. Instead he put me on the TIMxSmartphone 250mb/week plan as part of the TIM CARD International Limited voice plan. I did have my Codice Fiscale (spelling) but was never asked for one. When I eventually looked online, they must have calculated one for me because it was filled in in my account profile on 119.it.

I guess they put me on the international calling plan because of my foreign passport. After going through 200mb in the first day (email, FaceBook, and lots of Google Maps), I bought a 10€ and a 20€ pre-paid card and added the credit to my account through an SMS to 40916 of "RIC" followed by a space and the number under the gray scratch off on the card. I received confirmation on both refills and then sent another text to 40916 with the message "PRO INTERNETSENZALIMITI". I received confirmation via text message of the activation and checked my credit with txt to 40916 of "credito" confirming the deduction of 24€ with 5€ activation.

The next day I received a txt that indicated that I had exceeded the 250mb of download and would be charged 0.05 centEuro/KB and became worried. I went into a TIM store and was told that I had to go back to Termini so they could fix their error and I insisted that I was not going to go back to Termini. The girl at the TIM store questioned how I could have gone through 250mb in two days. I remained calm and explained I was on vacation, I was uploading photos, sending email, and using Google Maps. She told me that there was a problem with the International calling plan and the Internet Senza Limiti plan and that they were not compatible. She said I would have to wait till tomorrow to check again. At this point I was just about convinced that I was going to go to the next Wind store and get their data option but in the mean time I was goign to burn out the rest of my 4.90€ credit.

Over the next day I used 300mb of data and did not see any decrease in my credit (txt credito to 40916, the online 119.it balance lags behind actual use in my experience). I sent a text message to my wife to intentionally cause a charge against my credit and that deduction was immediately noted on the txt to 40916. So, it seems that the 10GB plan was active.

I deactivated the Smartphone plan with a text to 40916 of TIMSMART OFF and PRO TIMSMART OFF and both resulted in a response that said basically this was not a valid command. I did deactivate the plan online however.

At this point, since my wife was still on the 250mb plan, I activated my wifi hotspot and deactivated her mobile data so that she was using my 10GB bucket of data. I didn't really feel bad about this because I was not going to use anywhere near the whole amount of data in the week I was there but didn't want to deal with the problem of having to refill again.

So, my lessons learned.

1. Write down, in Italian, exactly what you want to purchase before arriving in Rome. May be Effendi could put together an script or something? :)
2. Try to get just a plain old local calling only SIM.
3. Use Wind next time. :)

If you have an android phone, use Google Voice to txt since it uses data and is thus included in the data plan you choose. I use Google Voice exclusively here in the US so people were not confused and I continued to be able to send/receive text messages from my local US number. If you use the Messaging app, you will be sending text messages from your Italian number. When you send/receive text messages to TIM, you MUST use the Android Messaging application because these messages have to come from your Italian phone number but they are free to TIM. I might even consider buying my SIM ahead of time if I go back. I would be happy to answer any other questions if you have them while this trip is still fresh in my mind.

4th suggestion: next time bring a blond wig! ;)

Absolutely. I had my wife asking for directions and for people to take our picture. So much more successful!