getting married in italy this june - need help getting my phones sorted!
 

i'm going to italy this year to get married, and as i work for myself i need to sort out my mobiles as i'll need internet access while away.

now, i have a united mobile sim that i've used for calls in the past - i normally forward my uk mobile number to it so i don't pay for incoming, and it just uses the free minutes off my orange contract for the transfer.

the bit i'm more concerned about is data - i don't want to spend a fortune!

i need to work out two things:

a) data for the journey - a couple of days in france and switzerland either side
b) data for italy - i'm in italy for a week - and would like to be able to do work poolside!

for part (a) i'm suspecting it may just be easier to roam on my orange sim for data and swallow the cost

for part (b) then i'm not sure what the best option is - i've read about the WIND sim cards and seen some on ebay, but topups seem like a bit of a pain? another option i've seen would be to get a 3 payg sim, and add "Internet Monthly" and use the "3 Like Home" feature - my only concern is that the coverage checker doesn't zoom in enough to see if where i'm going is covered? Does "internet monthly" give full internet access? i.e. from my tytn2 and laptop?

suggestions, anyone?

a, get yourself a GERMAN PAYG Vodafone SIM (called CallYA) at ebay and use "Websessions" 24h -> 14,95 Euro, there are 50MB (limited to 24h) included for this price. Works in F and CH.

b, Wind is great in I, but you can use 3 also. The coverage of Wind should be better than 3 in some places. Do NOT use daily, weekly or monthly, choose the broadband add on if you take the 3 SIM.

attention to 3 sim card: if you want to use it, and you've on Tim coverage (3 goes to roaming on Tim) you'll pay a lot:confused: Wind is better, with good coverage (it hasn't problems in great towns at all)

thanks chaps, i want to get as much as i can sorted before i go so i don't have to worry about it.

so, i'm looking at buying:

a) CallYa (Voda) SIM for France and Switzerland
b) a Three SIM (which i will disable auto network selection on) and use it if i get 3 reception and look to add the 'broadband addon'

Now, for WIND, what would the implications be of buying a SIM card off ebay, such as:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SIM-WIND-9-PIA...QQcmdZViewItem

Would it work? How would i topup?

I'd buy an Italian card in an Italian shop, but that ebay shop is a Wind dealer so I think you can trust it. BTW I don't see the problems for refilling since you'll be using the Wind card in Italy and you can find top-ups almost anywhere in my country! :D You can also refill Wind with O2 scratch cards when you are back to UK, if you wish to keep the card active.

I'd go with Orange for F and CH and Wind in Italy.
Where exactly are you going? Maybe we can tell you if you have 3 coverage, which is surely faster than Wind (3G, often HSDPA, while Wind will probably be just GPRS, maybe EDGE).

BTW refill problems outside of Italy will be normal with all 4 Italian operators. I think with Wind you have more chances to get it refilled also in Britain.

If you choose the WIND SIM, take care for beeing able to get a "Codice Fiscale" a personal registration code for italian residents.

If you need a German Voda give me a notice.

Wind refill is no pain in the a... :D, it´s easy like Effendi said, so no worry.

that is needed for any Italian simcard, not just Wind.

... right, have I wrote something wrong? :D

not at all, I just wanted to make it clear for ca-uk. :D

Wind9 is a very good tariff, even if it has a set-up fee (16 eurocent), optimal to call long time :)

Vodafone Germany is currently giving away prepaid SIMs (Call'ya) including € 3 of credit for absolutely free: http://www.gratis-callyakarte.de/
Unfortunately they ship to Germany only, but if you're interested contact me and we'll find a way to get you one. ;-)

Regarding the WebSessions (24h access while roaming for € 14,95, limited to 50 MB) the price is expected to decline in the next weeks, most likely such will be announced at CeBIT in March.
Btw WebSessions work in many more countries, where Vodafone networks or partners operate (for a full list see: http://www.vodafone.de/privat/tarife...nt/105359.html).

Where part of italy will you visit?

Anyway for a week I suppose that Wind can be the cheaper solution

thanks for all the help so far - i'm not normally so thick - i'm just finding it hard to focus because of all the planning!

i'm visiting barga, north east of pisa - what's the coverage like over that way?

the reason why i don't want to mess with a WIND sim is that my italian is poor - i've been trying to learn off cds but it isn't working!

On 3 website they say that Barga is covered on 3G (no HSDPA, just 384Kbps 3G). Surely Wind has no 3G there, let's hope they have GSM... AndreA should be more expert of that zone, even if it's even closer to where I live! :D

do you go to visit Giovanni Pascoli's last house?? Barga is among the hills, i don't think wind works very well, but AndreA can help you;)

Only 3ITA seems to have UMTS coverage there. Wind doesn't have for sure. I don't remember Vodafone and Tim, but I don't think that they have umts in Barga

Well, you can use a Wind simcard in... english :beer:

:) it's the going into a shop part and trying to speak italian that scares me! i get enough funny looks when i try to order food!

i think i will probably get a german voda sim for use on the way, and a 3 sim for use in italy with the voda sim as a backup - sounds like the easiest way..

thanks for all the help.. now.. anyone want to help me learn italian!!

It has sort of been said before already, but you should really put your 3 card on manual network selection. Especially when you have a Smartphone which makes a data connection automatically. Because you will pay 0,60 euro every time you make a data connection on the tim network. Which in my case was every time I went from 3 coverage to tim coverage. In the end 7 euro of calling credit was wasted in just one morning in the mountains.
An other problem I had with 3 was that it kept my phone on HSDPA all the time, it didn’t switch back to normal umts when I was not sending or receiving data. And that wasn’t very good for my battery usage time.

Ties Brants is right and since Barga is on the mountains and I'm not that sure that 3 has a decent coverage there, pay attention. If you see you have no or very bad 3 coverage go and buy a Wind card at any phone shop (it's usually not a problem to find one in Italy). It could even happen that you meet an English speaking Italian! I know it seldom happens, but in Toscana they are quite used to English and German tourists...

thanks for the tips - i haven't met an english speaking italian on my previous journeys - although i think they do it for fun so they can listen to my poor attempts! sometimes i even had to resort to german.. which i'm equally poor at!

out of interest - what is more offensive to an italian - trying to speak italian (poorly) or doing what most english people do and just talk very LOUD in english?

I'd try the first solution: if it's impossible for you, you can change...and speak english slow:D

none of the things is offensive at all. Italians appreciate if you try to speak our language and usually they try to help you in any language they can know (most of the time Italian and gestures! :D), expecially if they can make a little business with you! :D

:OT: anyway in Barga you can say "PISA MERDA" :lol:

do barga and pisa not get on?

thanks for all the help!

It's a war about football :D

:beer::clap::clap::beer:
You still have to thank us! :D