Italy -- Buy Handset and Prepaid Plan there?
 

I'm heading to Italy next week for a month. I would like to have a mobile phone to call ahead to hotels or book reservations. I do NOT currently have an unlocked phone. I'm hoping I can buy a very inexpensive handset (or maybe get a free handset) with a pre-paid plan when I get there.

Can anyone give me an idea of what the least expensive handset + pre-paid plan would cost?

Do I really need to obtain a "codice fiscale" or can I just show my passport?

I assume an Italian phone will come with menus/prompts in Italian; I do not speak Italian. Will that be a big problem? I would think the only thing I'll need to do is "recharge".

I've been told that TIM is the provider with the best coverage. Do they have many retail locations around Rome?

Thanks

You can get a codice fiscale free on line in about 5 minutes.


http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/italy.html Read the bottom of this link.

Why can't you just buy a cheap unlocked quadband on ebay or so. They are very cheap these days. Then you know you have the phone already and all you need is the sim card.

The thing about "next week" may be a problem there. He doesn't have time for the shipping. If it's early next week, he may have no other option. If it's later next week he might be able to go to TigerDirect.com and order a tri-band phone (with 900 & 1800), such as the NEC e132 ($39.99) and request express shipping.

There are TIM, Vodafone and "3" shops in the airport. ("3" requires a WCDMA phone)

You can buy a prepaid with a new phone at the shops in the airport. If you want to find a cheap, used phone, we'll have to wait for the Italians to weigh in.

An unlocked basic (call, sms, maybe wap browser) handset usually you could find it for 30 - 40 euro (or less, in case of offer by shop).
In Rome easily you'll have many options about official/unffocial dealers, and, excluding few little town in the province, you should not have coverage problems, then you'll could consider wind or 3 (usually cheaper than tim and vodafone).
Yes, you need a fiscal code, but just see PrePaidGSM: Italy as wrote above by FBlack_111.


ps: i'm sorry for my bad english, i'm a little bit out of training

I have no understanding of any of this stuff, so.... does the link to get a "codice fiscale" get you a legal/legitimate "codice fiscale"? Or could you get in trouble for going the "fast" route?

It's not a legal "Codice Fiscale" but you wouldn't get in trouble.
Anyway you should live in Italy (and be able to demostrate it) to get a real "Codice Fiscale".

I'm going to Rome in a week and will be getting a Wind sim card there. I'll try to write a post on how it goes...
PS. This forum has great info!

I have a cousin who lives in Italy and will meet us at the airport. Can he buy the SIM/TIM card for me?

If he has 'Codice Fiscale' sure

Oh, I was under the impression that all residents in Italy had a codice fiscale.

Anyone can get one. Get your cousin to take you to the local tax office and you can have your own in 20 minutes. Or just use the generator online - it'll work fine.

But to go back to the OP, many/most services offering the chance to buy/rent a phone before you leave the US are a rip-off. A couple of years ago, a friend of mine came to Germany and rented a phone for "only" $69 a week (plus shipping and handling, and deposit for the phone). It contained a Vodafone CallYa prepaid card. At the time, you could buy a CallYa SIM plus phone at MediaMarkt for EUR 7.

A codice fiscale is just a way to determine some pieces of information about a person. It's composed by:
- 3 consonants from the surname
- 3 consonants from the first name
- the last two digits of the birth year
- a letter for the month (every month has its own)
- the two digits of the day of birth (+40 for women, to recognise the gender)
- a code made by a letter and three numbers, depending on the Comune of birth, every Comune has its own)
- a letter, not determined by something, but different, in order to recognise people with same name, and born in the same day and in the same Comune.

So, everyone could have one. :)

Thus, I can generate (for example, there Codice Fiscale .com - Calcolo del codice fiscale on line!) code, print, and when buying a contract to show it? Or do not work out?