Italian SIM - Tangables Comparison
 

I'm currently looking at obtaining a few prepaid SIM cards for use in Italy (they're going to be handed to my wedding party for communications). I've gotten all the tariff info (great resource!), but I can't seem to find good, recent info on some intangables, and my Italian is very marginal. So I ask the experts:

1) Coverage: We'll be in the Tuscan region, and was wondering how good is the coverage in the area for each of the providers. I took my USA T-Mo quad-band phone with me last time, and i don't think I ever missed any coverage, but I didn't note what network I was roaming on (I think it was mostly TIM, which I think is T-Mo's roaming partner). Is there a provider I should not even consider? (3 is out since I don't have enough UMTS phones to go around)

2) 3G/Data: I have a G1 (HTC Dream), and the thing is a 3G data whore. I would love to keep using my phone, but I would need decent data rates. It seems that Wind still has the best data rates, but again, no clue on 3G coverage. That, and due to some "bugs" in Android, the damn phone happily chews on data even when told not to...so I may bail on needing data altogether.

3) Top-Ups outside of Italy: I'd love to keep the SIM (I also have the possibility to return on business), so keeping the number fresh and current with credit would be great. I have a few UK SIMs, and they're easy to top-up in the US. However, I've gotten a mixed feeling about the possibility of Italian top-up with non-Italian sources of payment. Vodafone seems the best in this regard (I can get UK Vodafone vouchers), but no idea about the other two.

4) Mobile-to-mobile: I couldn't tell easily, but none of the carriers seem to have a lower mobile-to-mobile-on-same-network rate. Is this a characteristic of the Italian carriers, or am I being coddled by my US and UK experiences?

1) On Tuscan hills it's very hard to say which of the 3 has better coverage. Probably overall Wind has the best coverage, but it much depends on the zone you are going to. AndreA lives there so if you tell us exactly where you're going I'm sure he can help you more than me.

2) Wind has by far the best offers, but you probably won't have any 3G out of Florence and other bigger towns, maybe some EDGE.

3) This is always a problem with Italian cards. I live in Italy so I'm not much updated about it, some other non Italian guys here will help you more.

4) There are some plans with cheaper on net calls but usually they have very expensive off-net calls so they are not so good. There are options like the NoiWind one, with Wind, which offers a bundle of minutes to all other Wind numbers. All operators have similar offers, check on the pages here on PPGSM.

As in most of Europe, coverage in Italy (and, from personal experience, Tuscany) isn't really an issue for any of the networks - there are no coverage gaps as in the US (I'm not slagging off the US - it's mostly to do with population density and the use of only one mobile technology).

You can now top up Vodafone using PayPal - it works just fine.

Can you? If I read the Italian website correctly, doesn't it need an Italian address? Or is there an easy way around that? (I'm suddenly reminded of a scene from the American classic "The Blues Brothers" involving John Belushi's "official home address" of 1060 West Addison Street, Chicago)

And I know the coverage has got to be better than here Stateside. I've been to Eli, Nevada. Population: 3 tumbleweeds and a bunch of cacti.

PayPal worked fine from my German account - I tried with both credit card and instant bank transfer.

Also on Wind website you can refill with Paypal, but only works for verified users in Italy.

I am traveling to Italy with my G1 as well... where are you planning on obtaining the prepaid sims? I am flying into Venice but will be driving down to Tuscany.

You can get a prepaid card at any phone shops. There's plenty of them throughout Italy, no problem.