I travel to Italy to paint for 3 months each summer with my (Mac) Powerbook. I have been logging on by using a GSM cell phone (Ericsson T68i) as a modem with a TIM card. Last year, I lost the cell phone on a ferry to Greece. I now have a Motorola V600 quadband for use here in Hawaii with a SIM card (T-Mobile and in Italy with a TIM card. My Italian is limited, and I cannot figure out how to obtain a password on TIM's site to use in my laptop's internet settings.
Years ago in Italy, a stranger who spoke both Italian and English spoke on the T68i to someone at TIM and was able to set up the password. Since I'm now on my own, I'm not sure if the iBox password I set up on the V600 is the one to use, or if I need to set one up at TIM's website. My sister and I stay in rural areas in Italy, and the cell connection has allowed us to log on virtually anywhere.
As another option, is there a pcmcia broadband modem that works in Italy that will give me a faster connection?

I'm sorry I never used TIM so I'm not practical with their settings, but usually you need no passwords to connect via GPRS/UMTS with the Italian operators, just set-up your mobile with right settings, and that should work.

But I hope Andrea or the other Italians acn help you more.

I never used tim to connect to internet, but reading on tim website i've found this settings:

apn: ibox.tim.it

user and password: (nothing)

number: *99#

As i have understood, the ibox password isn't necessary to connect to internet. If i'm in wrong, in this thread http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=401 you can read how to obtain the ibox password.

Thank you for providing such a great service and steering me in the right direction. When I arrive in Italy in May, I will try the settings.
Mahalo (thank you) from Hawaii