Quote:
Originally Posted by xtrmntr
And it seems to say that it's important to get a special "Codice Fiscale" before purchasing a SIM in Italy. Anyone have experience with this part of the process, or know whether it's absolutely necessary?
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Absolutely necessary
But take a look:
http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/italy.html
Codice Fiscale, what's that?
In Italy you cannot buy any prepaid mobile sim-card without having a "codice fiscale". What's that? In English it sounds like "fiscal code", it's a unique code for each person in Italy (and in theory in the World), which identifies that person for the Italian Fiscal department. You need the CF for any registration in Italy, and it's the same for sim-cards, both pre and postpaid. How can a foreign person buy a sim-card, so? There are 2 way a "perfectly legal one" (and I'm not sure it works) and a "fast one". If you speak Italian and are ready for some bureocracy go
here and look for the closest "Agenzia delle entrate" in Italy, then go there with your passport and you should (not sure about it) get a "legal" Codice Fiscale.
The "fast way" is much easier: go to
this site, it's in Italian, but don't worry, it's not difficult to understand, since I'll translate that for you!
Cognome: surname
Nome: name
Sesso: sex (m=male, f=female)
Comune di nascita (o Stato estero): this is the hardest thing to do! You have to write the name of your country, but you have to do it in Italian! i.e. United States is Stati Uniti, New Zealand is Nuova Zelanda, Germany is Germania, Greece is Grecia, and so on. You can use
Babelfish to translate your country's name into Italian, it should work.
Prov.: if you are not Italian just write EE
Data di Nascita: birthdate (giorno=day, mese=month, anno=year)
At this point you just have to click on "
Calcola il tuo Codice Fiscale" and you finally have your own CF! I suggest you to print the page and keep it with you, you shouldn't have any problem to buy a prepaid card now, and if you have, it's not your fault, but it's some Italian dealer that cannot do his/her job well! And it happens..."