TIM Italia Roaming Options

[webdweeb]

I own two active TIM SIMs (with the TIM 12 basic plan) and plan to use them in Germany and Austria since the roaming plans offered by TIM are almost as good as the in country rates from the major German operators (although I will have to pay for incoming as well as outgoing calls and SMS). I was planning to use the "In Viaggio Full" plan, which is ¢16 per minute or SMS (incoming as well as outgoing) and €3 per day for 25MB of data. However, I also see a roaming data option called "TIMxInternet Estero", which costs €5 per day for 50MB of data. My question is: if I select the "In Viaggio" plan, can I add the Internet Estero plan on top of that, and if so, will those rates replace the In Viaggio rates for data? Also, I don't believe the In Viaggio data can be turned off by itself, but if anyone knows about that and can clarify for me, I would be much obliged.

[Marschel]

Originally Posted by webdweeb

[...] plan to use them in Germany and Austria since the roaming plans offered by TIM are almost as good as the in country rates from the major German operators (although I will have to pay for incoming as well as outgoing calls and SMS).

You must be kidding.

[webdweeb]

Originally Posted by Marschel

You must be kidding.

OK, since you appear to have a better idea, I'm all ears-how can I get a German SIM card delivered to me in the US (without access to the address of a German "friend") with low roaming voice/SMS/data rates when in Austria? Trip duration is 3 weeks and departure date is approximately 1 month from now.

[Marschel]

Have you heard about eBay?

[webdweeb]

Originally Posted by Marschel

Have you heard about eBay?

Not sure how that gets around the German address requirement, since I would have to register/activate it here. In any event, this doesn't answer my original question, which was with regard to TIM roaming plans, which I will need independent of any SIM solution for our Germany time-none of them are as good as TIM when roaming in Austria.

[Effendi]

Reading on TIM website you can activate both options, if you like.
By now there's a promotion on the In Viaggio Full which gives you 100MB of data instead of 25, to activate it (after you activated the In Viaggio Full option) write PROMOROAMING ON to 40916.

Of course a German sim card and an Austrian simcard would offer much better data rates.

[webdweeb]

Effendi, thanks for clarifying the options for me. When I read the promotional offer (using Google Translate), it implies that the 100MB is a one time addition to the data, not per day-is that correct? BTW, I do realize that the cheapest way to go is with SIMs from the individual countries, but in addition to wanting to have a SIM before I arrive in Germany (to avoid dealing with it after 18 hours of flying and airport layovers) it may be necessary for me to have a single phone number for the duration of the trip so my family can reach me from the US. Also, we will be staying near the border at two points in our itinerary, and it would not be practical to switch the SIMs out every time we crossed the border, which may be up to four times per day in some cases.

[Effendi]

This offer by TIM is quite strange... the website is not clear... it seems that you pay 3€ per day and get the usual 25MB. If you use more you start using the 100MB.

Consider that by the borders usually you get signal from operators of both countries, but if there are mountains it can get harder. I live in Italy by the border and I have problems with Slovenian operators having better coverage than my home Italian network...