Having originally planned on using a combination of dial-up (in the apartment) and internet cafes (for broadband)on our 3 month stay in Venice, I've been investigating the possibility of using internet wireless roaming instead. I will need to be sending largish files and I may need to be doing it late at night (as that will be business hours in Oz).

It's prohibitively expensive if I 'globally roam' with any of the Australian providers (one wants to charge me $15.00 per mb, another 1 cent a kb), however after much investigation and many phone calls I have discovered that I can have the necessary modem 'unlocked' here so that all it requires is an Italian data sim card to be workable in Italy (or so they tell me!)

SO - my questions are - has anyone bought used an Italian data sim card? Were there any problems with set up and getting it working - and which provider did they use.

Also - I'm currently planning on getting the system set up and working here first, but it will be heaps cheaper if I can just purchase both the modem & data sim in Venice, so has anyone done this?

What service do they provide locally? I caught a clip yesterday of Telstra [I think?] sounding like they are rolling out HSPDA.

From memory HSPDA modem cards are about 230 Euros direct from TIM.it right now. Or you could get a cellphone with a HSPDA modem built in starting at just over 300 Euros.

If you're need is late Italian time then look at the tim.it off peak plan. IIRC 5pm-9am plus weekends and holidays. 25 Euros per month. 9gb transfer limit. Includes wireless,HSPDA and anything slower so you can use whatever you are near. Check the coverage map for HSPDA and don't expect it every place.

Who does your current provider offer roaming in Italy with? That's one way to check if the equipment will work on the Italian network.

Hi,

This may not be the answer for you, but I am right now using the Tin.it "hot spot" wireless network to access an wi-fi connection that is a few steps from my hotel. (I'm sitting on the terrace.) I just bought a "token" to use it for a bit of time, but if I buy a "Tim" account, I can get access all the time to any connection is Italy, using my password.

Right now, I'm using it during the lunch hour -- which means the place that's hosting the wi-fi is closed. If I can, I'll try it very late at night to see if the connection is still up and let you know if it's available. You'd be very safe in Venice sitting outside an internet cafe, even if it wasn't open, at 2am!

I'm looking at either Vodaphone (more expensive to set up here) or 3 - both roam on their own networks in Italy and both of their websites say they have full coverage in Venice.

If I'm buying the whole thing in Italy I can just use whoever - although the type of modem needs to be Mac compatible so I'd probably go with Vodaphone or 3 as I know their's are.

Hi, Mary. Looking forward to meeting up with you in December. This is Jing.

We are going to be in Venice for five weeks starting December 15th and our apartment does not have internet connection. It would be nice to be connected.

I just purchased a Motorola V3 GSM cellphone and I am wondering whether it will allow me to have internet connection if I buy the TIM data plan.

Please help. I know there was a posting on how to do this but I can't find it.

This thread has some information about getting email on your cell phone, which might help.

Hi Jing,

Looking forward to meeting you in December. As I've said in my post I've spent a huge amount of time on this issue - and still have loads of questions!

As I understand it you can buy a pre-paid data sim card from any of the main providers (Tim, Wind, Vodaphone etc). I've found several blogs etc about using these via a mobile phone. Tim certainly seems to have the best deals, but quite honestly at the moment I'm not worried about 'deals' - just knowing the system will work is the priority!

Here's a link to some info about
pre-paidwireless internet. (not only for Italy).

Jing,
You may find thisof some help. It's Australian based- but I think the technical info would apply.

quote:

Originally posted by maryk:
I'm looking at either Vodaphone (more expensive to set up here) or 3 - both roam on their own networks in Italy and both of their websites say they have full coverage in Venice.

.

There is full coverage and then there is full coverage.

From memory 3 high speed network is fairly small. Vodafone I think is behind TIM by a bit but better then 3. The following link is TIM. If you click on Venato and then Venice you'll end up with a report on coverage.

http://www.tim.it/common/showservice.do?id=9587

Per il comune di venezia esiste copertura:

* GSM (GPRS e EDGE): si
* UMTS: si
* DVB-H: si
* UMTS HI Speed: no

So TIM has no Hi-Speed [HSPDA] in Venice at this moment. That means you're stuck with basically dial up speeds. I'd wouldn't expect 3s network to be better. Vodafone might be but once again I wouldn't count on it.

The advantage of the TIM deal I suggested is it's not just wireless but it includes Wi-FI. So if you need to download/upload a large file you can search out a hotspot and use it. All for the same plan and the one price.


According to this

http://www.tim.it/consumer/o1380/servizio.do

Telestra provides TIM roaming in AUSTRALIA. I assume the flip is also possible.

Thanks Nick - that's very useful.

Telstra do provide roaming in Italy - BUT they're the ones who want to charge me $15 per mb!
My plan (at this stage) is to trust that I can buy and set up a wireless modem in Venice using the TIM network - otherwise it's back to the original plan!

Nick,

I looked up TIM coverage in Liguria, and it also shows no hi-speed coverage there. But it sounds from your posts that your suggesting that if you buy a plan with wi-fi, that will get you hi-speed at some locations for uploading large files. Si?

Ciao, Mary. Hope that you can get this to work, then I can ask you to help me set up my internet connection when we get to Venice in mid-December.

quote:

Originally posted by italiasoon:
Nick,

I looked up TIM coverage in Liguria, and it also shows no hi-speed coverage there. But it sounds from your posts that your suggesting that if you buy a plan with wi-fi, that will get you hi-speed at some locations for uploading large files. Si?

http://www.tim.it/consumer/o680/tariffa.do

Hopefully the link works. If you can read Italian that's the offer.

Basically you get to use what ever your location supports. So you'd pop open your laptop. If you are near a WI-FI hotspot you would choose that. If not you would fall back to a high speed cell based service [HSPDA] if not you'd work your way down the list. All this assumes you have the hardware to make the connections.

The nice thing is if you are travelling around you can make use of whatever the local area supports.

I've finally made a commitment on the internet connection stuff - and hopefully it will work! I've bought a new mobile phone that is HSDPA (and everything else)compliant (sure that's not the correct term!) a Nokia 6120, and am purchasing some software (Launch2net from Nova Media) and will then use the phone as a modem and buy the TIM data sim when we get to Venice. This, in the end, seemed like the easiest and most sure-fire option.

For me the benefit was that I can set it up here before I go and I just have to change the sim over and activate it. From all that I've read, the launch2net makes it a breeze on a Mac and although you've got to pay for the software if you get stuck they've got a really good help desk.

For my husband the best bit was that I get a new mobile phone - he thought my current one was more than a bit of a dinosaur!

Sounds like you have a plan. Let us know how it works. I use my BlackBerry as a modem with my computer and on a PC it is simple to setup - you don't need extra software (just configure it as a dialer - the T-Mobile website has the step by step instructions). But it may be different with a Mac. It worked well for me on our recent trip to Europe.

quote:

... use the phone as a modem and buy the TIM data sim

Your plan sounds excellent -- just to clarify that my experience was that you don't need any special SIM. The phone has to be able to handle the data, but what they told us at the TIM office is that the SIM is always the same; you just have to buy the data plan to go with it. Basically, I think it's some setting they make in their system that recognizes that you have paid for that plan. Print out the page from their web site that describes the plan (see Nick's link) and take it with you so that they will be clear on what you want.

We didn't have any special software for our Mac, but we did have to download and install modem scripts that configured the setup. So maybe this launch2net simplifies and streamlines that process.

- Roz

Thanks Roz, that's really helpful.

I've been more than a bit befuddled by all the jargon and acronyms that goes with all this (I'm good when it's working - it's getting it to work that's the problem!).

maryk, did you get your internet connection set up in Venice yet??

Dear Jing,

Not quite - but hopefully nearly set up. Went and got the sim today (they were very helpful in the TIM store) , but I'd forgotten to print out the info i need to make it work - so here I am in an internet cafe doing that. I'll post when I'm organised!

Well it worked. We're reciving emails and on the web! And I have to say that the Launch2net software is an absolute marval. Just plugged the phone in, launched the software and away we went. I am having problems sending emails though. it's saying "relay access denied" can anyone help????

Hi, Mary. Glad you arrived in Venice safely. I hope that you get your internet problems solved shortly.

We leave San Francisco after 12 more sleeps but we go to Paris and Switzerland for four weeks first before Venice for five weeks. Looking forward to meeting you in Venice.

Had a tough time working today - already wishing we are on our Euro trip. We just got back from Victoria BC Cananda a couple of days ago, spent two weeks there for some R&R.

We can still send and recieve emails - just need to use our webmail for sending.