Prepaid Data Offers in Italy

[Effendi]

Wind is one of the 3 Italian GSM Network Operators and has several data offers for its prepaid customers which are very good for people traveling to Italy.

Wind chaged some of its data offers once again, so here it is the complete overview updated at 15/09/08.

WIND PREPAID DATA OPTIONS
(they are not data plans; all options can be added to any Wind prepaid plan)

- Mega 1500: € 1500 worth of data credit for € 8.00
- Mega No Limit: € 8000 worth of data credit for € 20.00
- Mega 15000: € 15000(*) worth of data credit for € 30.00

(*) The data forfait for Mega 15000 is divided in two 15 days bonuses worth 7500 euro. Promotionally till February 3rd, 2008 all data sent/received every day from midnight to 8am is free and unlimited (Mega 15000 only).


HOW MANY KILOBYTES ARE THOSE EUROS?

Using the web APN internet.wind, the data credit in KB is:

- Mega 1500: ~ 488 MB
- Mega No-Limit: ~ 2600 MB
- Mega 15000: ~ 4882 MB

All options are available only while in Italy using Wind network. Outside of Italy the normal roaming rates apply.


HOW TO ACTIVATE THE OPTIONS?

Just send an SMS to the short number 4533 (free while in Italy, € 0.50 abroad) writing (text in orange):

- Mega 1500: MEGA 1500 SI
- Mega No-Limit: MEGA SI
- Mega 15000: MEGA 15000 SI

All 3 options will renovate automatically every month. When your credit goes down to 0€ you won't be able to use the option anymore until you refill. Consider also that Wind will go on debiting the options also with no credit, so it's important to deactivate the option if you are not using them for a while.

You can activate 1 option only every month.

In case you want to deactivate the option just send another SMS to 4533 writing "NO" instead of "YES" in the above mentioned activation strings.


HOW TO BUY A WIND CARD OUTSIDE ITALY?

No way. You have to buy it in Italy. Or on eBay, at your own risk.

P.S. Wind has also 2 other data offers, billed in 15 minutes increments, but we find those offer little if no attractive at all, so we don't list them here.

[Effendi]

3 has been the first UMTS operator in Italy and has the widest coverage on 3,5G (HSDPA) throughout the country. Where there's no coverage it can roam on TIM GSM/EDGE network but data options are available only on 3's UMTS/HSDPA network.

3 has basically 1 very interesting offer for its prepaid customers: Naviga3

NAVIGA 3 PREPAID DATA OPTIONS
(they are not data plans; all options can be added to any 3 prepaid plan)

- Naviga 3 (monthly option): 50MB of data every day for € 9.00/month
- Naviga 3 (weekly option): 100MB of data every day for € 3.00/week

All the data exceeding the 50/100MB limit will be billed at € 0.60/MB.
All data exchanged on national roaming (TIM network) will be billed at € 1.00/MB (plus a setup fee of € 0.15 for each connection).

HOW TO ACTIVATE THE OPTIONS?

Just send call the toll free number 4321 and press "2". The follow the voice prompts which will probably be in Italian only... Consider that 7 is "sette", 30 is "trenta" and days is "giorni", so you can choose which of the 2 options you want.

Both options will renovate automatically every month/week. When your credit goes down to 0€ you won't be able to use the options anymore until you refill. Consider also that 3 will go on debiting the options also with no credit, so it's important to deactivate the option if you are not using them for a while.

You can activate 1 option only every month/week.

In case you want to deactivate the option call 4321 again and follow the voice prompts.

3 LIKE HOME: DATA OUTSIDE OF ITALY

You can use your Naviga3 option also outside of Italy while roaming on other "3" networks around the World.
It works on the following countries:
Austria, Australia, Denmark, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Ireland, Sweden.

HOW TO BUY A "3" CARD OUTSIDE ITALY?

No way. You have to buy it in Italy. Or on eBay, at your own risk.