[wco81]

This is my experience the past two weeks with iPad Mini Retina, which supports European LTE and UMTS (HSPA, HSPA +, etc).

I've been using TIM SIM cards for years, with a Mifi device, to use data with a locked iPhone.

This year I got an iPad Mini Retina, to use on a trip. I couldn't find a TIM shop on the Amalfi Coast on their web site, which showed the closest shops in Salerno.

But my B&B in Amalfi assured me there was a local shop which would help me with TIM.

So they said they could cut my SIM to a nano SIM for the iPad. She used a stamping device and then a nail file to make the SIM fit into the nano SIM tray of my iPad.

That SIm had just under 10€ credit on it and I wanted to get the Internet 4G plan, which would be 30€ plus 5€ activation.

She said it would be hard to use any of the residual credit on the SIM to activate the plan, that I'd have to add a whole 35€ credit. Didn't understand exactly why that was.

She had to call TIM to be able to use some of the credit. She charged me 25€ and deducted 5€ from the residual credit and activated what I thought was the Internet 4G plan. But later found out it was only Internet 42.2, which should only have been 25€ total including activation.

In the Amalfi Coast and Capri, the 3G signal was in and out, given the canyons that a lot of towns were in. TIM coverage maps indicate LTE in Amalfi but it never showed, becUse as it turned out, I didn't have the 4g plan. Nor did I see it in Salerno or Napoli, bigger cities which should have had it.

Even still, 3G was often more reliable for more data heavy tasks like updating podcasts in iTunes than the wifi in the places I stayed.

When I got to Rome, somehow the iPad displayed 4g signal at the B&B I was staying at SE of piazza Navona. Only 2 or 3 bars yet I clocked 27 Mbps down, 17 Mbps up!

But the iPad will show LTE so I'm not sure what 4G is. Maybe bonded HSPA? In the US, some carriers were calling HSPA+ as "4G" in marketing and apparently the ITUNES let them so iOS shows that.

I will say the speeds I got were comparable to LTE speeds I got back home, faster than some places, slower than others.

Unfortunately, I reached my 5 GB cap before I could use it much in Rome. Then it showed 3G and in the same place where I got 2 or 3 bars of 4G, I got 5 bars of 3G.

However as I reached my cap, TIM throttled severely, down to .01 up and down. Unusable, even worse than the free international roaming of T Mobile, which was .1 Mbps.


So if you got an iPad Air or iPad Mini Retina and you may want to use a lot of data, possibly supplement hotel wifi, I would say its worth considering the TIM 4g plans.

I'd ask the mobile stores if there is good 4g signal in the area. TIM shop at Napoli Centrale had a retail display touting 4G so they are promoting it somewhat.

You can tether with these plans and tethering to a laptop will eat data fast.

If all you want is mostly email and surfing on iPad and not tethering much, then you can probably get by with 1 or 2 GB over a week or 2 weeks.

Or the T Mobile Simple Choice plan, which gives you just enough speed to use on the device itself. Though they may not keep it at $10 a month after this year.