the best choice for Prepaid DATA in Italy - which one?

[Maxie]

Hello everyone.

Please recommend me the internet provider in Italy who accept 1 month contract with unlimit internet via USB modem

I tried to search the information on provider pages, but all I have seen is special offers from few months to rarher 2 years.
But I will stay in Italy only 1 month.
Therefore I will need USB modem + 1 month internet.
Two more questions -
1 - if I will have USB modem from Vodafone, does it mean I need buy only Vodafone contract or I can use it with Wind or TIM internet?
2 - if they said 15 min session min.. Does it means that if connection is bad and disconnet after 5 min, they will count 5 min like 15?


Thanks in advance.

[Stu]

I'll defer to the Italian members of this forum on what the best deal is for Italy. With respect to the USB sticks, you should be able to use it on a different carrier with a little work. First, you need to make sure it is unlocked and will take someone else's SIM card. If it is not unlocked, it won't even take a Vodafone SIM from a different country.

Second, figure out who made the USB stick. On the manufacturer's website you can usually find software for the stick which is not carrier specific. For example, I carry an unlocked Sierra USB 885 which was originally branded for ATT. I bought it unlocked off EBay and downloaded the Sierra Watcher software from Sierra. I've since used it on many different networks.

[Maxie]

Thank you, Stu.

Does anyone know if tre.it accept 1 month contract?
And does anyone know how fast is internet in this contract?
tre.it internet

Tre.Time.Large. - 19 euro / 300 hours in a month.
Can't find how fast is it

[9eor9]

Additional Info:

I use an AUSTRIAN drei.at "Reload" prepaid SIM for www using the Drei Austria offer "3 like home".
This means you can use your austrian balance with the same conditions as in Austria when you login to the 3 UMTS network (only this network) in Italy.
The prepaid SIM was €14,90 with 1GB balance.


This is also possible in some other countries and also for voice calls. So I use an austrian 3 contract to call within Italy the rynga Austria access number.

All my calls in Italy to rynga.com VoIP are covered by the 2000 free minutes of the austian 2000 min contract for €24/month.

That's fine !!!

[9eor9]

BTW have you read Effendi's thread Prepaid DATA in Italy in this Forum carefully (see Europe section, just look above) ????

Maybe it's not useful to insist on unlimited data volume. Then it will be much easier for you. The "min" offers are crap, I recomend you to refer to a volume based access.

[Maxie]

Thank you, 9eor9.
I've read "Prepaid DATA in Italy" and visited the operator webpages, but I don't speak Italian to understand all the details. All I understood is that mostly all offers need few months contract.
But I need internet for 1 month but with big quantity of minutes or with big traffic.

[9eor9]

What is big traffic for you?

Contracts are not a good idea for 1 month.
Even the hazzle to get rid of the contract is something I wouldn't like.
It's much easier not to recharge an empty prepaid card and forget about the rest.

[Maxie]

Originally Posted by 9eor9

What is big traffic for you?

Contracts are not a good idea for 1 month.
Even the hazzle to get rid of the contract is something I wouldn't like.
It's much easier not to recharge an empty prepaid card and forget about the rest.

Big traffic is maybe 200-300 hours in a month or 6-8 Gb in a month.
Prepaid card is much better of course and more easy. Just did not see them on the operator webpages. I don't speak Italian
Also don't want to pay 1 euro/hour

[sc32valve]

Hello, I am also traveling to Italy on Dec. 14th for 1 month and would need a similar prepaid SIM with unlimited (~5-7gb) data. I will be spending the whole month in Corvara in the Bolzano province.

I read through the "Prepaid in Italy" posts, but it seems that although WIND has a good deal for data, they only offer GPRS speeds in Corvara while Vodaphone is more expensive but offer UMTS in the same region.

I would also be interested in getting a SIM before I arrive, or the best place to find one when I'm there. My parents are already there, so if I could guide them to a good place to purchase a Vodaphone SIM it would be greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance.

[Effendi]

Originally Posted by Maxie

Prepaid card is much better of course and more easy. Just did not see them on the operator webpages. I don't speak Italian

Sorry Maxie, but this website is called PrePaidGSM and it talks about prepaid offers only, so I find it quite strange that you couldn't find information on prepaid offers here:
http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/euro...ata-italy.html
since they are ALL prepaid offers, and none has a 2-years minimum contract.

By the way, there's a new offer by 3, which I must add, which is called "SuperInternet".
http://www.tre.it/public/scheda_opzi...F=184&ref=22_1
With this offer you pay 5€ per month and you get 3GB of data (only using 3 network in Italy or abroad, no roaming on TIM or other operators).
You can activate this offer on any 3 prepaid card.

If 3GB is too little for you, you can buy two 3 prepaid cards and activate the option on both of them, so you have 6GB. If that's not enough you can buy 3 prepaid cards and so on...

It's by far the best offer on prepaid, in my opinion.
What's important is to check if you have 3 coverage in the place you are going to.

3 has HSDPA coverage in Corvara (BZ), so sc32valve should have no problem.
Officially 3 has a 7.2Mbps HSDPA network, but often speed is much slower...