Mobile 3G Plans (for notebooks) in Italy?

[elistoughton]

Hello,

I may be in need of 3G mobile internet for my notebook in Italy. Does anyone know any available options for this. I have seen TIM advertise the usb dongle Internet service for laptops but I don't know much about it. I would only need it for about a month or so, so I'm looking for a simple prepaid option if one exists. Also, my voice is Wind prepaid if that makes any difference.
If anyone can let me know if there are any good options out there for me, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

[Effendi]

Wind has the Mega options (see here) which are very good, but unfortunately it has quite a small 3G Network (and even smaller if we talk about HSDPA). No problem if you are going to bigger towns.

You can go with "3" which has the widest coverage and the "Naviga 3" option is good (9€/month for 50MB every day).

Of course in both cases you need a 3G HSDPA modem working on the 2,1GHz W-CDMA network (both Wind and 3 have them in their shops, from 50€ and up...).

[elistoughton]

Are these plans open for laptops? That is what I would need it for. I'm only looking to use it for about a month, is there anything particularly good for that?

[Effendi]

They are not plans, they are options to add to any voice plan. They are data-options, so you can use then on any PC, phone, palm, smartphone you like.

[elistoughton]

do you know if it is possible yo use any 3G dongle to connect a laptop or does it have to be one of the brand-specific ones in the store. I was in the Wind store yesterday and the cheapest dongle was €100.
also, if I did this, would it just be an add-on to my current Wind sim card, or would it be a new number with a new balance.
I'm not sure if I'm going to by able to pair my iPhone succesfully. And, even if I do, I'm thinking it might make sense to buy a 3g dongle anyway for higher speeds (if I could get one for cheaper).

Thanks

[Effendi]

Wind has quite little 3G HS coverage, so I won't suggest you to buy a dongle to use with Wind, unless you are just staying in some bigger town.

BTW any dongle is fine, they are not sim-locked, except maybe the one sold by 3.

[elistoughton]

Okay, so maybe I'll try to get a 3G dongle somewhere else for cheaper. I am in Rome btw, so I think the coverage would be fine. Would the set up for some other dongle be easy?, and would I be able to use the same account & phone number ... or would I need a new SIM card if I get a dongle?

[Effendi]

Any sim works fine, no problem.
In Rome you surely have HS coverage with Wind, maybe also at 7.2Mbps.
BTW I fear you won't find any cheaper dongle in shops, at least among the HS ones.

[Ties Brants]

Originally Posted by Effendi

Wind has the Mega options (see here) which are very good, but unfortunately it has quite a small 3G Network (and even smaller if we talk about HSDPA). No problem if you are going to bigger towns.

Does anyone know if there is a website where you can check where wind has umts/hsdpa coverage. I have checked www.gsmworld.com but there they only have a gsm coverage map and with my limited understanding of Italian I haven't been able to find in on the wind website. I'm mainly interested in the coverage in Palmi, southern Italy.
I have a 3 sim card and I know that they have coverage there, but the wind option are also quite interesting as wel if they would have umts/hspda coverage there.

Ties