TIM for 13 days in Italy: voice,SMS,tethering

[Stu]

How is Three? Three Ireland works in Italy (Three Like Home) and they definitely support VOIP.

[Effendi]

Three has rather good coverage in towns, but has still quite some problems out in the countryside and mountains.

[been2china]

Originally Posted by Effendi

Here is Internet Start:
Internet Start | TIM
You get 4GB instead of 2 for this summer. It has a monthly fee of €12.00 plus an activation fee of € 5.00

Internet Large:
Internet Large | TIM
but it doesn't make much sense to spend 20€ for just 1GB of data more than the Internet Start which is much cheaper.

TIMxSMARTPHONE MAXI doesn't exist anymore (I have to update the pages). Here are the Smartphone options available by TIM:
- TIMxSMARTPHONE: 300MB/week for € 3.00/week. No tethering, no VoIP, no P2P
- TIMxSMARTPHONE MESE: 1GB/mongh for € 10/month. No tethering, no VoIP, no P2P
- TIMxSMARTPHONE 4G: 500MB/week for € 6.00/week. Tethering allowed, 4G/LTE allowed, VoIP maybe allowed, no P2P.
All info (in Italian) here:
Offerte Internet per Smartphone | TIM

With WIND here are the options:
- Internet No Stop: € 9.00/month for 1GB. Tethering allowed, no VoIP
- Internet Big: € 15.00/month for 3GB. Tethering allowed, no VoIP
- Internet Unlimited: € 20.00/month for 10GB. Tethering allowed, no VoIP

Those options can get cheaper if you active one of the several options for free minuts and messages offered by Wind.

Both TIM and Wind have good coverage. TIM has 4G, Wind not yet.

I know that TIM is easy enough to set up on a smartphone with SMS to control the tariff.

However, I heard plenty of tales that if the SIM is strnasferred to another device, e.g. a tablet or Mi-Fi, it then gets blocked.

It would be valuable to know if any of these offerings above work with a 3g iPad Mini with the nano SIM (or a Mi-Fi).

[Effendi]

Never heard about a similar problem with TIM. If you have an unlocked device you should have no problems at all.

[been2china]

OK thanks, so their appears to be allowed... unless, like in the UK, Apple devices specifically disallow tethering on most networks.

Now, all the TIMsmartphone packages are controlled via SMS, correct? Or, how can it be set up on an iPad that has no SMS facility?

[Effendi]

You ask the dealer to activate it for you or call 119 (but they will speak Italian only, most probably). Or you put the SIM in a Phone, activate by SMS, and then put it back on the iPad.

[been2china]

The nano SIM is the issue - it won't go into a standard phone. But I have an idea: I have a basic MiFi. It needs manual setting up of the APN but takes a standard SIM. So maybe use this, I just need to discover the APN details for TIM data.

[Stu]

I just borrowed a TIM SIM from a member of this forum and managed to get it recharged €20. It is on the €6 a week 500 meg plan. Is there an SMS or a short code that I can have a friend enter to discontinue the plan when he is done with this trip or does he need to call 119?

[Effendi]

Originally Posted by Stu

I just borrowed a TIM SIM from a member of this forum and managed to get it recharged €20. It is on the €6 a week 500 meg plan. Is there an SMS or a short code that I can have a friend enter to discontinue the plan when he is done with this trip or does he need to call 119?

You can:
- call 40916 (IVR)
- call 119 (operator)
- register to tim.it and deactivate it from your personal area

Unfortunately some basic Italian is needed in any case (I'd use the website), but if you need any help with translations I'm here to help.