10099 Vodafone Station

Apologies if this has already been discussed by telephony techies, but Vodafone have this new gizmo on offer. If you pursue the site you will find a place where you can verify if you have coverage.

Basically it costs (normally) €49 (effectively the installation cost), though the current special offer reduces this to €24.50. Then it appears to cost €29 a month for flat wireless adsl (up to 7MB) plus free calls to fixed national lines. Naturally there is no TI canone to pay.

I haven't pursued it very deeply, and I'm not entirely convinced it has been fully rolled out. Best to go and have a word with your biggest Vodafone shop if you are interested.

[URL="http://vodafonestation.vodafone.it/?ty_skip_md=true&ty_key=pri_minisito_vodafone_station&hp190=y"]Vodafone Station[/URL] (Main site with bells and whistles)

[URL="http://www.areaprivati.vodafone.it/190/trilogy/jsp/programView.do?ty_program_page=/jsp/content/ty_editorialBody.jsp&ty_target_type=0&contentKey=35762&pageTypeId=1073752848&channelId=-536943558&programId=536881957&ty_skip_md=true&ty_key=pri_adsl_faq"]Piani e Promozioni Vodafone[/URL] (Useful looking FAQ)

Category
Cost of living - Utility Services

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 07/30/2008 - 11:28

We've heard from neighbors in rural Puglia that this works amazingly well -- and we'll be trying it out ourselves. Keep you posted. . . .

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 08/17/2008 - 07:35

Will be very interested to hear how you get on, looking at the installation video it seems that the Vodafone Station still needs to be connected to a fixed line ......?? In which case I don;t see it is any different than a wireless router plus adsl from any supplier?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 08/17/2008 - 11:19

IF* this is related to the Vodafone "dongle" broadband service, the only cause for pause is the cost of data transfer. [URL="http://www.areaaziende.vodafone.it/190/trilogy/jsp/programView.do?contentKey=6027&pageTypeId=9610&channelId=-8671&programId=12545&tk=9610%2Cc&ty_skip_md=true&ty_key=az_connectcardcosti"]The various "plans" allow for a pretty limited amount of data transfer - or browsing.[/URL] Out of interest, i have been online for about 42 minutes - answering a few emails and browsing some very normal websites (here, BBC, ANSA, etc) and have used 10.5 Mb of data. That is on a dial-up connection as well!

The "L" plan gives you 250 Mb of data per month for €15 and the XL plan will give you 600 Mb. That would be only 50 hours of browsing at DIAL-UP SPEEDS. At the speeds claimed by Vodafone, I would be paying extra for data after only 5 hours of normal web browsing per month using the XL plan!

Think carefully before taking on a 2 year contract.

*The ADSL offer is only available to those with ADSL connection already available, of course. My comments are concerned only with the "wireless" connection offers. ADSL price comparisons with "normal" suppliers here are not yet competitive, it would seem.