Internet in Italy

If you are in Rome,I would not think you would have too much trouble getting a landline installed. I use Telecom Italia and apart from a couple of minor disruptions (1 from modem blowing due to a power surge so not their fault) it has been very good. We live in the countryside, but have ADSL. Cost around E20 per month.

We have had a Telecom Italia landline and Alice broadband for nearly 3 years without any problems whatsoever. I'm not sure what we pay but it seemed like a good package at the time. Setting it up was very easy - went to the Telecom Italia shop in the village and it just happened from there, no waiting or anything. They sent a guy along who set it all up for us at no extra cost, and he spoke good English which was just as well at the time. Terry

Like the previous replies, I too use Telecom Italia, and their Alice ADSL. It is good (for me, where I live) - but it isn't cheap! Every two months I get a bill for about €74 - that is €37 a month - which gives me unlimited connection (in my case at about 4Mbit) plus a landline telephone. Now, I don't use the landline telephone hardly at all - I would love to be able to do without paying for it (because this costs about €37 every two months simply as a standing charge) - however, unless I attach myself to another operator for the ADSL (or other wireless broadband) connection, I'm stuck with the 'canone' for Telecom Italia. Believe me, I have researched this stuff (for my area) on behalf of people who have second homes for their holidays. It is absurd for them to pay €37 a month for ADSL plus landline when all they want is internet connectivity. There are suppliers (in my area, Aria - accesible on www.ariadsl.it) who offer a broadband 'microwave' wifi service at about €22 per month - but quizzing their local representatives they promise "up to" 7Mbit, but depends...not only on how many people are on your 'cell', but also on atmospheric conditions. Maybe I just talked to a bad salesperson, but I know about five people on this service who are less than impressed. Or, you could do a Vodafone solution (maybe also other 'dongle' or 'casa' solutions) which offer alluringly cheap deals. I have friends who do this, and if they happen to pass by my Telecom Italia equipped house to print off their boarding passes it is like WOW, Italian internet CAN function! I hate to give you bad news, and it all depends on how dependent you feel you are on a good solid fast connection. If you just want to get up your home page once a day and check e-mails, a dongle is a good idea - even with a non Italian operator - but if you want to stream HD TV I don't think you have any option other than TI.

is without doubt Fastweb, especially if you are in town and can have fibre optic - which I had in Naples.  However their customer services is laughable and when you threaten to leave they ring you up and offer fantastic deals to stay.  It isnt cheap, but is very reliable. 

Thanks Fillide - I feel better about shelling out for TI now!  I presume you know about their "free calls to Europe" for E10 a month

Like Fillide we have TI/Alice ADSL and for the past 3 years we have had no complaints over bandwidth and service. But bare in mind your Bandwidth depends on how far you are away from the exchange so if they say 7meg then if you're 10k or so away from the exchange expect it to be around 1 meg when it reaches you. Also we have the Free  Europe calls for €10/month, but don't make calls last longer than 60mins, hang up and redial, or you will get charges heavily for the period over 60mins. This last bit probably only applies to the female section as us men rarely stay on the phone for any longer than is necessary. LOL..

Hi Flip, I'm not sure where the 60 minute thing comes from but I use Teleconomy Internazionale (the €10 a month deal for Western European Canadian & US calls from telecom Italia) and am often on the phone over an hour as I use it for work. It is all included in the €10. No need to hang up and I don't get charged extraif it's over 60 mins either.

.... you have good access is often as good as, if not better than ASDL, but may not be as reliable a service. Bonus is you can take it with you on the move, it's cheaper and coverage is getting better all the time....

I have Broadband and landline from BT in the UK. It costs £20 for Internet plus £30 odds for landline, plus 20% VAT  and that's before you make a phone call. So pretty steep in UK too. We have no cable or SKY Broadband in the Scottish Highlands so have no choice here.

Hope you get sorted out, but if you use ADSL on a landline with a modem do remember to unplug the telephone line and the mains supply to the modem when leaving the house for any length of time and whenever the thunder gets near. I'm on my third modem but lately things have been OK after taking precautions. The same applies to heating boilers, laptops and printers - I kid you not!

We have ADSL with a landline and the modem already crashed 5 times due to thunder and lightning. Is their anybody who knows how to avoid this except of taking the line and mains supply out of the modem? Thanks in advance!