Hello everyone, I'm hoping to re-

That cannot be true, as we are not Italian and Telecom Italia installed a line for us - for phone calls - we are in  a country area - so no broadband available - unless via a mobile link. Do you think that maybe they are asking for your Codice Fiscale - which is a card/document that you need to have to buy a house in Italy - even as a non-resident.

I would also look at other companies as the market is not so closed these days. However it may be that you need to have a line present and/or TIM to install any such line. Try a vodafone or a local company, here we have conneti locally who do a phone line, but not too sure if they will arrange any new lines. I'm sure clombardelli is right regards not needing to be Italian... mind you things do change regular here!

The TIM online form clearly asks for an Italian ID document. I tweeted them to query and they equally clearly said, no, you can't apply unless you have Italian ID!Last night though I looked on Fastweb's site and their application form has a dropdown box allowing people of different nationalities with their own local Id (e.g., British passport) to input their details.So looks like it'll be Fastweb thanks to Telecom Italia's very odd way of doing things. There's a phone line already into the house, it's just that there's no phone on the end of it (no need for that anyway, just a router).Thank you for your replies!Mike

Not too sure how well they perform, but I know a few people who use Fastweb and they have not said they are rubbish. Perhaps Telecome (now TIM) have changed, they certainly had no ID from us when we took over the line here, wish they had because its a pain to get rid of them....

And now we're back to the old chestnut...  Fastweb won't accept foreign credit cards/bank accounts. We ditched our Italian bank account years ago as the costs were so high. We have a Postepay post office account but it's so clumsy - you can't reload it from abroad, you have to physically put notes into the post office cashier's palm when you are in Italy, which for us is not really much use as we are only there two or three times a year.Why is Italy so frustrating? 

Does anyone know if there is any such thing as a free basic bank account in Italy? One you can put money into from abroad?I know it's asking a lot but... you never know.

Tim can be pretty dicy in the boondocks. I'm in Abruzzo and Wireless Adsl is a decent alternative. Some of us can get it via broadcast towers if we have line of sight. I friend of mine just signed up for Satellite Adsl. Expect the cost to be around 40Eu a month. Depending on how much you need, and if you can get decent 4G in your area, you can use a hotspot. My Vodaphone plan has 3GB a month for 10EU and they are always texting me offers for more Giga. They had a 3Mo offer in December which included unlimted video streaming at 420P quality. Came in handy during the power outages during the winter snowstorms. 

I've used a mifi hotspot for quite a few years now. The data allowances are just too puny for us - we are a five person (three teenage child) family and if someone forgets to turn off their auto app updates, which kick in as soon as the phone sees it's in a wifi zone, then - boom - your one, two or three gig allowance is gone in a trice. I just got fed up continually topping it up, plus I can only top it up with that Carta Postepay thing, which meant trolling down to the post office to recharge... etc etc etc.We've looked into satellite internet too. Has someone out to the house. But it seems way too expensive for what you get (again, rationed data). Plus our house is quite nice to look at, and wouldn't really benefit from a satellite dish either on the roof or in the garden!

*had* someone out to the house...

Tim reps were quite happy to offfer me service in Abruzzo. I do not have my Residence Cards yet. So long as you have a Coda Fiscale, people are more than happy to sell to you. I signed up with Micso for WADSL. We are in clear line of sight of one of their broadcast towers. The antenna is about the size of a small bread loaf. 

Maybe it's just an online booking issue then. It's SO much harder when you're not actually in the country (:Will have a look at Micso...

WADSL looks great but the coverage across Italy is patchy. We're near Lucca and checking on wadsl.it, there's nothing there.In fact... nothing near Pisa, or Florence, or Milan. Or Rome!I wonder on what basis they choose where to put their antennae?

We have a contract with EOLO for 418 euro a year for internet.  Of course I was hoping to get a better rate.  As it is explained to me you can no longer 'turn on' and 'turn off' your service at will.  This used to be possible but they now offer yearly contracts.  Also I was told our rate was 'higher' as we do not have a land line.We do have a satelite for TV (even though there is not much to watch).  We are planning to bring our Amazon Fire stick over when we visit later this month.  Lets see if that does anything.Yes, life in Italy is confusing; but the good things outweigh the bad...A presto,  Lisa www.casalecrete.com

Anyway, the upshot of it all is that I've gone for a contract with Fastweb for 25 euro a month unlimited ADSL.My kind Italian accountant allowed me to use his bank account for the direct debits.Two weeks on though and I''m still waiting for the promised call from a Fastweb technician to arrange a visit.Facciamo le corna!