Hello!Thanks for such a great resource

Mark D Image
07/08/2019 - 03:37

Hello!Thanks for such a great resource. I have a question about internet access in Italy:I'm self-employed and work from home. We're looking to move from the UK to Italy, but I'm having difficulty tracking down suitable locations.Because internet reliability and speed are crucial, these are (sadly) the highest criteria, above all others. I'd love to live in a rural area, but I accept that's highly unlikely to happen. Where we can live is entirely dependent on the available internet speeds.The absolute minimum I can deal with is about 25Mbps downstream and about 10Mbps upstream. Would prefer around 100Mbps / 100 Mbps. We also need to be able to download/upload maybe 400GB per month. What's important here is the delivery mechanism: how the data gets to the house, determining the available speeds.So this means that it can't be ADSL or 3G, nor satellite.It could be VDSL (in the UK this is called "Fibre to the Cabinet" or misleadingly "Fibre") but we would have to be right next to the street cabinet because the available speed drops too far once the bit of wire connecting the house to said cabinet is more than about 600m long. Trying to find a location where this is workable is detailed and tricky (it's exactly the same in the UK).Or, 4G, but that's unsafe - it might run quickly at first, but once the network is busy, speeds may drop too far since the speed is shared among users accessing it. Also, this may be restrictive in terms of quantity of data usage. Not sure how 5G is coming along, it is in its infancy in the UK. Guessing there's not much.Leaving cable or Fibre (actual fibre, sometimes called FTTP - Fibre to the Premises).The information I've seen suggests that Milan is about the only place to go with a comprehensive (covers most properites, we'd still have to check when we find somewhere, just to make sure) and capable network. But that may be old information.Returning to my point - all this determines where we can live, it's not negotiable, there cannot be any compromise. I wonder if that information remains accurate.Can anyone give me a steer on this and update my (possibly) out of date knowledge, or is there a website which has some sort of map where you can click "Fibre" and "Cable" as options, excluding others, the map of Italy is then zoomable and clickable with the possible areas highlighted, and then drill down to street level?Thanks so much.

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Yes, fibre to the cabinet is now widely available in most towns.   Here in Sicily I get 65mbps in download and about 14 in upload.  Im about 100m from the cabinet.   We are behind the UK in 5G though Milan will be the first place to get trials in 2020. You're right, living in the countryside isnt an option really - even though some of the WIMAX systems offer excellent coverage and decent speeds but it wont be enough for you I suspect.   

Thanks!Centering our search on Ferrara - does anyone know of a resource that would help us choose the areas in which we could live, which are governed by the available internet speeds?

Ferara city or land ? if city .. TIM ...-  it is certainly the most expensive, but it has the only REAL FIBER - DSL network in Italy, and if you make a business contract, you have the emergency breakdown, in 24 hours - including Sundays and holidays - no problem of volumes

I'm assuming that the best access will only be in the city (which is a shame as there are some beautiful places on the outskirts!)That said: in the UK, actually, the best networks are almost all in rural areas where fibre to the premises has been used, not VDSL. Since VDSL only reaches about 1.5km from the street cabinet/box, it's useless in rural areas.So it might be possible to find that perfect retreat out-of-town with really good speeds.Looking at the TIM website now, thanks - it's actually really cheap compared with what we pay here in the UK :)

Hi , Ronco, my neighbor, he has Eolo, his antenna has not been received for 2 weeks, he has called the assistance service 4 times already, the answer is always the same <we intervene as soon as possible> - I instead received a TIM technician, in the morning Easter day, for a problem with the modem, of the previous day ..( i have a Tim business contract , copper twisted pair, as the fiber is not yet present here  ) I must say that for the emergency events I also have a radio dish on the roof of the TecnoAdsl company - which provides a constant 25mega internet and a voice line (voip on a standard device), also excellent for faxing.

Tooway which is a dish based satellite internet service has got much more competitive over the last couple of years - now 30 euros per month, unlimited.  And they say it gives you 50 Mb/s in download.   Fine until the satellite is knackered by a solar storm....