826 Telecommunications....

I tend to rely on an Italian SIM & the internet cafe! It takes a bit (but not a lot) of organising to ensure that I have all my contacts on the webmail, but once that's sorted, it's simple & much cheaper!

If you want to take your laptop with you, however then that's a different matter; depending upon where you live & what facilites are available to you, you might want to try a connecting a wi-fi laptop via hot-spots. That way you don't need any wizzy new hardware.......unless that's what you really want ;0)

....suggest you keep it simple, use an internet cafe & relax!

Ahhh...you've sussed me out! Yes...too many years in the recording and IT industries have turned me into something of a technology junkie! However in my defence I should point out that the nearest internet cafe is some way away from my place which is a farm cottage surrounded by fields and unless Borgotaro has come on a fair bit recently I suspect wi-fi might be a faint hope! Maybe I should just learn to switch off....

Thanks for the swift answer and advice though.

regards

mark

We solved this one recently, with an Italian sim card, cost 10 euros with 10 euros of credit.
We bought the cheapest GPRS phone in the shop with a USB cable and connected to the internet that way. We chose Vodafone as we knew the signal was good in Bagni and it cost 1 euro an hour to connect to the internet (20 euros in advance) but it was quite cheap even if you didn’t go for a deal like that. It was ok for e mail and internet banking etc but surfing was slow.

Hope that helps?

Susi

Many thanks Susi - that's a great plan. Problem solved!!
Ta.

Susi, I think this is exactly what I want to do. We've already got a phone with GPRS capability that can receive a good phone signal via TIM from our house. Does that necessarily mean that I'd be able to get onto the net with a laptop or are there any other factors I'd need to be aware of?

Just to add to the above - Italian friends of ours use Wind. They did the same - bought the cheapest phone they could and got a rate of 20 euros per month for unlimited access. Can't be sure if it was just a limited offer but might be worth looking into.

This question was going to be my next to the forum, so it's really good to get so much help. I already have a GPRS capable phone, so do I just have to buy a normal Italian sim card, or a data card. I also bought a second hand Vodafone connect card on Ebay and was going to buy a pay as you go data sim card in Italy. I found this info on this Italian forum which might be of use to some of you - if you speak Italian. Anyway it now looks as if I might have two possible ways of connecting to the Internet, which is essential for me while in Italy because of my business.
[url]http://www.mobileforum.it/read.php?45,98940,page=2[/url]

What's a connect card?

It was just a normal italian vodafone sim card, and you have to have the compatable usb cable which I think cost about 25 euros, it was supplied by the shop when we bought the phone. We did look into the data card but they were quite expensive and at least with the phone it has dual use.

Susi

Thanks Susi. I suppose I could use infra red to connect rather than cable, as I can't see how I could connect a USB cable to the phone - there isn't a usb port on the phone - but then I really know nothing about techie matters.
Linda

[QUOTE=Licciana]What's a connect card?[/QUOTE]

Its called a Vodafone Mobile Connect Card (I don't know if companies other than Vodafone supply them). You have to slot in a data sim card and then the connect card slots into a port on your laptop and you connect to the internet via GPRS. It is apparently much faster than connecting via a mobile phone and you pay according to how many megabites you download in a certain period. However, as I've said before I know very little about such things and have only learned this amount because I need to be connected when in Italy! If anyone out there has experience of connect cards I'd love to hear from them.
Linda

Anyone out there know if this is a solution which works with a Macintosh? I know its possible to have a bluetooth connection with my Mac would this work with a bluetooth phone?

Must admit I am only a very basic user of mobiles and would greatly appreciate more information from someone technical. Thanks all.

They are also known as 3G cards. (We've just bought some at work for some of our IT technicians so they can offer remote support.) [url]http://www.vodafone.co.uk/cgi-bin/COUK/portal/ep/browse.do?channelPath=%2FVodafone+Portal%2FBusiness+Services%2FVodafone+Mobile+Connect+Card%2FMobile+Connect+Data+Card+Range&BV_SessionID=@@@@0876626360.1121931720@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccjaddfegmdlghcflgcegjdgnfdffk.0[/url] might help.

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