243 Internet access in Italy

Since we will be spending more time in Italy soon we have bought ourselves a lap top and would like to get organised so that we will have access to the web and e mails whilst there. Can anybody who has already jumped thorough this hoop give any advice about the best way to go about it?? At the moment we are completely green and don't even have a phone line or mobile in Italy (guess we are going to be busy) so we are starting from scratch. Any advice welcome.

Susi

Category
General chat about Italy

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 04/17/2005 - 11:56

Unless you are very lucky to be in a town that already has broadband the internet tends to be very slow via normal landlines. After experimenting we have finally settled on a dedicated mobile phone, for computer use using a GPRS connection. Works well (usually)and cost is very reasonable. Just go to a local computer/phone dealer when you are next here who should be able to set you up.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/18/2005 - 03:30

Vodafone (Omnitel) has a deal where you pay about 30 Euros per month - they give a special card to stick in your computer and then you connect via cell phone.
This card is great if you just want to send emails and look at some websites but not good if need to download lots of MBs.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/18/2005 - 03:56

[QUOTE=sandra]David/Linda

Please could you giv more details about the cost of using your mobile phone/laptop for internet access?

thanks[/QUOTE]
Yes of course. We actually use the GPRS system for our main computer and laptop and we use a pay as you go phone purchased specifically for the purpose, though of course you can use it in the normal manner if you wish.

We took our computer to our friendly computer man and he set everything up for us configuring the computer and setting up account etc. We are with Vodaphone and pay E20 a month, not sure how many MBS that is for as not technically minded. However if you go above your huge allowance(according to our computer man) you are just charged extra, which is apparently very little though not aware we have ever gone over limit! We get a text message every mth to say fee will be dedcuted on such an such a date etc etc. The connection is 115.2 which for round here is very good though of course that depends on sites visiting when it comes to downloads.

Anyway it works for us and hope all this is of some help to you.
There is also the possibility of using your Sky satellite but we looked into this and decided it was not a suitable option for us at present.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/18/2005 - 09:53

We use 'Alice 1 cent' through a normal landline.

Vey easy to set up using telecom italia website.
Charges are as it states, 1 cent per minute, with 12 cents charged to make the connection each time. We have found speed OK, charges clear.

We used our UK dial up to set it up in the first place (just added 0044 to the number in the set up menu) and all went very easily.

Hope that is of use.