GPRS & EDGE II - This time it's a summary

[geoffking39]

Adrian the apn for TIM is ibox.tim.it , i used my Laptop with a USB dongle last time in Le Marche about a month ago , fastest speed was 200k somtimes a lot less but always good enough to listen to the Archers , good lucK Geoff .

[Adrian Brown]

Just got back from Italy. I purchased Tim sim card from shop in Amandola and paid for Maxxitim Webtime. Went back to the house to see if I could get connected. I then read this thread which I have saved to my laptop. I realised I should have been given username and password by shop so went back to shop to explain this ( in bad Italian) and was told that I did not need username and password. I stressed that I did but shop owner was adamant that I did not and problem must be with my laptop.

I tried to ring Tim. Had very little idea of the option numbers but pressed away and eventually got to speak to someone who need not speak any English and could not put me through to someoene who cpould speak English so I gave up.

My wife and children are still in Italy and being able to get the laptop in Italy to get internet access would make life much easier.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Adrian.

[Geotherm]

Adrian.
Would suggest they go to the TIM guy in Sarnano. He speaks some English. I had a internet connection problem with my laptop, and he sorted it out. Think he only charged about 10 Euros. Shop name is Comet and he is opposite the market place, just down from the Bar on the main road.
Have never found the guy in Amandola very helpful.

[tuscanhills]

You might want to mention to the guy in the shop that it's the APN id & password you need....this is mentioned in the first post.

Problems
There are numerous problmes I've experience, but in the main they come down to only a few root causes:
APN is not set correctly; these vary with network providers and if you have bought your data card/phone separately from your SIM, then you should make sure they are set correctly. There’s a useful site that will allow you to do this (Ross Barkman's GPRS Info Page)
Connection keeps dropping. This is usually a result of poor signal strength or no credit/data allowance!

You might also want to check you have credit as if the MaxxiWeb has been set up incorrectly (or there've been delays) then you will drain you 'voice' allowance, at the expense of your 'data' credit. This has happened to me more than once ;)

Good luck

[Szq]

This may be of help to a Mac user with a skype mobile phone (bought in UK) - which I use to connect via bluetooth to Tre Italia 3G network. The phone is a pay as you go, for free skype calls I need to top up by £10 pm and I can then use that for a data add-on for 1 month, giving me 1Gb data allowance.

My MacBook connects to the internet using my skypephone over bluetooth

To use the phone for a mobile internet connection
Firstly on your Skypephone, you need to go to Menu > Settings > Connectivity > Modem connection and make sure it is set to Bluetooth

Then make sure Bluetooth is turned on via Menu > Settings > Connectivity > Bluetooth

On your Mac, go to System Prefs and Bluetooth and click the + follow the instructions to pair the phone, it involves entering a code into the phone, the wizard should show tyou an option to "Access the internet with your phones data connection". You will then be presented with dialup options. Select the defaults for now.

Next go to System Prefs > Network and click on Bluetooth. Leave the page with Configuration: Default and the Username and Passwords blank, however set the Telephone Number to: *99#

Next click advanced and make sure (on the modem tab) the vendor is set to Generic, the model set to GPRS (GSM/3G) and the APN: three.co.uk

Leave the CID as 1 and click OK, you should now be able to connect.

As the device is paired, you can also browse the device's files and copy media to and from the phone.

This has been so useful for me as i can connect from the building site and at the moment have no intention to go down the Telecom Italia route as we are 1km from nearest phone line!
Hope this may be useful to someone out there.
Sue

[Adrian Brown]

Thanks for the help.

Can I ask a couple of questions?

1. Do I need to do anything with the phone other than put the Tim card in. Do I need to put the APN in the settings on the phone or do anything to the phone.

2. With the laptop I believe that I have to set up a new dial up connection using the wizard. It asks for the ISP - can I just put TIM here. It then needs a telephone number - can anyone confirm what number I use. It then needs a user name and password and I presume that this is the information I was not given in the shop. Presumably a phone call to TIM and they will be able to confirm this?

Adrian

[tuscanhills]

Originally Posted by Adrian Brown

Can I ask a couple of questions?

1. Do I need to do anything with the phone other than put the Tim card in. Do I need to put the APN in the settings on the phone or do anything to the phone.

OK, then we're crossing our wires......I don't use the phone at all, I use a data card that slots into the side of the PC:

If you're using the phone as a modem, then you have to link the phone to the PC (usually by a cable or bluetooth) and take it from there; the phone should have a load of stuff on how to do this in the manual.

Originally Posted by Adrian Brown

2. With the laptop I believe that I have to set up a new dial up connection using the wizard.

Eeeek! Others might be able to help more; I've never used this method & am not familar with it; I'd start with reading the manual, but you probably guessed that already

Has anyone any advice on this method of dial up?

[Adrian Brown]

Geo

Wife went to comet in Sarnano and chap there has sorted it for her. She said he was very nice so thanks for the tip.

Adrian

[gradese]

I have bought a dongle on the PAYG deal mentioned by Pigro earlier in teh thread, and have used it successfully in the UK. I am now trying to use it in Italy, hoping it will be a viable alternative to the Telecom Italia broadband service we have at the moment and that we can cancel the fixed line contract with the awful Telecom Italia. It works find for surfing, emails etc, but I frequently have to download video lasting up to an hour, but I've found it very slow, taking abotu five times as long.
Has anyone else experienced similar problems? Could it be related to the strength of the signal, which shows up at only one or two bars out of the potential five? Tre Italia's coverage web page says my commune is not on coverage, but a village about a kilometre away is. So perhaps we are at the edge of the footprint.