mobile broadband

[simone-non-martini]

I'm afraid that I have to agree entirely with Nardini. We bought two Tre italia mobile phones, each with a contract, as well as a mobile internet modem with a contract one month ago. It is a complete disaster. The phones did not work properly from the begining nor did the internet. Then after a lot of hasstle, we got the phones to work, but have now found that they only funtion in Italy, although we have signed a contract for something which is supposed to function internationally. Rather catastrophic when you work all over Europe and are dependant on your phone.

Just two days after having finally got the internet to work, it all stopped again. After many many hours of frustrating calls to their horrible telephone call centre - where one is bombarded with advertsing inbetween being instructed which button to press for the non-service, and several visits to the unhelpful tre Italia shops, I was told tre, somewhere along the line, made a mistake with our credit card and decided to block our internet access. Nothing wrong with the card of course - they still help themselves to it for the telephones. Only solution they say is to fax a photocopy of the passport and credit card to a fax number! The very same credit card. When asked: but you already have it and if you made the mistake why should we be paying for it - there is no answer. As my partner isn't in italy at the moment and not able to fax the said documents, I ended up faxing a copy of my passport and credit card. Result: my credit card was immediately blocked by the bank so now I cannot use it either and we still have no internet.

Steer clear of tre italia! Absolutely no service. Nothing works as it should. The one hour of "free" telephone calls on offer with our contract, has been spent only on calling tre every day to try and fix the problems. This is the fourth week of this disaster. I have had to buy another modem from wind in order to use the internet.
And just for good measure Tre also says we cannot break the two year contract.

[pigro]

Right. I promise I will shut up for good after this post. Understood that Tre have bad (appauling in these cases) customer service. I don't think Three UK are neccessarily much better - but then again I actually DO work in the Telecoms industry, and I know that they are all - without exception - guilty of this; every mobile operator/VMNO has the same problems with provisioning & billing in a market where churn is huge, margins are slim and the whole industry sector is in a 3 year slump.

I'm a senior technical manager within a company who provide fixed, mobile and VOIP voice/data solutions to corporate, SOHO/SME and residential customers. We are the UK's longest established ISP, and we provide our own Mobile Broadband product in the UK. I also have my own sole trader (i.e. unlimited personal liability) consultancy business. I provide consultancy, programming, software and bespoke systems. I provide these to mobile voice/data network/service providers, Media (TV/Print), corporates, Banking/Financial sectors over the past 15 years throughout 7 European countries (though not Italy). In short I know what I'm talking about from the network operator, infrastructure, service provider, Tech Support and Customer Service perspectives.

The Three package I described offers many benefits for my specific circumstances. It's a new(ish) offer, with new(ish) hardware. I recently bought it. It works. It is PAYG. There is no billing relationship. There is no contract. It is supplied fully enabled for international roaming (PAYG means no risk for the operator). I don't own a phone from Three (UK or Italy). I have no relationship with Tre. I agree that their reputation is pretty shit, particularly in Italy & Ireland. Hutchieson (who are the parent co.) are trying to flog Tre, but there are no takers. I know their coverage is limited (that's inevitible as a 3G only operator) and their roaming is pricey.

Be that as it may, their network and technology are sound, and certainly at least as good as any other 3G operator (personally I'd say better, as they have fewer legacy platforms/people/processes). I don't advocate anybody to have any dealings with Tre Italia. I don't suggest anyone take out a contract with them. That's the last thing I'd do personally. It's one of the reasons that the Three UK PAYG appealed to me, as it circumvents the need to communicate with them at all.

I do understand that the feedback on Tre is valuable info for those considering Three and more specifically Tre contract phones/data cards, so good luck to one and all with whatever works for you, Pigro will now "give it a rest" by popular demand, over & out.

[barrov]

I'm very sorry to hear about the Tre Italia problems. They sound absolutely awful and I would be furious if I was in either of the two situations laid out above.

Three UK have been excellent so far in my experience. The customer support is via Indian call centres, but their English is first class and I have found them to be very knowledgeable.

I would personally steer clear of any Italian contracts where possible. Perhaps it's my not so wonderful Italian but things seem to be very long-winded and difficult for the simplest of things. (Forms in triplicate, signatures, 'timbros' etc)

I'm happy to be in a contract with Three for the phone and broadband as I am absolutely sure that I won't find a better deal for my (Complicated) situation over the next year or so. I'm happy to have these prices set so low after 10 years of very erratic (And sometimes extortionate) bills from Orange.

Each to their own really, there are some great deals out there, you just have to do your own research for your own particular circumstances. (As you obviously are, by being here, reading this thread!)

[coppicer]

3 UK have just extended their offer to existing cutomers of free modem and half price monthly contracts (£5/£7.50/£10) until the end of June. I shall be signing up even though I do have PAYG with a local wi-fi internet provider in Italy. I shall get the £5 / month package for the laptop and be able to use it in the UK and in Italy. We signed up to the £15 per month 3 contract with free phones in March and saved the first two months payments with the calls we made from Italy to the UK using our free minutes for our Easter visit. I am sure it will pay for itself for the rest of the year with our summer visit of seven weeks. If you have 3 coverage in Italy, I do not think these deals can be beaten. Oh and by the way, the mobile broadband deal of £5 per month is for the life of the contract - not just for the first few months or so

[Adrian Brown]

I will be in Italy for about 6 weeks during the summer and then for the odd week during the rest of the year and want to use my mobile as modem to get internet access on my laptop and therefore want PAYG. There is no 3 reception on our area but understand that Tim and vodaphone are fine.

I will be using a Nokia mobile and wonder whether anyone has any views on either Tim or Vodaphone in terms of ease of set up, cost etc.

Adrian.

[Italiargh]

I live in Italy full time and where i currently live, i have ADSL, but we may be moving into the countryside, therefore needing mobile broadband.

I had been looking at Tre Italia's pay and go option, which on paper doesn't look too bad (5GB a month for €19.99), but seem put off by the experiences of others on here. I know from first hand experience of other utility providers in Italy, that none really give a toss about their customers and it appears Tre Italia are no different.

I guess, what i want to know is, could i sign up with 3 (UK) while out here, just for the mobile broadband and modem (no phone)? I'd be looking at the 7GB option.

I notice too, that Tre Italia advertise my area as 'up to' 7.2Mb/sec, yet the UK modem seems to be for 3.6Mb/sec. Would i be capable of the full speed on the UK modem, or can i buy any dongle and still be compatible?

Also could anyone (Pigro included ) please advise on the actual usage of the service compared to ADSL ie Streaming videos from Youtube, etc. Is it reliable enough?

[pigro]

Originally Posted by Pigro

Right. I promise I will shut up for good after this post.

I'll PM you when I get a mo'

[lupo]

Don't stop now Pigro, this thread has been magnificent, a lifesaver for me. My task for this evening was find out how to get my mac up and running in Italy (don't think i can manage over there without this forum, not to mention on line banking tax returns and so on.) I was dreading it but this feels like task accomplished thanks to you and everyone else for all the information and advice.
PS didn't even know what mobile broadband was until about 10 minutes ago!

[lupo]

Moni's post describes where I am with broadband technology and with our move Italy, to the letter (thank you Moni!) and Pigro's advice would fit the bill very nicely indeed, but I've just checked '3' coverage and tantalisingly, excrutiatingly, the map doesn't make it clear that our bit of Umbria, just east of Terni and Spoleto is covered, in fact it looks as though it isn't. Can anyone advise the next easiest and most economical solution ... or, as a Mac devotee, should I splash out on a 3G Iphone in July? The AT & T tariff looks horribly expensive.
PS
Pigro I want to PM you but your message box is full!

[NickZ]

Originally Posted by lupo

or, as a Mac devotee, should I splash out on a 3G Iphone in July? The AT & T tariff looks horribly expensive.

Why would you care about the AT&T plan? If you really wanted an Iphone Tim and Vodafone in Italy should be selling them. The current Iphone has been for sale for awhile.

OTOH it seems the 3g Iphone can't be used as a modem. So you can't hook it up to your computer.

For 150Euros or less you can get a USB modem from Tim or Vodafone. No plan locking you in. Both offer various plans to choose from. The TIM plans are nice since you can use whatever service is available. Including Telecom Italias Wi-FI hotspots.