Holidays in Italy with Android

Last month I did spend some time searching the best rate for using my smartphone in Italy.

It is not only a question of money, the kind of connection is important too.

Using a swiss prepaid card roaming and data roaming are offered at unfair rates (1.10/1.70 Sfr each minute and 15.40 Sfr each MB) without any advice about the availabilty of the signal.

My investigation is based on the homepages of TIM, WIND and Vodafone. I decided to use the prepaid card offered by TIM.

The reasons are:

• The offer was easy to find.
• The description is clear, easy to understand and up-to-date.
• I did easily find a page with the technical informations about my target area.
• The tariff (2 Euro for 250MB weekly) is fair.
• The additional costs (50 cts per MB) are tolerable.

Buy the Prepaid Card

You need to know the system: not every reseller may sell the card and activate it. You need to find a "centro TIM". Don't expect a huge store, it is mostly  a small shop with the required license.

I was lucky and could buy the card on Saturday, late afternoon.

The card has a minimal amount of money preloaded. So you need a "ricarica". The additional credit is sold by small shops called "tabaccheria" and, sometimes, by supermarkets.

You may ask the official reseller, but, normally the answer is: "I'm sorry but we just sold the last one".

Card Setup

I had to wait 4 hours for the activation of the number. The service is good, the only problem was the "ricarica": the number to call did change, but I was informed about the change by TIM.

Eperiences

I was on the hills of the region Toscana, near Volterra.  Later I did travel, by car, until Piombino (on the coast).

Sometimes the data channel disappeeared, but, at every turistic spot, I was able to send or receive data at least using the EDGE protocol.  Near the most important places the speed rises at 3G.

I did experiment the teetering with a notebook. It works but, even if you disable really every unnecessary connection,  250MB is not enough.

Apps

Due to the connection limitations on lonely, but wonderful places and the limit of 250MB the app has to be suitable.

Browser

I'm using the Dolphin HD. It works everywhere, but I limit myself to WEB pages done for mobile devices:  less traffic and better readability.

Google Navigator

Useful for short distances or in a city. It suggests always the shortest way to the target.

For long distances is better to check the route with Google Maps. Once, the navigator told me to leave the highway, go through a small town and go back to the highway simply because it was the shorter way.  This was wrong because the route on the highway is longer but much faster.

Social Networks

Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Gowalla work fine everywhere, but don't forget that your smartphone may take large pictures and videos. If you load everything you may exceed the weekly limit of the account.

MapDroyd

This is a very useful app, because the maps may be preloaded on the SD-chip. You may locate yourself even if the connection with the carrier is lost.

It is fast, much faster as Google Maps, and with enough details.

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