Data Roaming costs in Italy

Pmatt

I have recently returned from a holiday in Italy and used my 3 Mobile MiFi pay as you go to pick up emails and some web access. I was well aware that 3 mobile charge £1.28 per Mb for data, so I tried to find an alternative. Strangely I only found one mobile phone shop during my travels but I also realised that I needed to register for a Codice Fiscale but the on line service failed to generate my required code. Has anyone had any success in getting a sim to use in Italy? Please let me know how!
I really feel that data charges are a real rip off now that call charges have been limited. After all if you can get 3GB on a mobile network for about £15 at home and the same company has a partner abroad offering similar deals, then why is your roaming charge around 250 times greater than at home. Is it really that difficult to connect and cross charge?
I also feel that if you are roaming and being levied these exorbitant charges why should you also continued to be charged for the service at home that you can not be using.
Isn't it about time that we should have a system of reasonable pan-european call and data charges given that they all use the same data connections to the internet which has universal access where ever you are and generally it is the same companies providing it.

DUTR

The networks do not force you to use the services, but as you mention, you can get a local PAYG deal similar to what we pay here.

Pmatt

DUTR wrote: »

The networks do not force you to use the services, but as you mention, you can get a local PAYG deal similar to what we pay here.

Sorry DUTR, but my conjecture was that we are being ripped off as usual by the mobile networks. What justification is there for charging 250 times the home rate when roaming? The networks are compatible or they would not be able to offer roaming services, we are simply being excessively charged for an administrative function.

I also raised the issue of buying a local sim card in Italy where you need a Codice Fiscale for tax registration in order to buy the sim. My question concerning this was has anyone managed to do this successfully?

I appreciate we do not need to use the services but equally we could chose not to go abroad and save even more money or not buy a mobile phone at all.

DUTR

Pmatt wrote: »

Sorry DUTR, but my conjecture was that we are being ripped off as usual by the mobile networks. What justification is there for charging 250 times the home rate when roaming? The networks are compatible or they would not be able to offer roaming services, we are simply being excessively charged for an administrative function.

I also raised the issue of buying a local sim card in Italy where you need a Codice Fiscale for tax registration in order to buy the sim. My question concerning this was has anyone managed to do this successfully?

I appreciate we do not need to use the services but equally we could chose not to go abroad and save even more money or not buy a mobile phone at all.

I am nowhere near financially rich, however too often we see the phrase "we are being ripped off" the last time I visited Italy was to ski, so emails and sad facebook comments and the like had to wait until my return, if I was desperate to learn the latest pointless FB update, then I know I have to pay a rate greater than my inclusive allowance back at home. If I required the data for business purposes then then basic maths would dictate if the businsess transaction was going to profit more than the outlay. So for me personally I cannot buy into the argument that data needs to be a lot cheaper when roaming, as I imagine 99% or more of the usage is for novelty purposes only. Even if the rates dropped by 50% tomorrow, people would still be complaining that the cost is too much.

TakeThis

Pmatt wrote: »

I have recently returned from a holiday in Italy and used my 3 Mobile MiFi pay as you go to pick up emails and some web access. I was well aware that 3 mobile charge £1.28 per Mb for data, so I tried to find an alternative. Strangely I only found one mobile phone shop during my travels but I also realised that I needed to register for a Codice Fiscale but the on line service failed to generate my required code. Has anyone had any success in getting a sim to use in Italy? Please let me know how!
I really feel that data charges are a real rip off now that call charges have been limited. After all if you can get 3GB on a mobile network for about £15 at home and the same company has a partner abroad offering similar deals, then why is your roaming charge around 250 times greater than at home. Is it really that difficult to connect and cross charge?
I also feel that if you are roaming and being levied these exorbitant charges why should you also continued to be charged for the service at home that you can not be using.
Isn't it about time that we should have a system of reasonable pan-european call and data charges given that they all use the same data connections to the internet which has universal access where ever you are and generally it is the same companies providing it.

I just tried it and it works perfectly.

zagfles

DUTR wrote: »

I am nowhere near financially rich, however too often we see the phrase "we are being ripped off" the last time I visited Italy was to ski, so emails and sad facebook comments and the like had to wait until my return, if I was desperate to learn the latest pointless FB update, then I know I have to pay a rate greater than my inclusive allowance back at home. If I required the data for business purposes then then basic maths would dictate if the businsess transaction was going to profit more than the outlay. So for me personally I cannot buy into the argument that data needs to be a lot cheaper when roaming, as I imagine 99% or more of the usage is for novelty purposes only. Even if the rates dropped by 50% tomorrow, people would still be complaining that the cost is too much.

If the prices dropped 99% they'd still be too high. About time the EU came up with a sensible retail cap.

Data on holiday is very useful, for instance for booking hotels, looking up places to visit, checking the weather etc. It's not just saddos wanting to do their hourly facebook status update.

Luckily most hotels have wifi or internet connected PCs for a reasonable fee so usually no need to get ripped off by your mobile operator.

DUTR

zagfles wrote: »

If the prices dropped 99% they'd still be too high. About time the EU came up with a sensible retail cap.

Data on holiday is very useful, for instance for booking hotels, looking up places to visit, checking the weather etc. It's not just saddos wanting to do their hourly facebook status update.

Luckily most hotels have wifi or internet connected PCs for a reasonable fee so usually no need to get ripped off by your mobile operator.

yes of course there are benefits even if there is a premium, but all the things you mentioned were possible before mobile data, and of course I use data abroad, but nobody I know in real life gets these ridiculous high bills that are broacast on MSE, and yes they have Iphones and other smartphones too. I fear many of the stories of high bills are fabricated

TakeThis

DUTR wrote: »

yes of course there are benefits even if there is a premium, but all the things you mentioned were possible before mobile data, and of course I use data abroad, but nobody I know in real life gets these ridiculous high bills that are broacast on MSE, and yes they have Iphones and other smartphones too. I fear many of the stories of high bills are fabricated

?? I think they are not. I spoke to someone who had a £2000+ Orange bill.

zagfles

DUTR wrote: »

yes of course there are benefits even if there is a premium, but all the things you mentioned were possible before mobile data, and of course I use data abroad, but nobody I know in real life gets these ridiculous high bills that are broacast on MSE, and yes they have Iphones and other smartphones too. I fear many of the stories of high bills are fabricated

Why? Why do you think there are plans with 500Mb or 1GB or more monthly allowance if people don't use that sort of amount of data? If the price of using data abroad is about £1 per Mb then that usage will cost hundreds or thousands.

DUTR

TakeThis wrote: »

?? I think they are not. I spoke to someone who had a £2000+ Orange bill.

Did you see the bill?

TakeThis

zagfles wrote: »

Why? Why do you think there are plans with 500Mb or 1GB or more monthly allowance if people don't use that sort of amount of data? If the price of using data abroad is about £1 per Mb then that usage will cost hundreds or thousands.

The data should not cost that much. The reality is that not so long ago we used very little data, so the networks put a premium on it so that they can make some money. Fair enough.
The problem is that now a lot of modern phones use a relatively large amount of data, but not all of the networks have not adjusted their charges.
Orange are possibly using it to boost their bottom line.