Internet & landline

[Andy&Kath]

Can anybody help me. We are hoping to be able to spend more time in Scalea, but if I do manage to arrange it then we would need an internet connection and landline (assuming this would be the cheapest way of regularly phoning the UK). I know that there have been previous posts concerning using a mobile as a modem but would I need to be on a specific network for this (my contract phone is on Orange) and is it more expensive than having a connection via a landline (which I would probably need anyway). Also what are the charges for a landline? We have got Sky Italia so I was wondering whether they may offer a package for TV/Phone/Internet like they do in the UK (unfortunately my Italian whilst improving isn't sufficient to gain this info from their website). I also wanted to know if it is possible to get 'cheap calls' to one international destination i.e the UK as part of a package. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Andy

[brynithel3]

Hi Andy

In the short term have you looked at 3 skypephone. We use it regularly and it works fine.

Ciao

John

[elgian]

'lo Andy;

land-line may be a problem if you are in an outlying area (e.g. Petrosa or similar); especially if you apply for ADSL. I use two ISPs. The better one for me is TIM who offer a 25.00 Euro p.m. tariff allowing connections between 17:00 and 7:00 weekdays and 24/24 during week-ends. Download limit: 9 Gig. Suits me because of the traffic I generate. During the day, I've tried 3 Italia: 9.00 Euro p.m. connect all the time with 50 MB download daily limit. Pity that 3 Italia signal is so rotten that I battle to stay connected as soon as the weather threatens a bit of rain.

Ciao

gian

[Italy4me]

Andy,
A TelecomItalia landline costs 16 euros a month.
You would have no problem getting adsl where you are.
There are loads of different packages to choose from including one that gives you on demand TV, internet and phone.
It will depend just what services you need which would be the best package for you.
We make do with adsl at 19 euros a month and Teleconomy International add on at 10 euros a month.
Teleconomy International enables us to phone all of Europe, the USA and Canada free (landlines only).
And if you have adsl you could also use Skype for your outgoing calls.

Hope this helps, Lesley

[Andy&Kath]

Thanks John, Gian & Lesley

We are hoping to spend about 5 months a year in Italy spread throughout the year in between work projects in the UK, although my plan is unlikely to come to fruition until next year. However, I want to sort out as many details as possible so that if there were a chance of kicking it in to action sooner, then I am ready to go.

Thanks again for the info.

Andy

[elgian]

Hi folks;

very useful info, Lesley. Didn't realize Telecom is so cheap. I just wish I was in a more central area! Am I correct in guessing that the 10 euro p.m charged by Telecom International are for ISP service (e. g. internet connection)? In that case, I suspect that one could do even better by selecting ISPs such as libero.it or tiscali.it who, as I understand it, give free/cheap accounts.

ciao

Gian

[Italy4me]

Gian,
The 10 euro a month Teleconomy International is for free international calls to Europe, Canada and the USA. (This is a brilliant offer and we make very good use of it!)
The broadband (adsl) cost with Telecom Italia is around 19 euro per month which gives unlimited access up to 7 Meg.
Tiscali adsl is 19.99 euros a month for 8 Meg but I have heard mixed reports about their customer service when things go wrong.
If broadband isn't available in your area there is Teleconomy Internet at 12 euros a month for unlimited dial-up access.
For lighter use you could sign up for a free account with Telecom Italia or Tiscali and then dial up and pay per minute I suppose (if you could cope with the slow speed of dial-up!).
You can also pay as you go for adsl with TI and Tiscali at around 2 euros an hour but it wouldn't take very long to spend more than the 19 euros a month it costs for unlimited asdl access.


Lesley

[elgian]

Hi Lesley;

Originally Posted by Italy4me

Gian,
The 10 euro a month Teleconomy International is for free international calls to Europe, Canada and the USA. (This is a brilliant offer and we make very good use of it!)

Yes, indeed. You can say that again!

Originally Posted by Italy4me

The broadband (adsl) cost with Telecom Italia is around 19 euro per month which gives unlimited access up to 7 Meg.
Tiscali adsl is 19.99 euros a month for 8 Meg but I have heard mixed reports about their customer service when things go wrong.

Gigs and not Megs, I assume. Right?

Originally Posted by Italy4me

If broadband isn't available in your area there is Teleconomy Internet at 12 euros a month for unlimited dial-up access.
For lighter use you could sign up for a free account with Telecom Italia or Tiscali and then dial up and pay per minute I suppose (if you could cope with the slow speed of dial-up!).
You can also pay as you go for adsl with TI and Tiscali at around 2 euros an hour but it wouldn't take very long to spend more than the 19 euros a month it costs for unlimited asdl access.

Yes, you're right. Firstly, with the speed one gets from analog modems, you are better off using wireless internet (3G/HSDPA) instead of dial-up (even though you can still think of wireless internet as a type of dial-up) and, secondly and quite correctly, 2 euro an hour is far too costly.

Hope I haven't confused everyone in this thread.

ciao

Gian

[Italy4me]

Originally Posted by elgian

Gigs and not Megs, I assume. Right?

These are a couple of those computer terms that confuse me 8-)

I got the meg reference from the Telecom Italia website.
Could you explain what megs and gigs are, please?
(In simple terms if poss!)

Lesley

[brynithel3]

Hi Leslie

Its all a matter of powers.

Giga (symbol: G) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting 10 to the power of 9, or 1,000,000,000. Giga comes from the Greek γίγας, meaning 'giant'.

When referring to computing information units, such as gigabit or gigabyte, giga can sometimes mean 1,073,741,824 (2 to the power of 30), ( sorry I couldn't get superscript.)

Mega (symbol M) is an SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10 to the power of 6, 1,000,000 (one million). It comes from the Greek μέγας, meaning great.

In computing, mega can sometimes denote 1,048,576 (2 to the power of 20) of information units.

The next term used widely, (now computer power is increasing) is Tera- (symbol: T) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting (10 to the power of 12), or 1,000,000,000,000 (1 trillion). It also bears a resemblance to the Greek prefix τετρα- meaning four.

In computing tera- can sometimes mean 1,099,511,627,776 (2 to the power of 40) instead of 1,000,000,000,000, especially in the term terabyte.


Ciao

John

[Italy4me]

Oi John,
I asked for a simple explanation!

The 7 meg I was waffling about was adsl download speed, I believe.
Telecom Italia and Tiscali both offer up to 20 meg if your exchange supports it - which ours doesn't 8-((

There isn't any limit on the amount of data traffic you can download.
Is that the bit that is measured in gigs?

Confused of Belvedere

[brynithel3]

Hi leslie

Simple answer Yes.

Ciao

John

[elgian]

Sorry for asking, Lesley ... and thanks for the reply, John.

In other words, Lesley:

1 byte = 8 bits
1 kilobyte (kb) = 1000 bytes
1 Megabyte (Mb) = 1000 kilobytes
1 Gigabyte (G) = 1000 megabytes

In terms of bandwidth, one Gig is about run-of-the-mill usage for a month and suits a user like me, for example, quite well. Sometimes, however, I have to buy up to 3 Gig in a month, depending on how much software I download.

ciao