Leavinghome

Can anyone recommend a good SIM card? I just need something cheap and very simple to enable me to get a phone number so that I can open a bank account. Everything I have seen seems to be a minimum of €25!

Many thanks

Geordieborn

Last I looked both TIM and WIND had free PAYG SIMs, either look on-line or better still go into their shops and pick up one of their sheets with all the offers on them. If based in the UK, all deals there will be available in Italy for the 1st few months i.e. any contract in the UK you can initially use in Italy at the same rates...

Leavinghome

Thank you, I will pass this on as I am posting on behalf of my daughter. She has a UK phone account and it works fine but for some forms she is filling in, she needs an Italian number and has been unable to override the field for country code etc.

modicasa

Try tre.it - she needs an italian number for a bank account

Geordieborn

Like I said last I looked both WIND and TIM did PAYG SIMs at no cost, WIND was the cheapest to run. It's become much harder to get your old top-up PAYG these days and finding them on-line harder still. Tre and Vodafone probably also do PAYG deals, but I could not find them at the time (about 6 month ago). From what I've heard from others (not used them) Vodafone have the better customer service, but hopefully you don't have to use it! I use TIM for PAYG, which is the old top-up form and WIND for internet, this is a PAYG monthly type. All of them you need to watch as they expire if not used. topped up. Think my TIM SIM is something odd like 11 month. I would avoid any contract (abbonati)... The easiest way I found was to go into the shop(s) pick up the A4 sheet they all have on the counter which have all there deals, PAYG will likely be on the back. Or ask for a SIM which is NOT a contract, you will likely have to pay €10 to top-up and possibly a €1-2 activation fee out of that €10. After that you top-up as and when needed.

Leavinghome

So this one remains a mystery as she visited Wind and Tim and they say that the minimum is €20 and €25 respectively. She has to bite the bullet on this as she needs a number. At least it means that she has a back up phone if her main one gets lost!

ononno

The prcie quoted by Tim is to set up the phones number and account, and includes a credit to the number they give you. The phone with its new SIM card can the be used as a normal PAYG, with top ups according to how much you use the number, available in many newsagents or tabacchi shops.
Am sure your daughter will get on fine in Bologna, and enjoy the experience.
'o nonno

Geordieborn

Hopefully 'o nonno is correct and it is an initial top-up and not a contract she has been sold! Trouble is they will take one look and think "ah contact for this one". Whereas someone wagging their finger at them and shaking their head and looking grumpy will get their PAYG. Fingers crossed it's PAYG... I'm sure she will love it once settled, but there will be other minor issues to deal with... Best when they crop up to get some wording together before she tackles them. Google tranlate is not ideal, but she can use it on her phone in the shop if need be - best of luck to her.

Leavinghome

Luckily, she hasn’t bought anything yet and it seems better knowing that some credit is included. She is pretty sensible and It’s probably harder on me knowing that she is trying to negotiate all this alone than it is for her!
Many thanks for all the help!

Lorna at Vicenza

Your daughter is right. There is no free SIM card. They all come with different offers, top ups, monthly offers and all sorts.

I know because my daughter's best friend has very disagreeable parents, very poor parents and the kids are on the social register. Daughter's friend, let's call her Anna, Anna had a phone but no working SIM inside it. I thought I could just walk into any phone shop and get a PAYGO SIM and put something like €10 of credit on it ............ and because it was a PAYGO, anybody could top it up when and wherever they had the money to do so.

No such thing. Each SIM comes with a cost and the difference lies with the little 'extras' that are included on that initial charge. Vodafone were the most expensive and when a very rude shop girl told me to like it or lump it, I did. I went with TIM next door at the time because their €25 SIM card included so many gb, so many free minutes and a hundred messages or something. Only for the first month though. Anna now has a working phone. Friends can ring her. She has no money on it but if she gets free Wifi she can whatsapp. She can't ring or send SMS because her SIM card is empty. Because it's a PAYGO and not a monthly fee, I can stick €5 euro on her number now and then or she might get some birthday or Christmas money. Having money on her phone isn't that important to her. The SIM is. With that and when she has free Wifi, she can whatsapp and messenger and voicemail etc .................. but that original SIM was not free.

Leavinghome

Thank you, Lorna. That does sound like what she has found. I hope your daughter’s friend is OK!

Lorna at Vicenza

I'd take the poor girl into my home if I could but there's no way a tribunal would give her to me. Unfortunately she'll have to stick out her current situation for another year and a half until she reaches the age of 18.

Geordieborn

Just to get it clear for others following this, so they are now charging you €20-25 initially for a PAYG sim which includes various "deals" lasting for the 1st month only, then it's a normal PAYG? So really not a lot different to my last TIM sim which cost me €10, but included €9 top-up and €1 activation fee... To be honest these people (phone companies) here and in the UK need taking to the cleaners for ripping off people. Saying that, oddly enough TIM have been giving me 2GB of data "free" each month for the last 6 months! Now I know wo is paying for it! Suffice to say I've never used it as heavens knows what it signs you up for! Really sad to hear about young "Anna".

Lorna at Vicenza

I have warned and warned my kids about ignoring every Vodafone or TIM message about each new offer that sounds really good but isn't. "Never click on yes" is what I have always told them.

Geordieborn

I've had need to look at my current PAYG internet SIM yesterday and it reminded me of this post. Only looked at TIM so far, but just to be really clear for anyone seeing these posts in the future. They are still doing a PAYG sim. Okay it may cost you to activate it (hopefully that will be stopped by the EU eventually), however other than that it is still a bog standard PAYG. I’m guessing the Ops daughter failed to get such because either the staff in the shops will do anything to sell a contract OR simply did not literally understand her need or want to go out of their way to provide a solution. This is the link to the current TIM packages. The charges per minute do look high, but TIM BASE NEW would be the likely option if you only need an Italian number to bank etc. Note nearly all these lot kill your sim if you don’t use it (call/text) a set period, last I was told with TIM was 11 month, but I would not bank on it!