How much does an italian phone sim card cost?

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elisa

Hello!
i am italian!!
sim card cost 10 â‚¬, but there are 5 â‚¬ of credits
I have vodafone sim!!!
but is so good also wind and tim!!!

Al M

I take it from your question that you want to buy a SIM card for an Italian network while you're visiting, stick the card in your mobile phone and use it to make calls.

A couple of potential difficulties with that:

First, if you're coming from the USA, make sure that your phone will actually work in Europe. Some don't.

Second, make sure your mobile is unlocked. It's normal for prepaid or contract mobiles bought in the UK to be locked in to the provider's network so that inserting a SIM from another network just will not work. You can circumvent this, but how much hassle it is depends upon what make and model of phone you have. If you need to unlock your phone, do a Google search for this. There's lots of information and advice available.

The third potential difficulty with you buying a SIM in Italy is that shops will as you to provide them with your Codice Fiscale (the tax code that everyone living in Italy needs to have in order to do just about anything which involves official bureaucracy or large sums of money) before they'll hand over a SIM card or phone. While it's not official (only the government can issue an official CF) the link below will allow you to generate a CF that most shops will accept. "Cognome" is for your surname, "Nome" for your first and middle names and in the "Comune di nascita (o Stato estero)" box, put in your country of birth (in Italian). Even if you do have a printout of the CF generated by that site, be prepared for the shop to ask to have your passport to make a photocopy of it.

As for which network is best, I think they're all pretty much the same as far as your purposes will be concerned. If you live here and use a mobile a lot, it's worthwhile comparison shopping and trying to find the best possible contract to suit your needs, but I'd recommend that you go for TIM (the mobile arm of Telecom Italia, the formerly state-owned telephone system) unless you have some compelling reason to use another provider -- all the people you'll be calling being on Vodafone and you knowing there's some sort of good deal with international calls, or something like that.

A SIM card won't cost much and you can get scratch-off recharge cards in just about any bar, newsagent or petrol station.

EDIT: To address a couple of points made in a later response.

First, it is not some sort of myth that you need a Codice Fiscale in order to buy a mobile phone or SIM in Italy; it is a fact. I was asked for my CF when buying a phone and later another SIM card. People I know have experienced the same thing. However, this being Italy, I have also heard of shops deciding that they will ignore the rules and just accept a passport as ID if a potential customer does not have a CF. It's likely that the sales assistant then uses the information on the passport to generate a CF and so fill in whatever form they need to complete. I would be unwise to assume that every shop will be willing to do this.

Second, it is simply not true that you can only use phones which are 3G compatible in Italy. There is 3G coverage (for what it's worth), but it is not total and pre-3G phones work fine. If you come from the USA, you need a phone that is "tri-band" in order for it to work in Europe, but tri-band is NOT the same as 3G.

Finally, the comments made about contracts and unlocking are ill-informed. If you have a contract with a mobile phone network, you do not need to contact them to ask for an unlocking code. Indeed, if you have a contract to pay a company a certain amount a month for some period, they don't really much care if you unlock your phone and use another network. If you need to unlock your phone, there are lots of resources on the Internet to show you how to do this. The link below provides an overview from a US perspective.

bymbinadolce

about 5 euro

brownhairgreeneyes82

For a week its not really worth the hassle, as someone else said you need a codice fiscale to buy a SIM card. I would just buy a phone card and use that. you can get them in various amounts. You can then use it from any pay phone.

danita

It costs 10 euros to buy a sim card-5 euros is for the card, and it comes with 5 euros of credit. You must receive a call to activate it, but the guy/girl in the store will do that for you. You can also buy top-up cards in varying amounts at any of these shops or at most tobacco stores. They will have signs posted indicating that they offer cell services and/or sell top-up cards.

TIM (by Telecom Italia) has the best reception service (but very poor customer service). Wind is cheaper, but you will find that it has poorer reception. Same for Vodafone. 3 (tre) is a new service which is cheap, but also does not have good reception. (They do offer free internet service, however.)

It is not like in the States, where cell companies have agreements with other companies to use each other's towers. Here, TIM users can only get reception near a TIM tower, etc. Therefore, as Telecom Italia is the largest company, they have the most towers and more service areas.

Contrary to popular belief (and what I was told when I moved here), you do NOT need a codice fiscale (tax i.d. number, like a social security number) to get a sim card. A few larger stores will require one, but if you go into any shop on the street, they will just need your passport.

You must make certain that your phone is 3G capable, and that it is unlocked, if you want to insert an Italian sim card. You must call your provider's customer service to do this, and most US providers require you to have had a contract with them for at least 3 months before they will unlock the phone. Your provider will give you a code with which to do this.

Hogwarts_Express

Hi!
5 euros.
The best network is 3 .
You can buy 3th technology cellphones for nothing!
I'm a with 3 since it was born!
Have a good journey!

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