Internet access in Italy

Seen a few post on this topic here and other forums. There must be people here with a vast knowledge/experience of the subject that can add to the forum. Recently there was someone with poor access to the internet, there is so much on the subject yet so little basic information. When we first rented here in Italy in a very rural hilly area our first experience was very poor using a WIND USB dongle and SIM. However we found out quickly that little things like position of the dongle, other items such as mobile phones interfering when using WIFI, different times of the day, days of the week etc make all the difference. You can't simply just try something and decide after a few minutes it does not work, it could just be at that time your OH is calling the UK, the kids are home all around you doing their homework (or chatting to friends). We eventually learnt the tips and had acceptable mobile broadband, not TV streaming standard and still very erratic. The latter was solved by a very small adjustment to the network settings. Still can't find out exactly why this is the case and still don't have TV steaming speeds but changing the network connection settings to HSPA only made a hell of a difference... What the hell is HSPA I hear some of you saying... this LINK  might be of some help. This site here may be of some use regards getting better reception. The only other thing I would add is something mentioned by Nick from the old Italymag forum. Use your mobile phone to establish your best strength supplier in your house here. It's not the same signal, but it's a sure bet of the best supplier (ISP such as WIND) to try first. On that subject it costs little to try out an ISP and any of the others. I'm pretty sure most here TIM, WIND supply unlocked devices and do monthly style PAYG that you can stop after a month if it's no good... So it will probably cost you €30 for a cheap USB dongle, €10-15 for a month SIM top-up to test out any ISP... Hopefully others can add to this with their solutions/tips.

Like everything else when looking to buy a place here, internet connection/availability is something one needs to look into before purchasing a property. If web access is important to you, your guests or for the future, it is a requirement that needs full investigation prior to signing any Contract on a house. There is plenty info available as discussed on forums before, so avail yourself to this information when looking to buy/rent in Rural Italy; or it could cost you dearly to get this facility at a later stage.

Flip wrote:Like everything else when looking to buy a place here, internet connection/availability is something one needs to look into before purchasing a property. If web access is important to you, your guests or for the future, it is a requirement that needs full investigation prior to signing any Contract on a house. There is plenty info available as discussed on forums before, so avail yourself to this information when looking to buy/rent in Rural Italy; or it could cost you dearly to get this facility at a later stage.

Very true, perhaps a list of important items to look for when buying would make a great new post and source for those looking to buy. Internet to us was very near top of our list, today if we were buying it would likely be top! The way things are going I can't see you being able to do much without internet access in the future, if not already. But perhaps that is a little too controversial a statement for a post....   

Just dumping a few ideas as they crop up...
I’ve been using Kaspersky internet security for a few months now, free from Barclays. Two bits of information which you really should not be spreading over the web. However, I think most would agree security is paramount when using the web and things may only possibly get worse! Previously I used AVG and then Avast (both free) for quite a number of years. For various reasons, not least their advertising, surreptitious changes to your pc etc. I was wanting something else. Barclays we have had an account with since the 1970’s and not really used as such for many a year (hence it’s not really secure information, there is nothing in there), however they give away free Kaspersky internet security! So if you have an old account with them it may well be to your advantage to sign up for on-line access and get yourself a decent anti-virus package for free…

The thing to be beware of with any 'Free' internet security package, is exactly what it covers (firewall? virus removal? spyware? etc). Once some trojans/virus's are in your computer they will slow down performance and be a sod to remove, which most Internet Security packages will not do.
We use Norton 360 security and we also run SpyHunter malware remover, which is excellent and gets every Trojan/Worm/Virus. It costs $40 every 6 months but is well worth it 'cos it removes everything and protects against spyware/hackers; not cheap but what price do you put on security [I once had a laptop completely ruined by a virus] So if you find your browsers favouring a certain search engine,and you can't seem to get rid then you know you've been 'Trojaned'.

Flip wrote:The thing to be beware of with any 'Free' internet security package, is exactly what it covers (firewall? virus removal? spyware? etc). Once some trojans/virus's are in your computer they will slow down performance and be a sod to remove, which most Internet Security packages will not do. We use Norton 360 security and we also run SpyHunter malware remover, which is excellent and gets every Trojan/Worm/Virus. It costs $40 every 6 months but is well worth it 'cos it removes everything and protects against spyware/hackers; not cheap but what price do you put on security [I once had a laptop completely ruined by a virus] So if you find your browsers favouring a certain search engine,and you can't seem to get rid then you know you've been 'Trojaned'.

That's the good thing about the Barclay offer, Kaspersky is very highly rated and you are getting their full blown security suite (This )for nothing. Far better than the Rapport from Trusteer that many other banks are pushing. Here is a list of the antivirus software (s/w) and what they cover Wiki LINK

We have internet through Eutalia (sometimes called Clouditalia) which has proved reliable over the years.  However I believe it's only available in Tuscany.  We have a reasonably sized antenna which receives the internet signal from a cemetery about 20km away across the valley.

It costs some €20/month and doesn't appear to have a limit.  Tonight the Download speed was calculated at 1.45mb/s and the Upload speed at 0.204mb/s.  Not exactly stunning but we have been watching streamed programmes without much buffering at all.

I can only echo what the previous posts have said.  Before you buy make sure there's a viable internet option available (and if you're reading this you'll already know how important the internet is to you!).

CloudItalia (looks like they bought Eutalia June12) cover Arezzo, Lucca, Massa-Carrara e Pistoia. Guess you can check your Comune within these here CloudItalia Coverage . Looks like quite a reasonable deal for Italy, they state a 8Mb/s download, but 1-2 is would not surprise me for most providers. €50 to activate, €199 if you get their CPE (which I guess is an access point or wireless router ?), suspect you may be able to buy better, for less and cheaper, perhaps not here in Italy... It's optional, so worth investigating.

Sorry just been looking at their other options here Other options LINK and note their CPE (Customer premises equimpemt?) could well be the antenna Ghiro mentions... Some people may find these other option of interest.

We have CloudItalia and are very pleased with it (except when a Thunder storm trips it out fro a day or so),we are about 5km from the repeater antenna and get 6 to 6.5 mb download and 0.5mb upload speeds which we are very pleased with, after years of suffering Telecom Italia and < 1 mb service.
The speed apparently is affected by a) how many users are on your antenna b) the distance from it.
The antenna we have is a square thingy about a foot across which is pointed at the reapeater.

For those with CloudItalia or thinking on it, the General T&Cs are here [url=http://wireless.clouditalia.com/images/documenti-scaricabili/wireless/Condizioni Generali_OS_TLC_Wireless.pdf]ColoudItalia T&Cs LINK[/url] Many pages, but suspect 16 is their "fair usage" get out. The only thing I would add is that they say they will notify you (I think), but may not, and simply just throttle your connection at times...? For those areas above covered by them, this looks a good deal.

Mobile broadband coverage in Italy and how to site. A forum (prepaidgsm) I discovered whilst looking for something else. This post LINK  has some good basic information with links to the main players "coverage checker" pages and basic set-up information. Not too sure how up to date their packages information is as I know from experience that these change almost daily!

Perhaps others may have experience of this type of access. I think most know the cost is very high, but if you think the internet is essential - this is one I think has cropped up before Italia WIFI LINK . A bit off them quoting the cost excluding VAT...    , I'm sure they will have some good excuse for doing so! So at nearer £45 than the £35 big figure (and only if you tie in for 3 years), it's not cheap, but you do get a UK company and IP address.... If they are anything near their 30Mbps download speed, it would be very decent access. At 15GB limit for this package, you could watch one or two TV programs and have quick access for everything else...

In response to a post on our local forum I thought this may be of some use to anyone watching the likes of Filmon. I know someone here did give a guide recently of their usage, might be nice to have that here also?

For a rough guide (where 1 gigabyte (1Gb) = 1000 megabyte (1000Mb) ) an hour of non HD watching will cost you around 250Mb, whereas the same hour in HD will cost you 2Gb. For an hour of web browsing it would cost you 10-25Mb, I would hazard a guess that the use of Facebook for an hour would be at the high end of this last estimate.

Both here in Italy and in the UK your internet provider (ISP) will throttle (reduce you download speed) of your connection automatically if you go above your limit. Most "unlimited" deals are NOT when you read the small "fair usage" guff in the small print. It's not something they want to advertise when selling you their packages. A great number I've looked at seem to have a 10GB limit before they do anything. If it happens then what they leave you with will make access a right pain and almost unusable. However this will go away in the next month (if monthly) and you are likely to be warned before it happens....  Most ISP's have facilities/tools these day to allow you to check your usage per month. If you don't have such a tool, there are those you can download for free, get back if you need one...

I must admit, that one of the first things that we specified when we were buying the house was to have a telephone line. Can't remember how much it cost as nearly 10 years ago. There was a telephone line outside the house, but on the other side of the road, but was no problem, as Telecom Italia installed the service whilst the house was still being renovated.
ADSL was first port of call and then broadband after that. The broadband speeds, although low are good enough to watch the cricket etc on Wiziwig, with virtually no buffering, plus I watched the last series of "24", with no real break up in the stream.
I seem to have no problems with download limits either, as I do a lot of films, but leave them downloading in the background.

This may be of interest to people living in the area of Fermo, Smerillo or Amandola.
Have just had a new service connection with a firm called Getby for internet. First investigation I made with them, was a problem due to high trees in the garden. They have since put a new transmitter on a church in Amandola. Now getting a 7mega download and 1 upload.
No more streaming problems and no limits for 22 euro a month.
Do not know how large a area they cover, but may be worth getting in touch as the check on signal was free.

Thanks Geo.  I'll look into it.