Telecom Italia phones

Well now Telecom Italia (Tim) has introduced it's new billing system of €29 a month all inclusive, but in the run up to this over the past months have noticed that our bill has been steadily rising. From 1st June there new tariff is operational and all previous deals you had with them are now ended; we had all inclusive International Calls so we could call family back in the UK all for €10 a month, but now this has been scrapped. All is fine if you call lots in Italy to landlines and mobiles, but if you don't, like us, you end up paying more for less service.
With this in mind we went down to the local Vodafone shop and for €14 something a month we get  free landline calls in Italy, a new phone with SIM so if a powercut can still use the phone and for an extra €3 a month we get calls to UK included. They take care of all the paperwork with Tim and cancel your contract, set up your new direct debit and post the new phone to you, all you do is then connect it to your existing landline and off you go.
So if you are not Happy with Telecom Italia, suggest this as an option.

Do you get to keep your existing landline number - or does this needs to change ?

We're doing something similar with Vodafone but it is 37 a month and includes unlimited internet at up to 20mb (they even guarantee the speed at a bit less but in writing) plus a spare sim with 1gb each month. It's a pretty good deal and yes you can keep your number but remember to specifically tell them you want to keep it.

Flip wrote:Well now Telecom Italia (Tim) has introduced it's new billing system of €29 a month all inclusive, but in the run up to this over the past months have noticed that our bill has been steadily rising. From 1st June there new tariff is operational and all previous deals you had with them are now ended; we had all inclusive International Calls so we could call family back in the UK all for €10 a month, but now this has been scrapped. All is fine if you call lots in Italy to landlines and mobiles, but if you don't, like us, you end up paying more for less service.With this in mind we went down to the local Vodafone shop and for €14 something a month we get  free landline calls in Italy, a new phone with SIM so if a powercut can still use the phone and for an extra €3 a month we get calls to UK included. They take care of all the paperwork with Tim and cancel your contract, set up your new direct debit and post the new phone to you, all you do is then connect it to your existing landline and off you go.So if you are not Happy with Telecom Italia, suggest this as an option.

Great info, love to hear that they deal with TelecomItalia.... Must look at it on our return.

My sister in law has gone for this deal which is great but unfortunately has been waiting for over 4 weeks for service, I think it's been more popular than they thought it would be!
Is it possible to get this deal if you don't have an existing land line?

Not sure LL as the deal is about Landline charges, ergo if no landline (that Telecom Italia need to install) then no alternative supplier, as in UK with BT lines.
You will probably have to wait minimum of 4 weeks any way as at least 30 days notice required and also TI bi monthly billing period in advance ...piano piano.

Flip/Amin is this still looking ok?

Steve, funny you should say that but over a month down the line we are still not switched over. Vodafone are blaming Telecom Italia in dragging there heels in dealing with paperwork (no change there) and presumably TI have been inundated with requests due to these new changes, so watch this space......

Thanks Flip, I would not expect anything other than a delay knowing what problems other people have had simply stopping their fixed line with TIM.

I'm still waiting too...

Thanks Admin, still going to look at it as I think TIM (as is now) will only get worse. When I get around to it, it will be one of the first questions "how long". Really even if we had to wait 3-6 month or longer it will I'm sure be worth it in the end....

OK. Word of warning and advice; Do Not Go There. It is now over 6 weeks and nothing from Vodafone on our landline, except a bill for it dated back in June. We have No Phone from them, as promised, the bill shows a different number from our existing number as requested and shown on our form, also their Customer Service at the shop consisted of a shrug, ''well we passed on the paperwork'', ''sorry can't really do anything'' despite havoin been in there on a regular basis over the past few weeks.
We have cancelled our Direct Debit for them with the Bank and have contacted Telecom Italia to say please can we stay, which they said 'Yes no problems' and sent a cancellation to Vodafone Raccomandata.
Vodafone Sucks !!!!!!!

Thanks Flip, perhaps we will wait a year or so to see if things improves ...

When we signed up, they told us it would be up to 60 days to change over. We're almost up to 60 days. If you download their app and enter the order number from the invoice sent with their all singing, all dancing modem it will tell you what stage your application is at and what date they estimate you will go live. Ours is due next Thursday. They have changed this date 3 times so far so we'll see.

Someone rang me on 20th to check the secret code from my Telecom bill and said it would be active within 10 days,

.... there might be another route if you get your internet from a local mast ... just get the VOIP phone option which in our case I think is €3 a month + very cheap rates.  Ours gives us an ordinary Italian phone number and is pretty reliable... it works with standard phones just like a land line.  For long distance calls .. eg being on hold for hours trying to talk to a real person in the UK - we always use Skype on a European package.

Thanks Admin, will wait with interest.

It's pathetic really, how slow can this digital transfer age be ! Barstewards !!

Vicino wrote:It's pathetic really, how slow can this digital transfer age be ! Barstewards !!

I certainly think it is one of the reasons Italy struggles. The attitude Flip encountered is one we have found to be only too common. On the rare occasion we have "raised" voices at this attitude we have mixed success, but it has on a number of times caused them to at least try to be seen as doing something...

Looking at my current bill I am still paying 10 euro per month which gives me land line calls to the UK or elsewhere in Europe at no extra cost, they have changed the name to Voce internazionale but other than that the overall total bill including interent is working out about the same.

OK, so we now finally have our brand new Vodafone home phoneline with internet. It was a bit tricky to setup (although it is supposed to do it all itself) and IT is my job so I do know what I'm doing. Once we got everything paired I have to say it is faster and seemless.

Just a recap - it costs €37 a month for internet, free calls to landlines, mobiles and anywhere in Europe and the US and a 1Gb per month 4g sim for the tablet. All in all a very good deal despite the wait.

Admin wrote:OK, so we now finally have our brand new Vodafone home phoneline with internet. It was a bit tricky to setup (although it is supposed to do it all itself) and IT is my job so I do know what I'm doing. Once we got everything paired I have to say it is faster and seemless.Just a recap - it costs €37 a month for internet, free calls to landlines, mobiles and anywhere in Europe and the US and a 1Gb per month 4g sim for the tablet. All in all a very good deal despite the wait.

Thanks Admin it sounds worth having a look at it, but I'm guessing your internet access is ADSL? Not something that's available where we live at the moment, but still sounds worth looking at just for the free calls.... The 4G might also be of use when out and about...

I am watching this post with interest but as voip is mentioned above i think i should share a service called messagenet which i have found very useful indeed. I have an italian geographic landline number which is free of line rental and very reasonable call rates to landlines and mobiles through purchased credit. you can make and receive calls via a web browser, my relatives in Italy can call my Italian number and my computer can receive the call in uk or anywhere in the world as long as an internet connection available. you can also use a soft-phone program like xlite to receive calls on any computer or smartphone. when in i'm italy i tether my laptop to my smartphone and make and recive calls, i also have a uk messagenet number so i can also make calls to uk at very small cost.

i have personally gone one step further and configured a raspberry pi with freepbx installed, attached to a sipura phone adapter and plugged in a normal phone - all at very cheap cost. there is much information about this on web.

you can sign up for your free Italian geographic number here:   https://www.messagenet.com/voip/

Thanks Alex. At less than 2 cents a minute calls to landlines it is cheap, not so good on the mobile front at 10 cents, but still a lot better than our global SIM at 10 pence /min (14 cents). But my first and main question would be the quality... Skype and others do very similar deals, we often call landlines in the UK for unlimited calls at £5.75/month. The quality, whilst always better than Skype internet to internet (both parties relying on good connections), it still is at times poor where our internet is not good at that particular time. Hence my interest in this Vodafone deal as our landline is fine, although it has been on occasion down as well... If you can get internet (assuming ASDL) with it for €37/month, along with inclusive calls, it sound a great deal. We pay more than that currently for our Skype package, WIND broadband SIM and landline.

I have started using FaceTime through my IPad and I am delighted. All what you need, besides the IPad, is an Internet connection. Both Video and Audio are far superior than Skype. And it is free!

Gala Placidia wrote:I have started using FaceTime through my IPad and I am delighted. All what you need, besides the IPad, is an Internet connection. Both Video and Audio are far superior than Skype. And it is free!

Skype to Skype is free... and as you say you need the Fpad... "superior" , these days that could be one of a million reasons... But I have to say Microsoft have done nothing to improve Skype since buying it, perhaps when Windows 10 is out of the way...