# Question about internet in Italy



## pollywog (Nov 20, 2009)

Hi all. We are considering a move to Italy for a year or so. I speak Italian and lived for a year in Bologna back in 2001-2002 so I do have some familiarity with the country. 

My question is, what is internet access like in Italy now? When I lived there, it was pretty much all internet cafes, but that was almost 9 years ago. Is wireless internet available in residences now? Is it high speed? Is it expensive? 

Any information, insight, etc. would be greatly appreciated - thanks!


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

The cell phone companies offer cell based internet basically all over the country.

In the bigger cities it's HSPDA
Smaller areas 3g
smaller down to Edge
smaller can be even slower.

HSPDA is supposed to hit 7megbit per second. Everything else is slower.

Cost varies on what you need. Packages can be time based. 100 hours for 20 Euros. Or transfer based .


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

For a quick overview of what's available and the cost, take a look here ADSL HP | Alice Adsl

Italian Telecom is now "Alice" (and they are all over Europe as well as in Italy). They certainly aren't the only Internet service, but their site will give you some idea of prices and coverage.
Cheers,
Bev


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## pollywog (Nov 20, 2009)

Thanks - that is very helpful!


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## bahamut (May 28, 2009)

pollywog said:


> Thanks - that is very helpful!


If you're going to move to Bologna city centre I may have the cable aswell with 10mbit down and 10 mbit up. 

Normal adsl are 7/380 (20euros montly) or 20/1 (25euros). My suggestion is to choose or telecom or fastweb, best isp here.

cheers


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## wraith (Mar 4, 2010)

Please be advised that in certain areas the actual speed you will get, regardless of the type of contract you have, is limited to maximum 516Kbps in download (even less for upload).
This is due to telecom not interested in making hefty investments needed to cover areas with a small number of residents. 
You will get (and pay for) the 10 or even 20 Mbps contract but your possible speed will be as above until the investments needed are made. It's all formally legal as in the fineprint this is clearly stated.
On the good side this could occur only if you live in a very small place or if you are really unlucky as the vast majority of the population is covered through "normal" DSL.
if you google "digital divide italia" you can find a lot of additional info.
In the cities the connection is really fast (over 6 Mbps in download on speedtest), when I was living in Singapore I could only long for the speed I had when I was living in Milan.
Hope this helps.


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## Lucie Storrs (Apr 7, 2010)

I agree with the last poster, we pay Alice 19.95 per month supposedly for 7 MEG, but we count ourselves lucky if we get 2 MEG. Having said that we don't mind, we do live in a pretty remote area and it's still much faster and cheaper than the satellite system we were on before.

Lucie


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## bfaye02 (Apr 10, 2010)

I live in Bologna now. I use an internet key for my laptop from Wind. It's 9 euros a month for 50 hours. I find it extremely fast but having to sign on enter pass code and connect is a bit of a pain. Still it meets my need but it's would be nice to be logged on all the time.


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## Hwiggy (Apr 14, 2010)

I didn't read through the other replies but I am in Lazio and we use Alice for home phone and internet. We have a broadband connection and bought a Dlink wireless hub from Euronics so we could use our laptop in various parts of the house rather than be confined to a PC, we have super fast speeds, pages load in the blink of an eye and have never had any problems.


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