# Experiences getting Internet Connected



## Troz (Jan 29, 2018)

Hi folks,

When we bought our apartment in Umbria in 2018 we took over the existing internet contract from the previous owner. This turned out to have been a bad idea because it was a pretty slow 4G service which got even worse as the neighbour's tree grew up to impede the signal. It was with some relief that I cancelled the contract on expiry in late 2019. That of course turned out to have been a better move than I expected, because we didn't know that COVID was going to prevent us getting back to Italy for two and a half years. 

Anyway, our exile is almost over and we will be back there in 5 weeks, all things being equal, so I need to start thinking about a new service.

Checking the TIM website shows that a service is supposedly available using fibre-to-the-curb and EVDSL. I should be able to order the service online as well. But there is no indication on the website about how long it might take. Knowing Italy it could be anything between a few days and a couple of months.

So - is there anyone on here who has recently had an internet service connected in a medium-sized town? If so, how long did it take between ordering the service and getting connected?

thanks in advance


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## modicasa (May 29, 2021)

The service is fibre to cabin - so it does depend how far you are from the nearest cabin as to the quality of line, and on how many other people 'share the cabin' as to speeds. TIM are now pretty efficient - 10 to 15 days is normal for the activation of a line. There are lots of other options, Wind3, Vodafone, Fastweb and Iliad all ride on TIM lines and give the same service, usually for less money. They are currently rolling out fibre to home but I would think it will take a while to arrive in Umbria. You can also get good speeds with some of the wimax operators - Linkem, and local Umbria providers.


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## Troz (Jan 29, 2018)

Thanks very much @modicasa - a friend in the same town as us suggested 2-4 weeks so that gives me something to work with. I recall that the nearest "grey box" for internet connections is about 150 metres away.

My Italian phone service is with Iliad (excellent value) but unfortunately it seems that they only offer internet service to places with fully-fibre connections, ie in major cities. TIM will probably be OK - their prices are lower than we pay in Australia.

For the benefit of others I will return and update this thread when it is all complete.


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

Vodafone hooked me up in I think less than a week . Tim tried some weird things and I just went with Vodafone.

Vodafone has or at least had an offer that included calling both local and abroad. There are months I've saved most of the bill not paying for those calls. If you need to call abroad it's something to look for.


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## Troz (Jan 29, 2018)

Dividing our time between Australia and Italy, we have tried various combinations and permutations for phone service.

Tried Vodafone and WIND, but at the time Vodafone.it didn't include Australia on the list of countries included in the deal (that may have changed). Then we moved to Iliad which works well for us, and is inexpensive. 

When calling from Italy back to Australia we generally use VOIP (voice over IP) on the Viber app. You can make calls to ordinary phones overseas using Viber for just a few cents. Or if there is no data signal where we are, we call Australia on our Australian phones, which are with Vodafone.au, which offers the best roaming deal of the major Australian carriers.


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

Just look at all the various bits of the offer. For example when I got my installation Vodafone had a flat price no matter your local speed. TIM OTOH it's lowest price was for 100MB service. If your area was 200 or even 1GB service the price jumped if you wanted the speed.

TIM OTOH IIRC includes some basic TV service.


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## Troz (Jan 29, 2018)

Thanks for the advice. After comparing TIM, Wind and Vodafone, I decided to go with Vodafone. After several error messages that sent me back to the beginning, I managed to complete the online order process, and have an order number. I gave the phone number of my friend in Italy so she can be there for the installation. I will report back on progress.


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## Troz (Jan 29, 2018)

Update: order placed on 19 March with Vodafone online. Gave my Italian friend's phone number as the contact. She soon got a text saying installation would be on the morning of 31 March. By about 10am on 31 March she was sending me a screenshot of something saying that the service was activated. I won't be able to try it out until I get there in a couple of weeks time. 

When I was filling out the online form I had to give my Codice Fiscale and another form of ID (_carta d'identita_, passport, driving licence). I gave my Australian passport number, expecting that at some point in the process I would be asked to upload a scan. But I wasn't. So I sent a copy of the passport scan to my friend, and she wasn't asked for it either. Maybe there is some kind of inter-governmental document validation thing going on. Anyway, so far so good.

NB: I didn't say earlier but TIM had a "temporary offer" which meant that Vodafone was no cheaper. However as NickZ noted above, it looked as if TIM charged more for higher speed tiers, while Vodafone was a flat rate for whatever speed the service would support. I will report back on what speed that actually is after I get there.


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## Troz (Jan 29, 2018)

Just returning to this thread to report that I am now in Italy and the Vodafone internet connection is looking good. In Australia I am a 100 Mbps service and typically get 105-6 Mbps down, 30 Mbps up. Here I am on an "up to" 200 Mbps service and am getting 113 Mbps down and 18 Mbps up (cabinet is about 75-100 meters away). Ping here is 21ms which is more than in Australia where I get 8-9ms. So broadly comparable performance, but a lot cheaper in Italy.

Thanks for the advice.


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

How are you measuring? With the Station app or?

Right now I'm showing 80 down and almost 19 up on an 100 Mb/s. I'd say that's slightly slower than I usually get.

You can try running the network diagnostics in the app.

Problem is you'd need to figure out if the slow down is on their side of the connection or the quality of your wire.


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## Troz (Jan 29, 2018)

I'm using Speedtest.net, which is the same as I use in Australia so the results will be comparable.

I will continue to experiment but I expect that the quality of the wire is not great (I'm in a _centro storico_). But don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about what I'm getting. Seems OK to me with what I understand about the technology.


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

Seems low to me.

If you use the app it lets your run various diagnostics. Or at least normally. They aren't completing for me at the moment.

I know in the past I've been able to automatically file an issue and they've fixed whatever the issue was.

Won't hurt to download the app and run it. If it's working for you.


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## Troz (Jan 29, 2018)

Yes, I'll get around to it in due course! Thanks again.


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## LorenzoVerdelegna (Jan 26, 2021)

Troz said:


> Yes, I'll get around to it in due course! Thanks again.


I'm not sure if anyone has chimed in but Starlink has an excellent service and you'll not be needing to deal with Italian utilities companies which can be difficult in my experience.


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