US iphone 3G in italy?

[cartman13]

Hi,

Wondering if anyone has advice on how to use an US iphone 3G in italy?

Will be there for a couple weeks, and trying to figure out if anyone has had success using yellow snow to make it work?

Also, what carriers do people recommend for a prepay solution in italy? (can you use their 3G data with a prepay?)

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[ALL DAY]

^Yeah, just unlock it with Yellowsn0w and it should be fine. As for Italian carriers/prepaid, I'm not sure, but I know when I was in China you could buy prepaid SIM Cards from like anywhere; not sure if it'll be the same in Italy.

[cartman13]

Well i'm in italy. Got a prepaid Vodafone and a prepaid TIM sim. The vodafone card was pin locked, but i got it to work to make calls. it shows 3G, but it won't connect to the internet. TIM when i put the sim in, it doesn't even show E or 3G at all. just blank. Does anyone know if the itallian carriers somehow block prepaid sims or US iphones from using their data network? It just makes no sense that neither of them will will allow my AT&T iphone 3g to use data! really frustrating.

[massimuzzo]

you must set apn settings to there network try swirly mms they should have the apn settings for vodafone, tim or wind

[cartman13]

Strange, i thought italy had a pretty build out 3g network.

i was going to use it to help me navigate when need be to get around.

Also a quick restaurant review would be helpful on the move.

I did check the APN settings. made no difference. I'm pretty sure they are doing something to prevent my iphone from using the data network. extrememly annoying. But then again, much better things to do in italy then surf the net.... maybe a blessing in disguise...

[sickiphone]

i used my unlocked iphone in serbija and i got 3g signal using tecekom srb

[unknown_soldier]

I lived in Italy for 8 years and I bought my iphone there. I know for a fact that you can use the iphone for 3g data. Tim sold the iphone exclusively. But I used wind. I bought their internet plan for 30 euro a month unlimited. It was pre-pay and what you had to do was to buy more than the 30 euro in phone time and apply it to your account. Then when they activated the internet plan, it would subtract that 30 euro and you would be good to go. Unlimited data. PM me if you need help or have any questions. Make sure the apn settings are correct. You can find them on their respective webpages with a little digging. Or just have the rep at the phone center help you out. Good luck and enjoy Italy. It's awesome.


Pat

[mythamp]

Lol this is soo retarded, we should stop visiting countries which does not support iPhone properly?

mwhahahahaha, you guys must be really into your iPhones and yes italy has a 3G mobile network and had it for a long while so dont get worried everything should work out fine, I believe unknown_soldier would be your best bet, he lived there and can best assist you.

[cartman13]

Hahaha... what really kills me is reading these about these guys who say that italy has no network or tech problems. The truth is, 7 of my friends visited europe and when they traveled to italy, they had huge problems with the network there on their iphones. And when I visited there, my iphone would not work with the network. So many people have complained about this, that it isn't funny.

take it from experience. AVOID ITALY LIKE THE PLAGUE! italy is not an advanced country technologically. And it's one of the worst nations to visit, especially with having one of the highest crime rates in europe. They're not even white. Don't be fooled by these guys!

.

Okay, i'm finally back from my trip, but i would like to update this because i did get my iphone 3g working in italy. After putting my at&T sim back in and activating data romaing the iphone found the network and showed 3G again. I popped out the AT&T sim and put my TIM sim in and voila TIM 3G. I signed up for a 1GB per month data plan for 20E which was more than sufficient for my 2 weeks (even using it as a modem for my pc during part of the trip.)

As for Italy being having poor tech... either they fixed it, or it was user error (like my own situation). My 3G speeds in italy where far superior to what i get in LA on the 3G T network. (consistently got 500-600kb using iphone speed test vs. 300kb i get here stateside.) Also, I had 3G signal pretty much anywhere i stayed. Even riding the train, at almost every stop i had a good 3G signal. (but granted it was edge between cities). Not all that different than here in the US.

Also using it as a modem, i got 2.0mb down and 300kb using the speakeasy speed test. Anyways, big thx to the dev team for yellowsn0w as it saved me a chunk of change and kept me wired in Italy.

To be fair, i did experience 1 3G outage in Milan my last night. I just switched to edge and had no issues with data. 3G was backup and working in the morning.

[cpjr]

Thread puned.

Grow up guys.

[myfins1]

Cartman, some questions. I am preparing to leave for italy on Sept 7th for a 14 day stay. How much was it to get a sim in italy and data service?

I will be traveling with my significant other and we both will have an iPhone. Our primary purpose is to be able to text one another as well as send texts back home to the US. We will also use the phones for PC tethering. GPS throughout our trip. We will also use to call one another if we get separated. Not much calling home but a few minutes each day.

I am trying to get a good data/text plan. With good rates for international text and calls home. Any suggestions on plans do let me know. I don't think I have enough time to get my sim in advance. Are they easily obtained once I get there? We are arriving in Naples.

I forgot to ad some pertinent information. The iPhones are currently being used on the AT & T network. I have jailbroken both of them via RedSn0w. I have tested both phones using a T-Mobile pre-Paid sim chip and both work on T-Mobile.

Obviously I know that I will have to edit APN settings for Italy.

[alexivery]

So, are you saying that there is no need to unlock US AT&T Iphone to make it work in Italy and when you get there just turn it on with AT&T SIM card in it to find a 3G network, pop AT&T SIM out while iphone is on and put in a TIM SIM card, and it will work fine?
Please confirm whether I got you correctly.
Thanks.

[atekant]

Cartman, thanks for the info.
I too am travelling to Italy in a couple weeks, and planing to go the TIM route.
I am also planning to pick up an unlocked iPhone while over there, but that's a different thread.

When I go to their site, I see that they are charging extra for data if you are on a Blackberry, but did not see any mention of iPhone other than their iPhone plans which come with a phone. Did you buy the regular data plan, or did you have to specify that you are using an iPhone (to be allowed data, charged extra, whatever...)

My Italian not being that great, when I go to their site for the Maxxi Internet 10 plan (the largest data plan I can see), I see that there is a daily data cap of 50 MB per day for prepaid accounts. Which would suck.

Do you remember the name of the plan you were on?

TIA

[confucious]

If you don't unlock your phone it won't work with any SIM other than AT&T...