UPDATE ::TIM & T-Mobile in Italy and USA

NAVIGATING USING MY IPHONE AND T-MOBILE

These are the latest updates to T-Mobile International usage:

INTERNATIONAL AND TRAVEL

In-flight connection
Full-flight texting and Wi-Fi with streaming where available
Simple Global (low flat-rate calling)
$0.25/minute in 215+ countries and destinations
Simple Global (texting and data abroad)
Unlimited text and up to 5GB of high-speed data, then unlimited data at up to 256Kbps in 215+ countries and destinations
Unlimited international texting from home
Included
Use your device in Mexico and Canada
Unlimited talk and text, and up to 5GB of high-speed data

For my last two trips to Italy I have purchased a TIM SIM card from their web site and brought the printed voucher to a TIM store in Italy. In both cases all went well at the stores and in about 10 minutes my phone was up and running in about 10 minutes. Cell service with TIM was excellent and never had problems. The plan allowed 15 Gig data and 200 min of cell service. For some reason the cell minutes seemed to disappear quickly. The cost was 25 Euros (Now 20 Euros) and it was good for 30 days.

Down side was you got a new local phone number (Italian 39 country code), The plan is not renewable. 15 Gig of data can go fairly quickly if you do not have access to Wi-Fi.

These are the latest updates to TIM FOR VISITORS

TIM Tourist

For you 50 Giga and 200 minutes to call in Italy and abroad
at €14.99

for 30 days

14.99€
FOR 30 DAYS Non-renewable offer
Share the best moments from your holiday in Italy
Internet
50GB of 4G Internet

Minutes
200 minutes to call in Italy and abroad

Discover the countries included in the offer
Chats
Unlimited

LEARN MORE
Benefits
Discover the benefits of TIM Tourist

INFO
TIM info:
Cost Breakdown | Offer Details | Rules on Use | Transparency rate
DO YOU WANT MORE?

You might find this interesting

Will your trip take you to other countries?
TIM will be right there with you!
TIM in Travel Pass
If you want lots of minutes, texts and Internet for Europe, the USA, Canada and Brazil!

10 GB
500 minutes
500 text messages
20
€
for 30 days

https://www.tim.it/en/landline-mobile/international-calling/from-italy/tim-tourist

T-Mobile plans include 2G data and 25 cents per minute calling. My wife made many calls relating to her business while we were on a month long trip to Italy. This was included in our $70 a month plan for two phones. The 2G data plan was adequate for her to send texts with photos, read and send email, but it was noticeably slower than what we were used to hear. Considering that AT&T plans for international use were exorbitant this was not a problem. Service was good from Rome to the Dolomites. No problems.

I opted for a 30d high speed package with unlimited calls. We used our cell phones for driving directions on Apple or Google maps every day. I had great refresh rates on web pages and never lost a signal while driving. The package was worth if for me. It is also renewable for 30 days. You will get a text when you arrive overseas in any of the 210 countries T-Mobile includes in the plan allowing you to choose several options for calling. My $50 and an slower priced plans IF YOU WANT FASTER DATA SPEEDS. Otherwise you are all sent. From their web site “The Magenta®, Simple Choice™, New Classic, and Select Choice plans provide unlimited 2G data, unlimited texting and calling at $0.25 per minute in 210+ countries and destinations”

International Pass: 512MB of high-speed data at up to LTE speeds and unlimited calling, to be used up to 24 hours, for $5/day.
5GB International Pass: 5GB of high-speed data at up to LTE speeds and unlimited calling, to be used up to 10 days, for $35.
15GB International Pass: 15GB of high-speed data at up to LTE speeds and unlimited calling, to be used up to 30 days, for $50.

T-Mobile served us well on our trip. Less problems than TIM. Check out the various plans, especially the over 55 plan.

Hard to believe that AT&T would push their inflated rates on travelers and continually raise the monthly cell plan rates. Their plans are very restrictive and expensive.

Cost $70 per month.

Coverage for as long as you need
Unlimited texts to the world
2GB or 6GB of data included
$0.35 per minute for calls
Available in 200+ countries

A lot of money for little return.

My T-Mobile bill arrived and there were no surprises.

T-Mobile is owned by Deutsche Telekom.

GREAT SIGNAL ON LAKE COMO

February 21, 2023 0

The Places I Love In Italy: Ischia

There are so many amazing places in Italy to visit, it is difficult to find the best memories.

This lead photo was taken on the Island of Ischia. My wife Angela suggested we visit the island which is off the coast of Napoli. It turned out to be an amazing experience, Hot mineral springs filled a swimming pool.

The green color of the water is from the high mineral content.

Castello Aragonese d’Ischia is a great place to visit.

Some great restaurants are all around the island.

This was a great light lunch of antipasti.

We took the bus to the small village of Sant’Angelo on the tiger side of the island for dinner.

Il ristorante Lo Scoglio was amazing, The name means the rock

Seafood us the specialty. It comes with some amazing views

A view of the Rock

It is well worth the quick trip from Napoli to Ischia. Take the ferry it is a good day trip of a long weekend stay. You can also visit the island of Procida. This is where “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “Il Postino” were filmed.

More posts coming on my favorite places.

November 15, 2022 0

More of Italy Food

When it comes to food, Italy tops.

Here is a one minute video of some of my finds.

October 8, 2022 0

Cycling the Domites to Venice

Here is a link to a bike trip from northern Bolzano to Venice.

Great areas to see by bicycle

September 29, 2022 1

Time to blog again,

It has been a while, Angela and I hibernated for over a year. Our every other year to Italy trips were now memories.That time is over. Now we will be planning our next viaggio. During the Covid day we purchased a Winnebago and took a 6,900 mile trip across much of the US. We are embarking on a second trip of two to three months and it will give me time to write and plan our next trip.

June 30, 2021 0

CATANIA, SICILY FRESH SEAFOOD FOR EVERYONE

I recently watched an other episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. It took place in one of my favorite cities in Sicily, Catania.

Take a brief look at the you tube video that shows what he sees in Catania

Angela and I came upon this frenetic splendor in 2008,. We had a small BnB around the corner and walked to the market after breakfast.

Crowded and lively, it is an amazing spectacle.

The market is in full swing by mid morning..

It is not all about fish, the market spill out to the street

Dinner out was a simple antipasti from Via Monte St Agata which we discovered by accident

Trattoria Monte Sant’Agata

Yes we enjoyed the meal. Not fine dining,but good food at a veru resonable cost

We always stop at an Ikea store.

A one night stay in Catanioa before we haded over to Cefalu

We found La Canoica on Via Raddusa. What a great little restaurant

Catania night time walks

April 29, 2021 0

GOTCHA, again, and again, Italy’s New Way To Collect Traffic Violations

There is nothing like coming home from an Italy trip and receiving a letter, or email saying you screwed up and it is time to pay. In recent years I have not run afoul of the law recently, but last year they got me good. Our trip to Italy took us to Padua and Vicenza both beautiful cities. The FAMOUS ZONA LIMITATO or limited traffic zone is found in many major cities in Italy which have congestions. My first experience was in Rome back in 2009 while returning a rental car and enjoying the sights. I went by the Coliseum and several other location while heading to the airport. Never once did I see any signs saying ZTL.

But the camera saw me. This was no big deal and paid by credit card. 100 Euros is not cheap but this was easy and I was notified soon after returning.

TRAFFIC TICKET PAID BY CREDIT CARD

This year while in Vicenza and Padua I saw one sign and tried to avoid the area. Apparently I did not do it very well. We were in these town in October 2019 and I received my first notification from Hertz/Thrifty on January 28 2020. A bit of time had gone by. I was told there was a violation in both town and I would be notified by the municipalities shortly and be advised how to handle them.

ROME TRAFFIC CAM PHOTO

SOME SIGNS YOU SEE, OTHERS YOU DON’T

A lot to time passed. In fact I was not notified until December 2020 of the amount of the violation and the need to do a wire transfer. International wire transfers are not cheap. These were $45 each for a total of $90. The fines were $139 and $156. Now we are talking about really money, no cheap lira banknotes from old times. The old way was quicker and easier. Certainly it was less expensive

My advice is to be aware of limited traffic areas before you arrive in the cities. I did this successfully in Florence. I most likely will go back to Italy again (now that the fine is paid). I will plan more carefully.. Elven years between violations and It is not the end of the world

DUOMO PADUA, ITALY

DUOMO WITH WATERCOLOR FILTER

VICENZA , ITALY

SALVATOR DALI VICENZA ITALY

MUSEUM OF JEWELRY , VICENZA ITALY

I have not posted much this month, but will continue with posts about our previous nineteen trips to Italy. 2021 has to be a better year. To escape the virus and so some travel we purchased a motor home and this has helped us travel safely.

OUR RV IN APALACHICOLA, FL

ANGELA HEADING UP I95 IN COCA FL

TI AUGURO UN FELICE ANNO NUOVO

I WISH YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR

December 31, 2020 0

Learning Italian

I have been trying to learn Italian for several years. Pimsleur, Italianpod101, CD’s, and Duolingo. They all have helped me improve. Duolingo is one of the best products I have used. The free version is an excellent introduction to learning any language. Premium is a better way to speed up learning, no adds, nor stops after making several mistakes.

This has worked well and I have used Duolingo for many years with both Spanish and Italian .

It has worked well, and I have used it daily for over two years. I realized on our trip last year to Cortina d’Ampezzo that speaking to Italians in their language was fun and made our trip so much more enjoyable. One night we had the owners of our Airbnb over for dinner. The conversation was 95% in Italian as Renato, and his wife spoke little English.

At this point, I had reached the limit of my conversational abilities. It was a good conversation, but I wanted to go farther. One year later, I have started to take Italian lessons. Online Italian courses seemed to be the way to go in the ane of Coronavirus.

I searched several websites and looked closely at two of them. Lingoci appeared to be the best for me.

From the photo, you can see there are several languages to choose from.
Once you choose a language to learn, you see a list of instructors from whom you can choose.

I chose a sample lesson with Lucrezia, who comes from Milano and now lives in Barcelona. She is fluent in several languages. I was a little nervous about the class, but she put me at ease quickly.

Here is a screenshot of my introductory lesson in Italian.

She is very accomplished with all levels of Italian, and I felt very relaxed learning with her. I purchased a package of 10 lessons for $22.90 US dollars (each). Each lesson lasts for 55 minutes. That is a bargain for a one on one learning experience.

Here is a link to the web site

https://lingoci.com

I do not get any payment from Lingoci, and I do this because I enjoy languages and this had made my learning so much more enjoyable. I have scheduled my lessons for consecutive weeks and at the same time. I highly recommend Lingoci and will continue with my studies for the year.

Most lessons are on Skype which enables a student to get vocabulary and downloads of assignments and documents. This is very helpful.

Give it a try. One on one is the best way to learn an language, and Lincoci makes it easy and affordable.

https://lingoci.com/italian-lessons-skype#tutors

Thie above like will open up the Italian tutors section for Lingoci. Take a look.

San Pietro at night

September 16, 2020 0

Ischia an Island Off The Coast of Naples

I came across and article on Ischia today that appeared in Forbes Magazine a while back.

I remember it for its beauty and ease of transportation via the city busses. The food was excellent and thermal baths abound in this little volcanic island. Take the ferry from Napoli and enjoy your stay.

It is just s short ferry ride from Naples to Ischia. On the way uou pass the equally enchanting island of Procida.

The island of Pricida

A 2018 article in Forbes magazine said “Ischia may be one of Italy’s best kept secrets”. It is certainly a relaxing and interesting place to visit. It is affordable with excellent restaurants. It is more casual than Capri and much less hectic. Thermal hot [springs feed pools for a relaxing warm swim. Parts of the movie “The Talented Mister Ripley” were filmed here. Great seafood abounds on this 18 square mile island

On the ferry from Napoli to Ischia. We brought our car on the ferry, is was a reasonable price.

The Castello Aragones is a medieval castle next to Ischia (one of the Phlegraean Islands), at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, Italy. The castle stands on a volcanic rocky islet that connects to the larger island of Ischia by a causeway (Ponte Aragonese).

Insalata Caprese for our lunch

Lava formations from past eruptions on this volcanic island.

Getting ready to jump.

Diving into the sea brings relief from the warm summer day.

Each day the pool is emptied and refilled from the thermal spring. The water is warm, and if filled with minerals.

We took a bus to get to Lo Scoglio, in Sant Angelo. It was s short ten minute drive to an amazing treat.

The entrance to Lo Scoglio

Frutti di Mare

My wife Angela was thrilled with all this fresh seafood.

A cruise ship passes by.

Outside dining makes for an enjoyable evening. .

Samt Angelo, Ischia. Check out the fumarole beaches with steam jets rise up through the sands. Food is cooked by burying it in the sand and letting the volcanic steam do its thing.

A salumaria or delicatessen has the real bufala mozzarella. This is best served at room temperature and best kept only on day. It is different from the fresh mozzarella which we find in American supermarkets.

More views

It is well worth the trip.Stay for a few days to enjoy the shops, dining, and the swimming. You can bring your car over on the ferry. Busses run to many of the attractions.

https://maps.apple.com/?address=Ischia,%20Naples,%20Italy&auid=12476986191221287559&ll=40.732341,13.944971&lsp=6489&q=Ischia&_ext=Ch8KBQgEEJABCgQIBRADCgQIBhADCgQIChAJCgQIVRAHEiYpt/GC441aREAxdM70t6naK0A5eWwVDs5fREBBwAZEiCvvK0BQDA%3D%3D

August 19, 2020 1

I Never Forget A Meal

I am borrowing the title of a book by Michael Tucker who also fell in love with Italy and has always loved food. Italian food and Italian meals are to be savored and enjoyed. His book was great and you can find copies on Amazon. Also recommended is “Living in a Foreign Language” also by Michael Tucker which is similar to Under the Tuscan Son, but with more humor and a bit of attitude.

We are on the island of Ischia, a small island off the coast of Napoli. We stayed in a small hotel with great views of the area and had a pleasant lunch of Prosciuto e Melone.