Please sign in to post.

Expresso WIfi In Italy

I came across this article about Expresso Wifi. Expresso Wifi is a pocket-sized router with a 4G/LTE sim which can be connected to your smartphone, tablet, or PC.
It's about 5 Euros per day. With addiditional 10 Euro we can get a sim card too:
BNE SIM is the first worldwide mobile operator that brings your family, friends and colleagues closer by eliminating the roaming charges. Activate a new BNE SIM today to use your own number over expressowifi without remove your local sim from telephone.

A new phone number from your country, active on your smartphone to receive unlimited calls for free.
50 international minutes to call any worldwide destination.
Unlimited minutes of calls and video calls in HD crystal clear quality to all the other BNE SIM users.
Any thought? Is it worth it? It sounds reasonable to me.
Thanks

Posted by
5665 posts

Have you compared this with the travel plans from your local provider (I'm assuming either Bell Mobile or Rogers?)
I believe we'll be paying about $60 CDN for the whole month we'll be in Europe this fall. There are cheaper plans. Depends on what your actual needs will be.

How many incoming calls will you reasonably expect to get? (Assuming your regular contacts know you will be travelling and have your email address). Do you forsee a need to make a lot of calls back home? Or will most of your calling be for short local calls ( making dining reservations, etc) What about data? Will you need a daily data allowance, or will WiFi be sufficient?

We have only called home in cases of emergency. For regular communication, email has been sufficient; or Google hangouts, with family and friends. The latter also allows for video chats. We've found that WiFi availability is pretty darned good in most of the places we've visited in Europe. Between hotels, restaurants, and, often, public areas, our WiFi needs are easily met. 99% of the time our calls have been brief local ones, and our data usage has been negligible.

But if you anticipate both making and receiving a lot of calls and texts while on vacation, and this gizmo will provide better coverage than your local provider can, then try it out. I'm a little unclear about a couple of things.

"A new phone number from your country, active on your smartphone to receive unlimited calls for free." If you will have a new phone number, then none of your usual contacts will be able to call you until you can send them the new number?? Is that right?

"Unlimited minutes of calls and video calls in HD crystal clear quality to all the other BNE SIM users." How many other BNE SIM users do you know? Would this be of use to you?

Posted by
1832 posts

Their 4G/LTE little wifi hotspot is great, worked incredibly well all throughout Italy.
I was very happy with their product and service, no catches.
When crossing the border into Austria it stopped working immediately.

I did not use their SIM, with the wifi can make calls via Skype, Facetime and similar methods and if you have an Iphone ;texts from other Iphones come through over wifi. Texts from non-Iphones you wont receive assuming you turn your cell service off on your phone while overseas.

You have 3 options so choose which makes the most sense for you.
1.) Buy a local sim card (usually least expensive option, need your phone to be unlocked)
2.) get an international plan from your provider at home ; may be by the day or by the month depending on what they offer.
some of these are better for calls/texts and poor value for data so be careful if you need data
3.) Rent a Wifi Hotspot (benefits are it allows for more than 1 device to be connected at a time as long as other devices are all close by)

Posted by
5687 posts

These mobile hotspots just seem too expensive to me. I use my Android phone as a hotspot with a European SIM card in multiple countries and just don't worry about it. Back in May,, my Dutch Vodafone SIM worked for 17 days in Slovenia, Italy, and France (never even visited the Netherlands) and set me back just under $30 USD total. I made all of my phone calls home to the US for free (even to landlines) with Google Hangouts. I didn't need to make any local calls within Europe.

Posted by
3 posts

I used Expressowifi this summer and it worked wonderfully. Expressowifi was the best priced and their service was incredible. You can take the device at the airport or your hotel and you turn it back in the same way. Love it!!!