Purchasing an Italian SIM card at Venice airport

Verizon has a monthly plan that includes some data and some talk minutes... not a lot, but it's been enough for me, my last two trips to Italy (2017/18 & 2016). It's around $40. It's on their webpage, plus you can "live chat" with one of the Verizon folks, who will answer questions about it in "real time."

If your phone is unlocked, both TIM and Vodafone offer tourist sims for €30. according to the VCE airport website Telecom Italia (TIM) has two locations, one airside, one groundside. When I flew into Rome last year, TIM had stores at FCO where you can pick up the cards. I purchased the voucher on line on the TIM website. Handed it to the clerk and she changed it out and activated it in less than 15 minutes. I’m flying into VCE in September and will use their cell service again.

Philip, Thanks for the reply.

I checked out the TIM webste and see one odd thing. In the section on Activating the card it says:

"Those who purchased abroad the exclusive offer TIM FOR VISITORS, once arrived in Italy, must go to a TIM Store and show the Voucher with the personal identification code and an identity document. The TIM Store will carry out the standard procedures for activation: collecting documents, recognizing visually the customer and the presentation of the identity document (e.g. identity card or passport). Once the card is active, the offer TIM FOR VISITORS will be activated within 24 hours, at no extra costs"

It is that last sentence that has me wondering - it seems to imply that once you get the card installed, the phone will start working with 24 hours. But I would think people would expect it to start working immediately and this is just an issue with the way they translated the original text.

I am doing the same thing, arriving next week. I don't know about getting a card at the airport, but I am going to a store right near my place, in Canareggio. You can either pre-order the card on online and get a voucher to bring to the store, or you can just buy it there. Here is the link to buy one. https://www.tim.it/tim-visitors-en

Here are other store locations in Venice. https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GIGM_enUS790US790&q=tim+locations+in+venice+italy&npsic=0&rflfq=1&rlha=0&rllag=45440372,12332267,507&tbm=lcl&ved=0ahUKEwjn_ImK9enaAhUEoFMKHS8bAZQQtgMIKg&tbs=lrf:!3sIAE,lf:1,lf_ui:10&rldoc=1

I had to go to their facebook page and message them to get all this info.

David, I just read your last post. From reading lots of reviews, people said it only took a few minutes, and the people in the stores speak English and are very helpful.

I have Verizon, too. Expensive!

The Verizon monthly plan is a joke if you ask me - it cripples your phone so you can basically use it only on WiFi except occasionally, because it limits you to 100MB of data (which I would use in about a day when I travel). Their $10/day plan (use your phone like at home) makes much more sense to me but is of course expensive. Getting a SIM if you can makes much more sense unless you on a very short trip. Verizon phones should still all be unlocked (which may change very soon). AT&T's are locked but can be unlocked unless not paid off.

I use my phone for Google Maps walking and public transit navigation when I travel, and that eats data. I used it extensively in Venice this way, even for vaporetto timing (so if you buy a vaporetto pass, the phone helps enormously with data). And yes, some people "love to get lost" walking in Venice, but when you're out late and tired and just want to get back to the hotel, it's a lot less fun.

Can you guys who are purchasing SIMs soon report back as to exactly where you found them in Venice and what the lines/waits were? Also, which company did you choose? Vodafone and TIM both seem highly regarded. (I bought a TIM SIM years ago but that was before I even had a smart phone.)

The SIM will start working within a few minutes, the PLAN can take up to 24 hours to be activated.

So if you start calling/surfing before the plan has been activated, you'll be using the complimentary 5 Euro included in all SIM cards. Run out of credit and your SIM will stop working, even if you have data and minutes left from the Tim-for-Visitors plan.

Get off the plane > Turn off mobile data > go to a TIM store > show your passport etc. > Insert the new Italian SIM > don't call, don't text home > while waiting ask the staff to install TIM's app to monitor data/minutes and the above 5 Euro (the widget is great) > sooner or later you will receive a text saying "Welcome, Tim for Visitors is up and running!!!" (or something stupid like that) > Turn off your phone > wait > turn it on > turn on mobile data > try to surf the internet > exit the shop.

9 times out of 10 the text about Tim-for-Visitors arrives 10 minutes after the new TIM SIM has been inserted in the phone. If you are the 10th... well **it happens.

so we need to be able to use a phone once we arrive before we head into Venice to arrange meeting the greeter.

You can make a local call using the above 5 Euro, that's not a problem.

David, the activation is not instantaneous. Usually it takes about an hour after card install. Another option is to go with a card purchased from Amazon. Posters on the forum have used Three Mobile and Orange successfully and they can be activated before you leave for Europe.

With time constraints, ask the clerk how long it will be till your card is active. If it’ll be a while, explain your situation and ask if you can use their phone or if they can call your greeter.

The Orange card from Amazon is a French SIM that will roam in Italy. But as I understand it, it's $50 USD for only two weeks. After that, to top it up, you need to register it online with them (and probably pay again a pretty big fee for more use). The TIM and Vodafone visitor plans seem a lot cheaper.

Dario, Thanks for the detailed response. That clears up all my questions.

Just in addition to Andrew H. The France Orange Holiday top up is $20 Euros for 5 GB for 2 weeks.

And davidfox, there are pay phones available if your making a local call that you can use if the Sim isn't up and running right away. Just bring some change (Euros) with you for the call.

Someone requested posting when I got my SIM/TIM card in Venice. I got it today, in Cannaregio. Actual TIM store. There is a store at 1412 Rio Tera Farsetti. About 5-7 min walk from Guglie bridge (towards Rialto). There is another store about 5 min from that one towards Rialto. Took 5 min to get card. 35 euros now (newest card they say). Need your passport. Was activated in about 15 min.

So, I am wondering now about whether there actually is a TIM store at the Venice airport. Philip mentioned that if you look on the airport web site, Telecom Italia shows up for both Airside and Landside which I confirmed myself, but then if you look at the map they have, it does NOT show up. And further, I searched on the TIM.it web site and it does not show a location at the airport. So now I think maybe the info on eth airport web site was wrong and it sounds like we will have to wait until we get into Venice to use the vouchers I purchased for SIM cards.

This leaves me a bit nervous as we need to contact the greeter for apartment by phone before we leave the airport. I am going to assume that there are still pay phones at the airport, even though these days it seems harder and harder to find any. Anyone used an actual payphone at the airport recently?

When I look on the TIM web site, I see two types of stores listed in Venice: Negozio TIM, which I assume is an actual TIM store, and Negozio Autorizatto TIM, which I would assume is an authorized reseller. For where we are staying in the Dorsoduro near the Accademia, the authorized reseller is the only one that is close to where we are planning to be on our first day there. Can I expect that they will honor the pre-purchased voucher? (I would think so)

Marco Polo airport has free WiFi. So you can connect to it with your smart phone (from airplane mode, just enable WiFI so you won't activate them on Verizon's roaming plan) and then contact the apartment hosts in various ways: maybe a free text via WhatsApp or at worst a call with Skype or Google Hangouts, which probably won't be free (if you must call an Italian phone number). For either Skype or Google Hangouts, you need to buy credit in $10 blocks just to make a quick call...but at least you can keep it alive for future use (use it once every six months or lose it).

Or just enable the Verizon roaming that day and use it until you get a SIM, which is probably going to mean $10 for a day then $2.99 per minute to call an Italian number.

https://www.verizonwireless.com/solutions-and-services/international-travel/