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TIM for Visitors - SIM card question

Posted by on

I plan to buy a 'TIM for Visitors' SIM card when we arrive in Italy at the end of June, at the beginning of our 'Alpine tour'. It seems to be a good deal and has coverage in the other places we will visit.

To purchase, you buy online and receive a code number, which you then present at a TIM store on arrival in Italy to get the SIM. It is also activated for you in-store.

I have tried every which way to find out how long after online purchase I can get my SIM from a store. I'd like to buy it now, because I suspect the offer will end soon, but our trip is one month away. So far, I have been unable to get an answer.

Has anybody on here bought this SIM and, if so, how long afterwards did you get it activated?

Also, if you have used a TIM mobile service around Europe, how did it work out? I have used a TIM card in Italy and it worked fine, but this time we will also go to Switzerland and Austria.

Posted by
16200 posts

The offer will not go away and has been around for years. 30€ whether you buy now or purchase in the store in Italy. I really see no reason to prepurchase since you won’t get it before you get there and no matter what you will need to go to a TIM store to get it.
Just go to a store and purchase one. They’ll install it for you in the store if you don’t know how (all you need is a paper clip to remove the SIM card). From the moment you install it, TIM will activate the number about an hour later. You will receive a bunch of welcome SMS text messages when that happens. I keep the telephone with data off while I wait for the offer to be active.

Posted by
228 posts

Thanks Roberto. The only reason I asked this question was that I read somewhere on the TIM website that this service was going to change soon, but gave no details and I can't find that page again.

I have bought from the stores before and it was, as you say, an easy process.

Posted by
1 posts

I purchased a "data only" TIM SIM card at the Rome Termini Main Train station in mid-August 2018. It was good for 30 days, cost 20 Euros for 10GB. It was active within a few hours and all I needed was my passport and 20 Euros cash. The phone was an unlocked Samsung S3. It not only worked in Italy but I used it all over (roaming ) Greece, France and Spain. I was told it was valid for any EU country. We were on a 24-day cruise so this turned out to be very useful for a reasonable cost. We used it for about 27 days as we would at home for Email/Facebook etc.. and ended using less than 5GB. We even used the phone as a personal Hotspot to Wifi enable my ipad and a second phone. It all worked great and I would strongly recommend this TIM card. We had apps that supported phone over the internet as well as texting but did not have to use them.

Posted by
5697 posts

Search "TIM for Tourists" (the replacement plan for TIM for Visitors) Search button is in the upper left-hand corner of this page.
Many comments there

Posted by
46 posts

We just got back from Italy and we purchased the SIM card on line before arriving. We went to the Termini train station and had it activated. (the local Rome Tim store would not work- we had to go to Termini) Real easy & it only took about 30 minutes to get activated. Need your passport though- we left ours at hotel and had to go back and get. The Sim card was a life saver! It was great having that for GPS and everything else- only 30 bucks.

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