Data sims in France and Italy (and maybe UK) - Help Please!

[MatF]

Hi guys,

I've read a bunch of threads on this, but I'm still a bit confused (I think I may be easily confused). I'm wondering if someone could please clarify a few things for me?

Mrs MatF and I will be in London, France and Italy in Dec/Jan for our long awaited belated honeymoon!
We're taking a laptop with us (a Dell Vostro v13), and we'd like to have net access while we're away, for general web use, emails, banking, etc.

My understanding is that the most effective way of doing this may be to buy a local data sim while we're there. I also understand that this may mean buying multiple sims, as each country has different providers? We're only in London for 3 days, so it may not be a big deal there, but I'd need net access in both France and Italy.

In terms of hardware, I do currently have a Three Mobile USB modem that I use when away form home for work (a Huawai E169G I think - would have to check), which is well out of contract, but I suspect it may well be locked?

Can anyone please give me some pointers?

• Do I have to somehow unlock my USB modem, or do I buy a different one?
• Which data sims should I look for in France and Italy (and possibly the UK), and where would I find them?
• I presume something pre-paid?
• I understand that some cafes/etc offer free wirleess hotspots? How prevalent is this? Do we need any kind of account/etc to use these? I presume it's not very secure?

I have a dread fear of not being able to find the right one, or ending up getting something totally useless!

Please note that I'm not after something for voice+data, just purely for data.

All help greatly appreciated!!



Cheers,
Mat.

[RB]

Hi MatF, maybe I can help to boost this post back up a bit with an observation. Previously I have found that Italy is very stringent in their security of who accesses the net. You usually have to provide a drivers licence at internet cafes so I believe you can expect some harsh restrictions when buying pre-paid.

[MatF]

Hi RB,

Thanks for the post - that sounds a bit ominous!
From what I've read:

France - Orange
Italy - TIM

seem to the way to go, but I have no idea how easy or difficult it may be to get a prepaid sim. It's very confusing.

Since I posted above, I've managed to unlock my modem (using dc-unlocker, and it is definitely an E169G, which I think should be able to access 3G in both France and Italy), and have installed some unbranded management software, which all seems to work.

Just have to work out what sims to try to get, and from where!

I'm also still hoping to access wireless hotspots, but I'm a little concerned about security.


Cheers!
Mat.

[Andyzx]

Re maybe the Uk
We picked up a phone sim from Virgin for a month. We went to one of their stores, had it up and running in 10 minutes. They also had data sims, but take your own dongle (which ever you use) generaly good coverage and speed for wireless data.
For work I used vRoam (Aust based Coy and website, delivered before you go) in the UK. Generally good, a lot cheaper than normal telstra rates overseas. Biggest problem was no forwarding of txt messages which was a pain. Credit for retuned sim was very slow.