Communiction/sims/dongle for Sardinia

[pcatterall]

We want to spend 2014 Sardinia based ( sailing from Port Saint Louis in May). In France we just bought cheap French phones on pay as you go and a dongle for the laptop ( 30 Euros per month) and fine for our limited use.
It worked ok except that we had to buy credit for a month for the phone and if we didn't use it we 'lost' whatever cash was left. Extending the credit on the dongle was difficult each month as I was never able to do it on line or over the phone ( By phone I simply could not follow the French instructions for the various options!!)
I will appreciate any advice on what will be best for us in Sardinia.
I see that there is some sort of 'international' sim which can be had ( either just a sim (30 euros and 3 euros a day) or as a sort of wifi linked dongle ( 90 euros and 3 euros a day) daily costs reduce to 2 euros a day in Italy but I'm not sure if this works with the most popular networks in Sardinia.
Perhaps its best just to 'roll up' in Sardinia and ask at the nearest phone shop!!?

 

[Richard10002]

It's Italy, so I would expect WIND and TIM to be the best providers. Your international dongle works out at about £70 per month, which leaves a lot of room to pay for a monthly allowance, even if you lose some of it?

Best to know roughly how things work before you get there. I used a forum called something like "prepaid gsm"

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=32

Try that

 

[Networks]

WE got a TIM sim for 25 euro per month for 10GB of data and had good signal all the time we were in north Sardina. We had to pay an up from charge of 10 euro for the sim card.

 

[RobbieW]

We had a WIND SIM last year which worked well around Sardinia but less well around Sicily. €15/month for 10Gb, paid 3 months up front by choice as there was a special offer that saved a few euros. Had to do top ups in a WIND shop, couldnt break through the system to get an id on the WIND site (need Italian id) for online top up. Bought our SIM in Alghero where at least one of the staff spoke good english and guided us through to a good deal. Prepaid GSM is also worth a read

 

[duncan99210]

We used a Wind sim for the iPad. They had an offer on the go then (last spring) of €12 a month unlimited data. To top up, make a note of the telephone number of the sim and go into just about any tabachi and top up there. Most supermarkets now offer the same service. Once the credit is on the sim, the data continues to flow.
To buy your sim, you'll need your passport but nothing else. We found that the Wind shop in Alghero had a couple of good English speakers who understood exactly what we wanted and were also happy to put the card into the iPad and make sure it was working for us before we left the shop.

 

[Paulka]

Last summer, I bought a TIM 3G dongle at 40 € including a full month connections. I used it extensively in Sardinia and Sicily.
As I was there just one month, I didn't need any recharge. And according to the doc., I may recharge it on my next trip next May, though I don't know at what sort of price. May be cheaper to buy a new one ;-) ?
"Perhaps its best just to 'roll up' in Sardinia and ask at the nearest phone shop!!? " Right!
Don't miss Carloforte.