Heya folks ... I am having some trouble with fastweb these days (it boils down that they had some trouble getting money from my CC, which happens when my CC company decides to block my card because I create charges all over the world .. a safety feature, so they say) ... anyways .. I had so far very good experiences with fastweb .. but when it comes to billing issues ... it gets toruble some .. no one there speaks english (shame for an internet company) .. and even after long ahrd searching i found an english contact .. and she promised in the end everything is fine .. a month later it turns out it is not .. and i have no way of directly contacting this person .. yadda yadda yadaa .

anyways .. great timing, telecom italia calls and asks (in english) if i would be interested in hearing what they have to offer and that they can send an english speaking 'agent' (a.k.a. sales -pusher) ...

In general, if TI can offer me faster speeds and or lower price ... i'd be interested ... BUT .. when i was looking around for ISPs 2 years ago .. i kept hearing that Telecon is the #1 company to stay away from ... but who knows .. maybe they got their act together?

The lines fastweb is using for me right now are telecom's anayways .. so .. i do not see big problems with installation ... but .. anyone has any recent horror / success storiues ??? thanks a bazillion ...

Nope, no horror stories. Slight glitch in the summer which was partly my fault. Calls don't drop, fast connection, good for video streaming (on 20mg) wi-fi reliable. Does what it says on the box basically. Have been hearing bad things about Fastweb for a while now - we had them in our first place, fast and reasonably reliable but massively expensive for the phone ( my l/lady had a basic package!!). Plus Telecom now tends to turn up when they say they will - competition is a good thing apparently!

Thanks for the input alyson ...

I keep also wondering if fastweb is screwing me price wise .. when i signed up 2 years ago, i recall it was like 65 or 69 € per month for unlimited internet ... so with phone and tax the bimonthly would be around 170€ ... now i saw on fastweb.it that the monthly is 45€ ... i think they never bothered communicating those new, lower rates to me ... ah well .. will report what telecom hast to say in .. 90 minutes ... argh .. need to take shower !

their connections seems fine.
their 24 hour support line is a joke if you don't speak italian (and since i've only been here for a week - give me a break, peleez!) and i suspect even if u do, coz it seems to direct you to the web which is also in italian (i promise that by the time the year is out, i'll be writingthe stuff; meanwhile, it's useless to me).
i need the number of an english speaking fastweb technician or some such, if anyone has one.

Do you have someone who can speak to Fastweb in Italian? I have been in Rome for over 3 years and I speak Italian pretty well now. I have complimented Fastweb on this site several times now but have to agree with the first poster about billing problems. My credit card had to be replaced because of fraudulent use and getting it changed with Fastweb was a terrible mess. Right after I got it straightened out we moved and sent in the form for the transfer of service. That was over 3 months ago and it is still not hooked up in my apartment but (unfortunately because I got the CC straightened out) they keep billing me. I have had an Italian friend dealing with them for the past 3 months on the phone and through the mail to no avail. I am closing my CC, disputing the amounts charged and signing up with Telecom.

Maybe Telcom has gotten their act together. I've haven't had any problems with them.

I pay under 30 euros a month for unlimited Internet "alice". They installed my phone line when they said they would. Then they called to make sure everything was working.

I have heard nothing but horror stories about Fastweb and everyone told me to go with Telecom Italia when I moved to Rome.

Also I like that if anything were to go wrong with Telecom Italia, there is a physical office I can go to and speak to a real person. Isn't everything with fastweb online?

I have a few questions about telecom:

-how much did it cost to get your phone and internet installed

-was there a minimum/maximum time period to have your phone line installed (I will only be here for 10 months and was wondering if I will have to sign a year or so contract)

thanks,
Jessica