TIM - Telecom Italia ripping people off with their Internet - Part II

Finally I have my account activated again! My Unlimited account which actually is 400 hours is not available to me so I had to settle for the 100 hour subscription again. Thus in 1-2 weeks I'll probably run out of connectivity. No, I am not always on Internet but I wish my laptop could be though. Then I could continue to download some of the torrents while not using the laptop and leave it up for my wife to get online in an easy way.

Now in the TIM ALICE subscriptions they clearly mention that each time you connect you will be charged 15 minutes. Thus even if you are on one minute they will deduct 15 minutes from the 100 hour credit.

No problem there as I would normally be on atleast 3-4 hours in one go. I would not start up just for a few minute session. Well that works perfect in theory!

The reality is slightly different. Even though I have the latest drivers for my ONDA modem supplied by TIM and have installed it according to all the instructions there is some things that just dont work as they should.

So I get connected and start browsing. I have good connectivity and normally get a download speed of 150 - 200 kbps which I would consider very good for a HSPDA modem. The signal strength is just about full all the time so for sure the connectivity should be stabile. Well it aint.
Despite all this the ALICE system keep kicking me out and it can happen 3-4 times in an hour. I reconnect and most of the time I cant reconnect as it says the IP adress is already on the network. Ofcourse it is as I was on it just a minute ago. The system dont recognize that the previous session was lost and thus dont reassign the IP address. Thus I have to log off and log on again. That will ofcourse mean that 15 minutes connectivity time is lost! In some occasions it can take 3-4 trials with disconnecting the modem physically from the computer and connecting it back and then opening a new session before it can work. Each time a try is made 15 minutes are deducted..... I know because I have checked the credit hours left. Thus the 100 hours in reality becomes something much less. I would estimate that I loose atleast 1 - 1.5 hours of browsing time every night just due to disconnetions like that. Thus something like 20 hours out of a 100.

This overall means that for the connectivity that I should have paid 40 Euros for a month of I end up paying 48 Euros for 100 hours of which I loose 20 hours.

Pricewise this actually mean that I end up paying more for one month connectivity in Italy than what I would pay for the same service in Uganda!!!!! I paid 3 times the amount of money for the modem there and I pay 120 USD a month for connectivity which I thought was a bit steep. However when I compare it with what I would have to pay here in Italy to get the same level service here in Italy I am getting a real bargain in Uganda. I had my laptop running for 3 days in a row in Kampala connected to the HSDPA and not even once did I get disconnected. the overall Speed for the normal sites I browse was the same in both instances.

Ofcourse I should change provider here in Italy but that too would be a problem as the other companies demand a purchase of modem tied to a subscription for atleast 12 - 24 months. Getting a ADSL or other type fixed connectivity would be an option to except that since I have no telephone line I know it would take something like 4 months and a lot of hassle to get that installed. Something I am not interested in at present.