Staying connected in Italy with WiTourist

For most travelers, to Italy or elsewhere, having internet access has become a necessity – whether to check emails, share updates on Facebook or send a simple whatsapp message to family, it’s very much a part of life that we can’t seem to do without. And finding a way to stay connected while on the road is always a challenge.

If you’re intention is to disconnect and get off-the-grid during your holidays in Italy, then this service wouldn’t be of interest to you. However, if you are all about staying connected, here’s a handy service in Italy that might help you do so without incurring exorbitant charges.

WiTourist in Italy

Last month I had the opportunity to take WiTourist on the road as I made my way from Rome to Alto Adige, the northern most region of Italy, for a ski trip with family. While I can basically roam with my mobile plan all over Italy, the issue I often face is not having service in certain areas. That can be extremely frustrating and somehow not having service conveniently happens when you’ve got urgent things to get done.

So here’s how WiTourist came to my rescue. While I had intermittent service on the train journey up north, due to the tunnels, WiTourist worked wonderfully when I had absolutely NO service whatsoever in the mountains.

I could not make or receive calls but thanks to WiTourist, I had internet connection which allowed me to keep in touch with family to know their whereabouts on the ski slopes and to chat with my husband who was stuck in Rome. That might sound banal but not having any way to be in touch would have been a little too nerve-wrecking for me.

Also, work required me to be connected and though the hotel offered free wifi, it was slow and at the end, I decided to just connect the entire time to WiTourist.

What was also a nice surprise was the duration of the battery life. After a morning spent country-skiing, I realized that I hadn’t switch off the device and in the afternoon, I saw that I still had internet connection while on the ski slopes.

When working from the room, I had the device plugged in to the power outlet just to be sure it was juiced up if I needed to head out. And one more plus, you can connect up to 5 devices to the hotspot at the same time.

I wouldn’t say there were no hiccups but this newly launched service did make a difference during my trip.

One minor hiccup, which they are still working on, is the need to enter the password several times when connecting to the hotspot the first time around. Then, as they also purchase data plans from the mobile operators, WiTourist is dependent on these operators to be working at 100%. The good thing is that they work with several operators but if the operators are all experiencing problems, WiTourist will succumb to that fate.

So how can you get one for your trip to Italy and how much does it cost?

WiTourist: How To Book Online and Prices

You can book online stating when you will be arriving and departing, as they will deliver the device to your hotel and arrange for it to be picked up upon your departure. And if you are departing from a different hotel in a different city, that’s not a problem at all – you just have to let them know.

What is great about this service is that to ensure they have a device available and are able to deliver it on the date you’ve requested, they first ask you to complete a quotation request form. No money upfront unless they know they can deliver. Pretty honest! Note: I have met the folks behind WiTourist and they are a great bunch of people with a sincere interest in offering an invaluable service.

So what does it cost?

WiTourist charges a fix cost of €14 for the delivery and pick-up, and then offers various plans ranging from €2 a day for 100mb to €4 a day for 1G. More details here.

What does that work out to in a week?

If you were to take the plan that costs €4 a day, where it basically gives you unlimited usage, unless you are streaming videos, a week would cost €42 (€14+€28).

That might sound like a lot but when we were in the US last year, they were offering us a similar service that costs $28 a day. Planning to rent the hotspot for a longer period? WiTourist would look into offering discounts.

As for my final thoughts, I plan on getting WiTourist for my sister the next time she is in Rome. I will likely get her the €2 a day plan, so she can be in touch as she explores Rome on her own, use the maps, check the bus schedules and etc. That is certainly a small price to pay compared to the conveniences and peace of mind WiTourist offers.

If you are looking for a way to connect while in Italy, check out WiTourist and see if this could be a handy alternative service to international roaming while traveling in Italy.

Please note: While I was invited to test out WiTourist for free, the opinions expressed are my own. WiTourist has kindly agreed to give BrowsingItaly readers 1-day free rental, regardless of the plan, for rentals of more than 7 days. Use the code: BrowsingItaly.