Vodafone Italy Review: It Is Better than Expected (+Speedtests)

In March 2021, I returned from Taiwan after a year.

Then I did not go on a trip for a year because of travel restrictions.

So in February 2022, I decided I would go on a trip again in March 2022.

Mostly because travel restrictions were being lifted left and right.

So, what is the best way to catch up on a year of lost travel time?

Visit as many countries as you can within a month.

I visited Portugal, Spain, Andorra, Italy, Malta, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia & Slovenia.

I really love how easy it is to travel throughout Europe!

During this trip, I (re-)tested 41 local SIM cards, like Vodafone Italy, Airalo's Eurolink Europe eSIM, Nomad's Europe eSIM & SimCorner's Europe travel SIM cards.

If you have read any of my SIM card buying guides before, like the Italian one, or watched a YouTube video of mine, you know that I am crazy enough to buy and test so many SIM cards.

If this is your first Phone Travel Wiz review – welcome.

I buy and test all/most SIM cards in a country and tell you which ones are the best so that you do not have to 😎.

You have probably heard of Vodafone before – perhaps you even use Vodafone's services at home.

Or you may have tried Vodafone in another country.

Vodafone is often a hit or miss – it can be the best option in a country or the absolute worse.

So what about in Italy? Is Vodafone Italy any good?

The only way to find out is to test Vodafone Italy and compare it with the other Italian SIM cards (Wind Tre (formerly Wind and Tre), TIM Italy & Iliad).

And that is what I did – and I will share my experience in this review.

Let's get started, shall we?

Original publication: 19^th of May 2022. Last updated: 15^th of January 2024.

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Table of Contents

Who is Vodafone Italy?

I am pretty sure anyone reading this review has heard of Vodafone before.

Or its African counterpart called Vodacom.

But I will not give you a detailed history of Vodafone because that is boring.

Instead, I want to quickly introduce Vodafone Italy and introduce you to the Italian telecom market.

Vodafone Italy, officially Vodafone Italia, is the third-largest mobile operator, behind Wind Tre (formerly Wind and Tre (3)) and TIM Italia, but ahead of Iliad.

Of course, I tested the other three mobile operators during my trip to Italy in March. You can read them here: TIM Italy review, Vodafone Italy review & Iliad review.

You also have plenty of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) in Italy, such as Coop Voce, ho. Mobile & Lycamobile Italy.

Speaking of ho. Mobile, it is a discount sub-brand by Vodafone Italy (to compete with Iliad, which offers 210 GB for only 10 EUR a month. Yes… 210 GB!) and a few other discount brands (like Kena Mobile by TIM Italy and Very Mobile by Wind Tre).

While ho. Mobile is cheaper than Vodafone Italy itself, you will have to deal with a speed restriction of 30 Mbps download and upload.

And you cannot use 5G NR with ho. Mobile (yet).

While Vodafone Italy is not the largest mobile operator in the country, it does have the best overall 4G/LTE network at the moment.

And it is performing well in the 5G NR race too.

Speed-wise, it is not the fastest and also not the slowest – just in between.

But I will talk more about Vodafone Italy's speeds later.

First, we have to talk about its coverage after these quick frequency details:

• 2G: 900 MHz & 1800 MHz
• 3G: N/A – shut down for 4G/LTE and 5G NR refarming
• 4G/LTE: 800 MHz (Band 20), 1800 MHz (Band 3), 2100 MHz (Band 1) & 2600 MHz (Band 7)
• 5G NR: 3700 MHz (n78)
• VoLTE: Yes
• VoWiFi: No

Here you have Vodafone Italy's APN settings:

• Name: Vodafone IT
• APN: mobile.vodafone.it

Note: leave anything not mentioned above untouched.

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Vodafone Italy Coverage + My Experience

You can have a mobile operator providing you 1 Gbps download speeds.

But if it covers only one street in the entirety of Italy, it will be useless.

So, how is Vodafone Italy's coverage?

Opensignal claims that Vodafone Italy has the best 4G/LTE coverage experience – on par with Wind Tre & TIM Italy.

When looking at 5G NR, Wind Tre is winning the coverage race outright (22.9% availability).

Still, Vodafone Italy has the second-best 5G NR availability (8.1% availability).

Vodafone Italy's 5G NR reach score is 2.5 (on a 10-point scale), behind Wind Tre's 4.6 – far ahead of Iliad (0.9) and TIM Italy (0.7).

The Vodafone Doce Vita Tourist SIM card does not support 5G NR (yet) – even though I was promised it would support 5G NR 😒.

I actually knew the tourist SIM would not support 5G NR… but I was disappointed I was lied to like that.

But it was a salesperson selling me the SIM card – they are not known for being honest anyway 🤷🏿‍♂️.

So far, I have been talking about coverage from other reports, but what was my coverage experience with Vodafone Italy?

Honestly, it was good – I had nothing to complain about.

Reception on the metro was not the best, especially compared to TIM Italy – I would lose my connection as soon as we left a station.

And it took a long time to reconnect to the Vodafone Italy network as well – TIM Italy and Iliad were much better in that regard.

Here you have Vodafone Italy's coverage map:

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How to Get a Vodafone Italy SIM Card & Prices

Now you have a basic understanding of Vodafone Italy and the telecom market in Italy, it is now time to talk about how to actually get a Vodafone Italy SIM card.

Unlike many countries in Europe, especially the European Union, you have to visit a Vodafone Italy SIM card to get your SIM card.

That is because of the SIM card registration laws in Italy – SIM card registration is mandatory.

You just have to present your passport (or ID if you are from another European Union nation).

• Find out which countries have SIM card registration regulations and what is required from you (lookup tool)

Italian SIM cards are not sold by third parties, like grocery stores or convenience stores like in many other countries.

I bought my Vodafone Italy SIM card at Rome Termini train station, which has always been a train station but has become a mall in recent years.

But here is a store locator in case you visit another place in Italy.

You actually have two Vodafone Italy stores at the train station – one on the ground floor and one on level -1.

I went to the one on level -1 because the one on the ground floor was packed.

Before I tell you how much SIM cards cost, I need to inform you about the… new SIM card process in Italy.

Well, it is not really a process, but every mobile operator has a policy, you could say.

You see, when you buy an Italian SIM card, it always has to be done in combination with a plan.

That is fair – no problem… Except for the fact that there is an activation fee you need to pay too.

And that even applies to the Vodafone Doce Vita Tourist SIM card.

The Vodafone Tourist SIM card costs 24.99 EUR with 30 GB of data, 15 GB EU/EEA data, unlimited social media data ¹ & 600 local/international minutes ² for 1 month.

I will list all the prices in EUR (Euro).

To convert EUR to your currency (let's say GBP – (British) Pound (Sterling)) with up-to-date exchange rates, use the Wise Currency Converter tool.

Disclaimer: the SIM card prices mentioned in the review were current when I was in Italy – the offering and prices may have changed since then. To see Vodafone Italy's current starter packs, check out my Italy SIM card buying guide.

¹ for Facebook, Instagram, Waze & WhatsApp
² to Argentina, Austria, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, & Venezuela

I paid 30 EUR for my Vodafone Italy SIM card, so I suspect I was charged a 5.01 EUR activation fee.

Or a tourist tax 🥴.

Unfortunately, there is no way to escape activation fees – every Italian mobile operator charges such a fee.

There is a stand selling Vodafone SIM cards at (Rome) Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport (FCO).

However, they will charge you 55 EUR for 60 GB of data, 12 GB EU/EEA data, unlimited Facebook Messenger, Viber & WhatsApp data, 300 local minutes & 300 international minutes for 1 month.

Sure, you get double the data allowance than a Doce Vita Tourist SIM card… but you will be better off getting a regular Vodafone plan if you need that much data – it will be cheaper anyway.

Wait… you can get much more data for less than 55 EUR with Vodafone Italy?

That is right – one thing I did not mention yet is that Italy has the lowest mobile data rates in Europe and the fourth-lowest worldwide.

If you are younger than 30 years old, you can get the Shake It Easy plan with 100 GB for 14.99 EUR.

Heck, you can even get truly unlimited data for 59.99 EUR (Infinito Black).

So yes, these tourist offerings may not be the best options if you only care about data.

But if you want international calls and SMS, they are good options.

But that is if the salesperson even wants to sell you a regular Vodafone Italt SIM card.

The Italian mobile operators really push tourist offerings to short-term travelers, even when there are cheaper options out there.

So be aware of that.

Be aware that although Vodafone Italy has eSIMs for prepaid customers, most salespeople are not unwilling to sell them to short-term travelers for some reason.

But eSIMs are not available for the Vodafone Italy Tourist SIM card (Doce Vita).

If you truly want an eSIM or do not want to deal with Italy's SIM card registration scheme (mandatory) and unnecessary activation fees, consider getting a travel eSIM for Italy.

I compare the best Italy travel eSIMs in my comparison guide and also drop a few discount codes for you 😏.

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Vodafone Italy Plans, Bundles & Offers

Vodafone Italy has a nice variation of data-featured prepaid plans – and they are affordable.

If you stay in Italy for a short period, say less than a month, it will be cheaper to stick with the Vodafone Dolce Vita Tourist SIM card to pay a lower activation fee.

Or you can get a travel SIM card like the SimCorner Europe travel SIM cards (which I tried out in Italy as well).

And if your phone supports eSIM, a travel eSIM from Airalo or Nomad will be even more affordable (which I also tested in Italy).

And both methods allow you to skip the SIM card registration regulations of Italy.

If you stay in Italy for an extended period, like for work or education, be sure to get a plan you can stick too.

Switching plans frequently will be an expensive endeavor, even though the plans are cheap.

Anyway, I will list all the available Vodafone Italy data-featured prepaid plans below:

• Shake It (combo for the youth)
• Red Max (combo)
• Infinito (combo)
• Giga Speed (data)

Disclaimer: these were the available plans at the time I was in Italy – the offering may have changed since then (including whether 5G NR is available to prepaid customers or not). To see Vodafone Italy's current plans, check out my Italy SIM card buying guide (which gets updated regularly – at least once a year).

I will list all the prices in EUR (Euro).

To convert EUR to your currency (let's say GBP – (British) Pound (Sterling)) with up-to-date exchange rates, use the Wise Currency Converter tool.

Shake It Plans

The Shake It Plans are combo plans with data (with 5G NR access), minutes & SMS for the youth (up to 30 years old).

Unfortunately, the elderly cannot get one of these plans 🤪.

The following Shake It Plans are available, which initially have to be activated in a Vodafone store:

Remember: Vodafone Italy charges a 6.99 EUR plan activation fee, which is not included in the prices below.

Price	Plan	Data	EU/EEA Data	Local/EU Minutes 1	Local/EU SMS 1	Validity
11.99 EUR	Shake It Fun (25 years)	50 GB	10 GB	Unlimited	Unlimited	1 month
14.99 EUR	Shake It Easy (30 years)	100 GB	20 GB	Unlimited	Unlimited	1 month

¹ for calls/SMS within and to other EU/EEA member states and back to Italy (NOT from Italy to other EU/EEA member states)

Red Max Plan

The Red Max Plan is a combo plan costing 19.99 EUR with 100 GB (with 5G NR access), unlimited local/EU minutes & unlimited local/EU SMS for 1 month.

Red Max can be activated on the Vodafone Italia app.

Remember: Vodafone Italy charges a 6.99 EUR plan activation fee, which is not included in the prices above and below.

Price	Plan	Data	Local/EU Minutes 1	Local/EU SMS 1	Validity
19.99 EUR	Red Max	100 GB	Unlimited	Unlimited	1 month

¹ for calls/SMS within and to other EU/EEA member states and back to Italy (NOT from Italy to other EU/EEA member states)

Infinito Plans

The Infinito Plans are combo plans with unlimited data (and 5G NR access), unlimited (local) minutes & unlimited SMS.

The following Infinito Plans are available, which can be activated on the My Vodafone Italia app:

Remember: Vodafone Italy charges a 6.99 EUR plan activation fee, which is not included in the prices below.

Price	Plan	Data	EU/EEA Data	World Roaming 2	Local/EU Minutes 1	International Minutes 3	World Roaming Minutes 2	Local/EU SMS 1	Validity
36.99 EUR	Infinito	Unlimited @ 10 Mbps	21.9 GB	1 GB	Unlimited	1000 minutes	200 minutes	Unlimited	1 month
59.99 EUR	Infinito Black	Unlimited	32.8 GB	5 GB	Unlimited	1000 minutes	500 minutes	Unlimited	1 month

¹ for calls/SMS within and to other EU/EEA member states and back to Italy (NOT from Italy to other EU/EEA member states)
² in Albania, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey & the United States
³ the EU/EEA and Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand & the United States

Giga Speed Plans

The Giga Speed Plans are data-only plans (without 5G NR access).

The following Giga Speed Plans are available, which initially have to be activated in a Vodafone store:

Remember: Vodafone Italy charges a 10 EUR plan activation fee (not 6.99 EUR like the other plans), which is not included in the prices below.

Price	Plan	Data	EU/EEA Data	Validity
9.99 EUR	Giga Speed 20	20 GB	5.5 GB	1 month
13.99 EUR	Giga Speed 50	50 GB	7.7 GB	1 month

EU Roaming

You can use your TIM allowances in the following EU/EEA member states without paying roaming fees:

Be aware that, in some cases, the EU/EEA roaming allowance is lower than the domestic allowances.

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Vodafone Italy Top-Up, Recharge & Balance Check

Vodafone Italy top-up vouchers are sold in Vodafone stores, grocery stores, corner shops & electronics shops throughout Italy.

I did not have to recharge my Vodafone Italy SIM card because Italy was a short stop on my one-month Europe trip.

But I will still tell you how to top up.

The following (online) Vodafone Italy top-ups are available:

• 5 EUR
• 10 EUR
• 15 EUR
• 25 EUR
• 50 EUR

To top up your Vodafone Italy SIM card, text the VoucherCode to 42010.

For example, if your voucher code is 123456, you would text 123456 to 42010.

You can also tell the salesperson how much credit you want, your phone number, pay, and they will top up your SIM card with the POS system.

You can also recharge online with (international/EU) debit and credit cards.

Call 414 to check your Vodafone Italy balance.

You can also top up and check your balance on the My Vodafone Italia app (Android/iOS).

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Vodafone Italy Speed Test Results (in Catania & Rome)

Alright, now it is time to talk about the speeds you can expect to get with Vodafone Italy after covering all the other essential topics like coverage.

But before I share my 15 speed test results from Catania, Rome & Vatican City, I do want to set the stage first and make a small comparison with Vodafone Italy's competition.

In the first section, I mentioned that Vodafone is not slow.

In fact, it is the second-best mobile operator in terms of download speed in Bologna (40.21 Mbps) and Naples (27.45 Mbps), according to Speedtest.

And from a national perspective, Vodafone Italy performs a bit worse than Iliad (31.94 Mbps with Iliad vs. 29.36 Mbps with Vodafone Italy), making it the third-fastest mobile operator in Italy.

According to Opensignal, Vodafone Italy has the second-best 5G NR download and upload speeds (146.7 Mbps download and 18.1 Mbps upload).

Only TIM Italy is significantly faster (271.7 Mbps download and 25.1 Mbps upload).

Okay, those were valuable insights – let's talk about my speed test results now.

I did speed tests with the Speedtest app at various test locations: 3 in Catania, 11 in Rome & 1 in Vatican City.

Yes – while Vatican City is a country, it is tiny, and the Italian mobile operators cover the entirety of the city.

Okay, here are the results:

Those speeds are not bad, although there are large swings between locations with Vodafone Italy, which some other mobile operators did not experience (the results were more moderate).

I will show you the comparison with TIM Italy later.

I took a 4G/LTE plan with TIM Italy because the TIM Italy employee said its 5G NR network is limited in Rome, and I should not waste my money.

And Vodafone Italy promised me I would get 5G NR, but they lied straight in my face 😒.

Vodafone Italy should be like TIM Italy in that regard.

First, let's deal with some TIM Italy statistics based on 15 speed test results:

• Vodafone Italy's average download speed was 75.84 Mbps
• Vodafone Italy's average upload speed was 17.17 Mbps
• The median download speed with Vodafone Italy was 54.21 Mbps
• The median upload speed with Vodafone Italy was 13.82 Mbps
• Vodafone Italy had the fastest download speed, compared to its competitors, in 3 of the 15 locations
• Vodafone Italy had the slowest download speed, compared to its competitors, in 4 of the 15 locations
• At 4 of the 15 locations, Vodafone Italy had the fastest upload speed
• At 3 of the 15 locations, Vodafone Italy had the slowest upload speed

Those are actually great statistics, I have to say.

While Vodafone Italy was the slowest at various test locations, you should not forget that I used 5G NR with Iliad and Wind Tre, which were, on average, faster than Vodafone Italy.

So, is an average download speed of 75.84 Mbps fast enough?

Yes, it is – let me elaborate.

A download speed of more than 25 Mbps is enough to video stream content @ 4k resolution.

Social media sites that allow for live streaming, like Facebook Live, recommend an upload speed of at least 10 Mbps.

And I got an average upload speed of 17.17 Mbps – more than enough.

So, in short, these speed test results would be more than enough for watching videos at a high resolution of live streaming on social media.

But let's take these results to a global level – Vodafone Italy is still doing well.

At the time of writing, the global average download speed is 74.87 Mbps – Vodafone Italy is slightly above this average.

But the average is skewed because of countries like the United Arab Emirates, with an average mobile download speed of 268.87 Mbps (insane!).

So let's look at the global median – 30.75 Mbps. Vodafone Italy's median download speed was 54.21 Mbps.

That is almost double the global median.

I suspect and hope Vodafone Italy's 5G NR performance will be much better than its 4G/LTE performance.

Nonetheless, you will still have a smooth network experience with Vodafone Italy (except for on the metro in Rome).

Take a look at this Vodafone Italy and TIM Italy comparison:

Vodafone Italy swept the floor with TIM Italy at most test locations.

And Vodafone Italy's median download speed is double TIM Italy's.

Once again, Vodafone Italy is fast enough for general phone use on cellular data.

I would not recommend downloading a 10 GB movie on 4G/LTE, as it will take some time.

It will be faster than with a TIM Italy SIM card though 😏.

But you will have plenty of data left – even after downloading such a movie.

We have gotta love Italy's generous data allowances for low prices!

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My Overall Experience with Vodafone Italy – Is It Any Good?

I would recommend Vodafone Italy.

Getting a Vodafone Italy SIM card was straightforward, and activation was quick.

I mention the quick activation part because Wind Tre claims it can take up to three business days before the SIM card becomes active, even though it took only minutes for me.

So yeah… you do not have to worry about waiting for days to use your Vodafone Italy SIM card.

Vodafone Italy also has extensive coverage, and I barely experienced any blackouts (except on the metro in Rome).

The speeds were fast on 4G/LTE, and I expect them to be even faster on 5G NR.

However, if you truly want fast 5G NR speeds, go with TIM Italy (but not in Rome – even TIM Italy employees say 5G NR is whack in Rome).

The plans are cheap and include extreme generous data allowances.

However, the activation fees can be a downer if you do not plan on staying in Italy for a few months.

While many may complain about Vodafone Italy's service, I found it much better than I expected it to be.

That may have been because I stayed in the capital of Italy.

Still, my service was good in Catania too, which is not a big city by Italian standards.

Overall, Vodafone Italy is good.

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Support Phone Travel Wiz

I spent 115.06 EUR on Italian SIM cards (30 EUR for Vodafone Italy, 30 EUR for Wind Tre, 35.08 for TIM Italy & 19.98 EUR for Iliad) and 126 USD on eSIMs (100 USD for Airalo and 26 USD for Nomad) for my Italian SIM card reviews series.

While I love buying, testing & review SIM cards and eSIMs.

That way, I can share my experiences with you so that you do not get suckered into a good deal (price-wise) but have a terrible network experience.

But… it is expensive. I would genuinely appreciate it if you would donate to Phone Travel Wiz on Ko-fi.

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Italian SIM Card Reviews

As mentioned earlier, I also tried out Wind Tre, TIM Italy & Iliad when I was in Catania and Rome.

You should read those reviews too.

>>> Wind Tre Review | Vodafone Italy Review | Iliad Italy Review <<<

Later, I will make a comparison post of the four Italian mobile operators… but that will take a while (I have many reviews of other countries that I still need to write, so they are prioritized).

But you can still make an educated purchased after reading the Italian SIM card reviews.

Check out my reviews page if you want to read all the other reviews I have written, including other European SIM cards from this trip.

Italy SIM Card Buying Guide

There are more than ten SIM cards to choose from in Italy besides Vodafone Italy.

I analyze and discuss them in-depth in my Italy SIM card buying guide.