How to Get FREE Internet Wi-fi Access in Rome, Italy

One of the best kept secrets of Rome is the free wi-fi Internet.  If you are carrying your laptop, why pay up to 5 euro an hour at an Internet Pointe when you can have an hour session for free?

In a joint venture with Uniwifi and Roma Wireless, Wi-fi (802.11g) is offered at most public monuments in Rome.  And there are a lot of public monuments in Rome!  In general, look for an outdoor “Piazza” and you’ll see a piece of history free of charge. 

Uniwifi is well known for also their WI-MAX technology projects.  Baltimore, MD and Telecom carrier Sprint knows a lot about WI-MAX.

Getting your cell phone or SIM card

First, you will need an Italian cell phone (usually with a 3XX prefix).  If you have one, skip to the next section.

If you have an unlocked GSM phone, simply buy a SIM card from any store.  Wind, TIM, Tre (3), Vodafone are the 4 most popular.

You will also need a codice fiscale plus a passport to buy a SIM card.  They start as low a 10 Euro and it includes 5 Euro of air time, so you are basically paying 5 euro for the SIM.  I don’t know why they charge $15 USD for a SIM card in the USA or up to $25 CDN in Canada!

If you have a 3G or UTMS enabled cell phone, consider buying the LycoMobile SIM card if you plan on doing a lot of long distance calling from your cell.  Those SIMS are 5 euro with 5 euro of talk time, which costs about 0.09 euro per minute from Italy to Canada or USA.  LycoMobile is basically a calling card in a SIM. 

Setting up your wireless account

Simply fill in the details at:

https://www.uniwifi.it/registrazione/

In the past, the automated system would use a call back feature, but now you have to call 0640044000 (a free call) from your cell once you sign up.

Your phone number becomes your user id (i.e. 3991234567@uniwifi.it)

Just make sure you are connecting to the SSID romawireless and you get to the login page.  The last thing you want is a “Man in the Middle” hacker sniffing at passwords.

Now enjoy surfing.  You have 1 hour free per session, as long as your battery holds out!

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About Jimson Lee
Jimson is a freelance industry analyst, with over 25 years experience in the IT industry. Prior to joining CRMHelpDeskSoftware, he spent 4 years as a Senior Consultant at Sierra Systems Group, part of Golden Gate Capital, a leading private equity firm with $9 billion in capital under management. Jimson currently resides in Rome, Italy.