In Italy, you pay for urban calls by the minute, unless your signed up for a flat rate plan. But telephone flat rates don't include Internet connections. Providers receive part of the fee collected from your phone company every minute, that's why most of them don't ask for a subscription fee. This is the type of connection they call Free Internet, quite boldly, since average Internet use results in astronomical phone bills. It's best to request an ADSL line. You pay a flat rate, surf fast, and your line stays free. But be careful: not all companies work well, and some plans can result in real disasters. We listed some of the best offers that we have personally tested.

If you still intend on using a slow traditional modem, you can use one of the expensive 'Free Internet' plans. The best known ones are from Tiscali, Tin, and Jumpy.

Alice is the least expensive offer. There is a 20 hour flat rate or a full time flat rate. Telecom Italia made a special effort to make the order easy and fast (usually not the case in Italy). You dial 187 (Telecom Italia customer Service) and immediately set up an appointment (usually less than a week). They are punctual and your system will be up immediately. You can easily install everything yourself and save a couple of Euros a month. .

The system is reliable and we have never seen a down time. Only the free e-mail they offer gave us some problems.

Fastweb is one of the most sophisticated offers in Europe. If your area has been cabled, you get a fiber optics 10Mb connection. Otherwise, you get a fast ADSL with 1.2Mb download and 256k upload. Cable fastweb users can sign up for TV service, which gives them access to many satellite channels, Blockbusters films on demand (they can see any Blockbusters film anytime they want, pause it, rewind, or fast forward), and TV programs on the main Italian channels are memorized for a week, giving users the possibility to pause, rewind, and view programs again. Fastweb users can call all of Italy for free (except cell phones and specific numbers) and never pay Telecom Italia monthly line fees again, because the line is literally sold to Fastweb.

Before signing up, you should be warned of a few things. Their Internet site is very unclear about the offers and people are often confused.

Your Telephone line is no longer a real phone line. It goes through their ADSL network. It works fine, except for a few seconds pause when numbers are dialed, but many services are missing. Caller ID doesn't work, call transfer doesn't work, and if your electricity is cut your phone will not work.

Installation procedures are painful. From the moment you order, you have no idea how long it will take. They' tell you about 20 days, but when you call again, they ask to call back a month later. There's no written confirmation, and sometimes lines are switched before anyone has set up the system at home. You get two boxes with many cables, and in some cases you'll be without a telephone for up to 10 days before the system starts working.

When the system works, it's fast and reliable. We have never seen a down time or even a slow down.