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-   -   Venice Marco Polo Airport - TIM store? (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/venice-marco-polo-airport-tim-store-1113014/)

LowCountryIslander Jun 16th, 2016 09:02 AM

Venice Marco Polo Airport - TIM store?
 
I will be going to Italy in October and flying into the Venice Marco Polo airport, and going immediately to a small town in the Prosecco region, so will not be going into Venice. My question is: does anyone know if there is a TIM (mobile carrier) store inside the Venice Marco Polo airport? When I look at the airport terminal map, there are a lot of locations listed as TIM, but my suspicion is that they may be banks of pay phones (if they even have pay phones anymore!)

The reason I need the TIM store specifically is because they have a program called "TIM for visitors" where I can purchase a sim card with the call time and data that I want for my phone during this trip. I purchased this on my trip last year in Rome and it worked great for what I wanted. I'm hoping if there was a store at VCE I could get my transaction done before leaving the airport.

Thanks for any help, it's much appreciated! :-)

NYCFoodSnob Jun 16th, 2016 09:42 AM

There is no TIM store at the airport, but that can always change. The website is often slow to list new locations. I believe there is a store in the train station, but that doesn't seem to appear among their list of locations.

LowCountryIslander Jun 16th, 2016 10:32 AM

Thank you

bvlenci Jun 17th, 2016 11:28 AM

I was told by an Italian who participates in TA forums, and usually knows what he's talking about, that SIM cards weren't allowed to be sold in international terminals at Italian airports. This was because of some crazy idea that this would enable terrorists to acquire them for nefarious purposes. It sounded unbelievable to me, but in fact, for many years there have been TIM, Vodafone, and other phone stores in the domestic terminals at Rome's Fiumicino airport, but not in the international arrivals terminal. This left foreign visitors easy prey for unscrupulous sellers of "international" SIM cards at outrageous prices. In fact, I wondered if there might not be a lobby of unscrupulous international SIM card vendors behind the law.

However, recently I've heard that there is now a TIM kiosk in the international arrivals terminal at Fiumicino, so maybe the law has changed, or maybe it was all just coincidence.

In any case, it's quite believable that there are no TIM stores at the Venice airport, at least yet.

denisea Jun 17th, 2016 12:32 PM

Ah, the Prosecco Princess is headed to a town in the Prosecco region. This is most appropriate. I can't help with the phone issue but want to say hello and confess my jealousy. Have a wonderful time!

LowCountryIslander Jun 18th, 2016 07:34 PM

bvlenci... Thank you for this information.

denisea.... Yes, heading back to Italy, but I know that does not surprise you! ;-)


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