Getting a cell phone for our two weeks in Italy

There have been a lot of recent posts about cellphone options in Europe (it's a frequent question). How do you intend to use your phone? Just for emergencies or quick, infrequent calls? Calling back to the US (longer calls)? If you only want it for quick calls, you might be best off with one of the travel phone firms - Mobal, Telestial, Eurobuzz, etc. Some are prepaid, some paid as you use them. With Mobal and Eurobuzz, you can get the phone with SIM card before you go. Any calls you make are charged to your credit card, so you don't have to buy minutes. If you don't end up using the phone, your only expense is the purchase of the phone. The number is permanent, so after your trip you can just put it away until the next trip and it will still work - don't need to renew it, no additional fees. If you want to make calls home, you might be better off to purchase a phone there, along with a local SIM card. The rates will be less, but you have to buy time (which expires if it isn't all used). And each time you buy a new SIM you get a new number.

If you're just planning on using it for emergencies or cheap txting then see if your current USA provider allows you to use it overseas. Most do...even Verizon if you have one of their global phones. That's probably the absolute simplest thing to do.

Verizon also rents or loans a "world phone" - or at least it used to do so. With the travel phone companies you can buy the phone in a package. You can also buy everything a la carte. You may be able to get a phone and SIM (which, yes, you do need) from a travel phone company in the 2.5 weeks you have before you leave, but that may be cutting it close. You can also just buy a phone and SIM when you get to Italy, but the instructions on how to set up and use the account and the phone will be in Italian and some folks have expressed some frustration with that difficulty. I agree that sticking with a U.S. carrier may be the better choice. It won't, however, be the cheapest option. Both AT&T and T-Mobile used to offer no contract plans, so you could sign up for service but not be committed to keep the plan for two years. Not sure if they still do. It may take some work to find a sales person who knows about these plans. They will try and sell you on a contract plan. Note that you do not want a U.S. prepaid plan. Those will not work overseas. This is the safe way to stay in touch for emergencies, but you won't want to use your phone much at all and you will never want to use it to connect to the Internet. Those costs will kill you (in the hundreds or thousands of dollars if you aren't careful).

(Continued . . . ) To get the benefit of all the recent posts on cell phone usage, especially in Italy, paste the following text in a Google search box: site:www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/ italy cell phone Aug 2011 The instructions for how to do a Google Advanced Search are in the topic set in bold at the top of the main page for each sub-forum that is titled " Get answers to your questions -- searching Rick's Archives." This is the best way to find out the answer to some commonly asked questions. I try and re-state things I've said before, but sometimes it is hard to put everything in there and you miss out on some good advice.

I'd purchase a cheap Vodafone when you arrive. Where are you flying into? Yes, you always need a SIM card specific to that country.

I had every intention of buying a phone on our last summers month long trip in Ireland. In fact, immediately upon landing in Shannon and picking up our rental we drove to the small strip mall near Bunrattly castle to buy said phone. It turned out the store did not open for 3 hours and I didnt want to wast valuable vacation time waiting for a phone. I am soooo glad we didnt spend the money cause what we did do was so much easier. We have a Gateway netbook that we travel with on every trip. We use it to store photos while on our trip. I downloaded SKYPE for free on our netbook and we used the free wifi in most of our B&Bs to call home with Skype. You can even buy credit for very little money to be able to call landlines and cell phones both here in the states and overseas. Skype is cool cause if you call a computer you can video chat which was great for grandma and grandpa who got to chat with our son! It was easy to use and we even used it to call to make reservations. Downside you need to use it in places where there is Wifi.

Thanks for all of your really helpful replies! I love this Helpline! I always learn so much reading it and love the community feeling. So- I went ahead and bought a Mobal cheapie phone which comes with a Sim card and all calls can be charged to my credit card. Perfect! All we will use it for is quick reservations for restaurants, checking schedules, emergencies and occasionally calling home for 5 minutes- top! I love the fact that I can keep it and that my phone number is permanent- I am going to Greece in 2 years and possibly England next year and love that I can re-use it. It doesn't work in every country around the world but most and the ones above for sure.
Happy travels to all of you and thanks again! :>)

I just ordered a Mobal phone for use in USA and Europe. It looks like the charges are $1-25-1.50 per minute. For occasional or emergency use, this seems reasonable.