T mobile anyone? Calling hotels?

In order to use a SIM card from another country, you will have to have your phone "unlocked" (get the unlock code from Tmobile). If you don't unlock the phone, a SIM from another company other than Tmobile will not work.

Monique, The first thing you need to confirm is whether your phone is a quad-band model and equipped with the two Euro frequency bands (900 & 1800 MHz). If that's the case, the phone should work fine in Italy. Be sure to check the Charger to ensure it's designed for "world operation". Appropriate Plug Adapters will of course be required. If you're just planning to make occasional voice calls and perhaps some "light" text messaging, the least complicated and most cost effective solution would be to simply roam with T-Mobile. Check with their customer service rep's to find out if they offer any "Travel Packs" which provide better rates when roaming. If your phone is a Smartphone you'll have to be extremely careful not to use data roaming, as the charges can be HUGE! I wouldn't bother buying a SIM in Italy. Some users have reported "issues" lately when buying these, due to increased enforcement of the anti-terrorism laws. The compliance seems to be a bit erratic though, so some retailers sell these readily and others insist on a Codice Fiscale{/i] prior to selling the SIM. If you have a compatible phone, you could also consider buying a SIM from one of the "travel phone" firms, which would provide you with a working phone as soon as you step off the plane. Happy travels!

Monique, I use T-Mobile and it works fine overseas, but you have to call and get them to activate international roaming. It is free, but otherwise your phone won't work. The other advice so far is good: check to be sure your phone will support European radio bands. Now, having said I use T-Mobile, I have to qualify that: I use it very, very sparingly. In fact, I forward all my incoming calls to voicemail (actually a Google Voice number so that I get texts with transcripts of any messages left). I generally use the phone only to send text messages to those traveling with me. For calling and data use, I have another phone in which I use a foreign SIM card. You have lots of other options. Paste the following search into google and read through some of the recent posts on the subject. I've included "Italy" in the search query to try and limit the options to ones specific to where you are headed. site:www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline "/11" Italy cell phone Note: ignore the top search "results" that aren't to ricksteves.com. They are just ads.

My quad band T-Mobile razor phone worked in Europe. I'm not sure that applies to any T-Mobile phone (althouth they all use sim cards). Depending on what you have, and how hard it is to get unlocked (I had a hard time getting T-Mobile to unlock mine), it may be best to just buy a cheap phone when you arrive in Europe. If your phone works, you can stop by any phone store or kiosk (they have kiosks in the airport) and buy a sim card that gives you a local phone number (and local phone rates for outbound calls, inbound calls are free). If you travel outside of Italy, your sim card will be roaming and you will pay a lot more. There are also international sim cards, they are better for someone hopping frequently through many countries. Their rates are significantly higher, however, than a local sim card on a local call.

Hi Monique,
We used T-Mobile in France/Italy/Netherlands/Turkey last year. Do contact them regarding roaming and international services. We found that texting was much, much cheaper than phone calls, and used it to stay in touch in Europe, and with family in Oregon. Evelyn

I have T-Mobile, the very basic cheap phone. I searched their website for ages for info on overseas use. Very little info, and hard to find. Went into a store to talk to a person. No info, just tried to sell me international calling stuff, and told me to call customer service. They said my phone would work, activated international roaming for free, told me it would be, I think, $1.29 a minute. The phone did not work at all, anywhere in Paris. Message on phone was "No Network Available." This was not that big of a deal for me. I just bought a phone card, called home once from a phone booth to check in. I was staying in the same hotel, so my family could leave a msg if they needed to. I haven't yet called T-Mobile to bitch about their poor service, both in the lack of info and the inability to use my phone, but I will.

Karen, I am sorry you had such difficulty with T-Mobile. Customer service isn't great at so many places these days. It really forces us all to practice self-help. If you are ever in such a position again, please post here and someone will try and tell you if you phone should work in Europe and what else you may need to do. My guess is that you did not have a tri- or quad-band phone, so the phone lacked the radio frequencies they use over there. Despite your troubles, T-Mobile has worked well for me in several countries and it works as soon as I turn the phone on. It is not cheap, however, and so I am very careful with how I use it.

Paul, I am a bit of a techno idiot, but had seen enough info on this helpline that I had the right questions to ask. Was my phone a quad band, was it on the right frequency, did T-Mobile cover the area I'd be in, did I need a different SIM card? The customer service was sure it would work, and I was skeptical. Just a warning to Monique to be skeptical as well, and to learn from my experience. If she'll really need a phone she should have a back up plan. Not having a phone probably saved me from a few "where do we keep the..." calls.

Karen, "The phone did not work at all, anywhere in Paris. Message on phone was "No Network Available." Did the phone ever work during the time you were in Europe? I've found that often when I first turn on the phone at the airport, it immediately does a "Network Search", and typically doesn't "find" a network (even though lots are available). I usually have to "force" it to register on a particular network. Once that's done, it works fine during the rest of the trip, even if roaming on different carriers (ie: when travelling from one country to another). The above scenario seems to occur whether I'm roaming with my home carrier or using a "travel SIM".

Karen, LOL! "Speaking sternly" doesn't usually achieve the desired result with technology, nor does swearing at it (I know, I've tried!). I don't believe you specified which type of "very basic cheap phone" you were using? Could you provide further details? On my venerable Motorola V-551, I normally follow this procedure: > Go to "Settings" (on my phone, this is represented by a small "Screwdriver and Wrench" icon). > Choose "Network" which will provide a choice of: - New Network - Network Setup - Available Networks
- My Network List I can't remember for sure, but I believe I choose "Available Networks" and when it provides a list, I scroll down to the one I want and click "Register". I've been using a "travel SIM" for the last two years (obtained from Roam Simple), which is on the O2 Telefonica (UK) network. If I'm starting in the UK, I simply register on that network, and the phone s the appropriate roaming partner when I travel to different countries. I don't know what criteria they use for ing roaming partners, as the networks seem to change frequently when I'm travelling from one area to another? If my trip begins in a country other than the UK, I can't recall which method I used to choose a network to register with? O2 likely has roaming agreements with all of them, so it may not matter? When in Italy, I normally start with TIM as it's one of the largest and seems to have good coverage. I'll likely be travelling with an iPhone next year, and I may again use a "travel SIM", but will have to do some further research on what plans are available at that time. Hope this helps.

Ken, I was only in Paris, and I tried all over the city and airport to get a signal. Just how do you "force" a phone to do something it doesn't want to? I spoke sternly to it, and gave it "The Look" but it would not cooperate. Guess I'm just not a good phone disciplinarian.

Karen, Ken is right. Sometimes the U.S. phone companies set the phones they sell so they only look for that phone company as an approved network. It has been a long time since I've had to fiddle with that setting, though. On the newer phones I've owned, the phone sets itself properly. On the Android smartphones I have, for example, they all have made the necessary setting changes as soon as they were turned on with a different cell company's SIM card loaded (edit: add the I N S E R T word as another one that is blocked by the software for this site) or when turned on in a foreign location. I've not experienced the delay in having my phone register itself that Ken has experienced, but I may have just been lucky. We used to have to hand-tune everything, and especially so if we wanted to make a data connection. The new phones have spoiled me so much that I'm not sure I could reset a phone now if I needed to do so. I'd have to do some Internet searching beforehand, at the least. If you have a phone that you're not sure will work, I'd go to cell phone site (I like phonescoop.com) and see what radio frequencies they show as working on the phone. For Europe you need 900 and 1800, although there may come a day in the future when the 3G/4G frequencies will be more important. You've obviously discovered that asking customer service is not necessarily the best way to get accurate information.

Karen, I don't think you "hijacked" the Thread as you're both looking for somewhat the same information. It would help if you could post information on what model of Cellphone you're using for travel? I learned an interesting fact about "customer service rep's" a few years ago. On one of my trips to Italy, I encountered a group of travellers from the U.S., who were very perplexed on why their "GSM phone" wouldn't work. After all, the customer service rep's had assured them that "it's a GSM phone so it will definitely work in Europe". I checked the phone for them, and discovered that while it was in fact a GSM phone, it was a dual-band model and only equipped with the two North American frequency bands. I assured them that it would never work in Italy (or anywhere else in Europe). So much for the information provided by "customer service"! Cheers!

I'm starting to feel like I highjacked the thread, but I hope Monique is finding good info. Thanks, Ken, for your detailed description. I've copied it down for future use. I never really did believe my phone would work. I think we've all learned these days to never actually trust customer service until you see proof. And to call to complain about same service? Useless.

Karen wrote, " I never really did believe my phone would work." If we had known that, we might have given you different advice. You have to be sensitive to its feelings. You have to believe. It is somewhat akin to clapping to keep Tinkerbell alive.

Ken, it's the very cheapest that Tmobile sells- an LG GS170. Only comes in red. Perhaps it wasn't stylish enough to work in Paris.

Karen, the LG GS170 only has two radio frequencies, GSM 850 + 1900, the ones that work in the U.S. Your phone was looking for a connection over those two frequencies but couldn't find any cell company in Europe using them so that is why you got the message you did.

Karen, As Paul mentioned, the LG GS170 is only equipped with the two North American frequency bands, which is precisely why it wouldn't work in Europe (and possibly why it was so cheap). Rest assured tht it wasn't a question of "style" or the fact that you didn't speak sternly enough to it. You might want to have a look at unlocked quad-band GSM phones on E-Bay. Be sure to only look for "basic" phones such as the V-551, and NOT Smartphones. Are you planning to travel with a Cell phone in future, and if so are you going to use international roaming with T-Mobile? If you were planning to use a "travel SIM", many of the firms that offer these also sell fairly inexpensive phones. Cheers!

See. that's exactly what ticks me off. I had looked for band info on their site, and asked specifically if MY phone had the correct bandwidth to work where I was going. In fact, last night I had an online chat with a rep and was told next time I should call to troubleshoot. They still didn't seem to realize that the phone in question just won't work. I am surprised they didn't take the opp to upgrade me!