Phones

In Italy, TIM has a "Recarica Famiglia" plan that
allows 4 phones to talk to each other for $.00 per minute for one week. I brought 4 unlocked GSM phones, bought TIM SIM chips
for $10 Euro each, then paid an additional $5 (once) for the family plan. Then I handed out the phones and everyone could split
up/reconnect at will throughout the trip. $45 total and I got $5 in outbound calling per phone. Inexplicably, the TIM store at
Rome's airport can't be reached by arriving passengers. Instead, search for a TIM store here:

http://www.privati.tim.it/pr/pr_risultati/1,,,00.html?pag=1&tuttoS=true. Remember to type in the Italian city name (e.g. "Roma", "Firenze").

I bought Sony T200 European phones years ago for $50 on the Internet and they work great, less cost than a rental.

Beware of roaming on your existing GSM phone, the charges can give you a post-trip nightmare. These plans are not marketed to
tourists because there's no profit for a SIM chip that will be used a week or two, hence you have to scratch a bit. But the
effort to find a store and buy the chips in-country has a handsome payoff. Write to me if you have more questions on phones in Italy, since I just came back and it worked out great.

Thanks for your reply. I want to use the phone to call back to the United States not for usage in Italy. Is this phone good for that?

If you just want to call back to the US, then a simple phone or calling card is the most convenient.

Do you buy it here or there?

I want to take my iphone to use for mostly other than phone. However, how do I recharge without blowing up the phone? Will the regular USA connector to the 3prong italian plug be OK? Peggy

Peggy, could you elaborate on what you mean by using your I-Phone " for mostly other than phone"??? If you're planning to use if for internet surfing, E-mail or other "data" uses, I hope you have a LARGE budget! Regarding charging the I-Phone, have a look at the "input voltage" on the Charger - if this states "100-240 VAC", then all you'll need is a simple Plug Adaptor to use this in Europe.

Linda, the "cheapest" method for calls back to the U.S. is probably an international phone card. Using a Cell phone for that is probably not going to be "cheap" although if you keep the calls short it may be manageable. A few options you could look at would be:

Use a rental phone from Cellular Abroad, Roam Simple, Mobal or one of the other firms that offer this type of service.

Buy an inexpensive quad-band, unlocked GSM phone off E-Bay or Craig's List and buy a PAYG SIM when you arrive in Italy, or use a SIM from one of the firms mentioned above.

If you have a Cell phone in the U.S. with either AT&T or T-Mobile, ask about their roaming rates and just use that method (keeping calls infrequent and short though, as calls back to North America usually run about $2 per minute!).

Good luck!

I am going at the end of June, and I ordered a cell phone from www.callineurope.com. It was $80 for a phone and sim card shipped to my house. I probably could have saved a few bucks buying a used phone and SIM, but I wanted to have an Italian phone number before I left.

Buy phone cards at 5 euros only at internet points and bars, dial the free number, press english language and dial the number you need to speak
It is the cheapest way.

Linda,
VERIFY VERIFY VERIFY; but, having said that...I used the iPhone in October in Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome & AMalfi Coast. I bought a data usage plan (50 mb for $30) and used International phone plan ($.99/minute vs the $1.29/minute). AT&T and Apple have extensive information about how to safely do this (turn off auto update, reset usage on flight from USA to Italy, use WiFi when possible) Incoming texts were free, outgoing inexpensive. I used the phone portion very sparingly, but used the other functions (addresses, calendars, etc) a lot. I think for almost three weeks my phone/internet costs approx. $60. To me, it was worth it BUT I WAS VERY CAREFUL! Read all the info I could, verified with AT&T customer service, cancelled the monthly international fee the second I landed in USA.

I loved having my own phone, but I don't use the phone much when I'm travelling. Mainly for quick check ins and confirming travel plans.

Ken, thanks for your note. I will use my iphone for it's PDA qualities - my itinerary, listen to books/music, etc. Maybe occasional phone, but definately not for internet as the cost will be too much. The iphone charger is 110-240 so will work with an adapter. Peggy

Peggy, that's good to hear! I was hoping you weren't planning on using the Internet or E-mail functions, as that gets very expensive when roaming.

I can appreciate using it for E-books, Itinerary or whatever as I have an I-Pod Touch so have many of the same applications. Since it also offers Wi-Fi capability, I can use for E-mail and limited web surfing if necessary (and the cost won't be too steep). It's a bit of a challenge to function with the small display, but now that I'm getting used to it, I'm getting along quite well.

Happy travels!