I have read many comments on different cell phone plans for tourists-some good and some not.
We are not tech savvy and need a plan with good reliable service while touring Italy for 33 days.
Any suggestions?
We will also need a means of extending service beyond the 30 day tourist plan.
Get an Italian SIM card for one of your cell phones for local calls and GPS. Contact your US cell service provider for their international plans for your other phone.
We use Tracphone here in the US and they don't offer international service.
We were thinking of adding an Italian plan to one phone upon arriving in Venice. Then 4 days later, returing to the same phone store and adding the same tourist plan to the 2nd phone. This will give us a working sim card for the full 33 days on at least one phone throughout the trip.
Last year we arrived in Venice and went to the Tim company store close to the train station and installed the Tim for Tourists there. We received excellent service and had no complaints with all.
Is Tim still a good option for service, or should we consider another service company?
A lot depends what company you are currently contracted with and what kind of phone you have. Your options may be limited. Also, what do you need to use your phone for? Local calls, google maps, calling or texting home?
Having asked all that we, personally, have found that Google Fi is the best deal we have found. This would only work for you if you have a compatible phone and are able to switch to their plan without significant penalty. Basically Google Fi charges $10 per gigabyte of data in the states or anywhere in the world (vs $50 on Verizon travel plan), free texting and 0.20/min for phone calls. We recently traveled throughout Europe for a month using our Google phone extensively with no problems whatever. Tip - if you plan to use google maps download them when you have a good wifi connection and use them offline (turn off data while navigating). Works fine and easy to do. We drove all over England and parts of Spain doing this.
You have probably seen the options of buying a local SIM card or simply purchasing a cheap phone from a local carrier. Both are fairly easy but can be a little "techy" Since you say you are not tech savvy the google plan could be best if you are eligible. Also, we find it is cheaper here in the states than any other plans we have found.
Good luck and enjoy your trip, Robbie
First step is 5o make sure your phones will work in Italy. I might be mistaken but I seem to recall that some Tracphones would not accept or work with an Italian SIM card. If yours does work, the two largest suppliers in Italy are TIM and Vodafone . Both offer 30 day tourist cards for €30 with different amounts of data, minutes, etc. Choose the one that fits your needs. I personally choose TIM because of the large data allowance.
Robbie,
We use Motorola G5 Plus cell phones. Where do check to see if Google wiit work on them?
You said: "when you have a good wifi connection and use them offline (turn off data while navigating"
How do we do this...will we still get the active voice directions when we are using google maps offline, or do we just follow the
text directions while we are viewing the map while walking and driving?
We were just in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and found with our travels we would need 5 SIMs
No, only two SIMs at most: one for Bosnia, one for the other countries.
dgrieco, if you used a TIM SIM last year with these same phones, then I'd use them again. TIM has a great reputation, and you yourself have had a good experience with them. Vodafone is good too - but why not just stick with TIM?
You may need to top-up or buy a second SIM after the first 30 days. Ask how to do that at the TIM store. Maybe you can re-charge at a TIM store somewhere else on your travels.
Be sure to check with your existing cell phone provider as to what their charges would be if you used your existing service plan and phone while in Europe. Not all US cell phone plans are expensive in Europe.
If you choose to get a SIM card for your phone for use in Europe, note that you may have to buy it in Europe rather than in the US.
Anyone have any experience using T-Mobile in Italy? I was told this may be a good option.
How soon are you going? We will be using T-Mobile in Italy in October. It has worked fine in England/Scotland and Greece and I think my husband has used it with no problems in France and Germany.
Cala,
We're leaving in September. Thank you for the offer.
Can you tell me if there is anyting that needs to be done to the phone upon arrival in Europe, using T-Mobile.
Or is it just like anyother day's use in the US?
Using T-Mobile in Europe is pretty easy. Turn on your phone...and wait about 2-3 minutes so it can register on one of the local roaming mobile networks. Then you'll get a "Welcome to Italy!" text message with info about rates (calls are 25 cents/minute, texting is free, unlimited 2G data, etc.). Data is a little slow (T-Mobile "throttles" the speed to slow it down; you can buy "high speed data passes" if you want faster data for a few days), but some find the slower data perfectly usable.
You will need to enable roaming and data roaming in your phone's settings, though.
Most helpful, thank you.
Just got off the phone with T-Mobile and found that their service will be more costly, have slower data, a charge for all phone calls, and there will be a costly complication with us porting our cell phone numbers with the T-Mobile service. Too bad, hoping to use them.
So, looks like Andrew H. wins out....going to the TIM store that we walk right by on the way to our apartment and activate there. Worked fine last year and hoping that it will again this year.
**Still considering activating one phone upon arrival, and then activating a second phone 4 days later (at the same TIM store), before leaving Venice. What I am thinking is, if we did this, we would have one active/working TIM Sim card in at least one phone for our entire 33 day stay.
Is this low tech guy missing something important, will this work, or maybe a better idea???
The TIM plan states...NON Renewable Offer. Not exactly sure what that means? Days cannot be added onto the origianl 30?
Some of these SIM cards for tourists may not be renewable. TIM does sell other prepaid SIM plans that can be renewed, though, I think. So does Vodafone.
The question is, what is your itinerary? After you start your trip, will you be anywhere near a town that might have a TIM or Vodafone store? At worst, if you are unable to top off the first SIM to extend it, you could buy a second SIM close to the end of your first 30 days. Or...maybe live without a SIM for the first few days and just use WiFi?
This blog includes some info about prepaid SIM card offers in Italy:
Robbie,
We use Motorola G5 Plus cell phones. Where do check to see if Google wiit work on them?
You said: "when you have a good wifi connection and use them offline (turn off data while navigating"
How do we do this...will we still get the active voice directions when we are using google maps offline, or do we just follow the
text directions while we are viewing the map while walking and driving?
A somewhat belated response but, yes, Moto G5 works with google Fi. Go to fi.google.com for details. I don't remember if there were any start up fees - I don't think so. You might also google for reviews of google fi for travel for further information.
When using google maps off line it is the same as on line except that you do not get traffic updates, so, yes, voice guidance works. Again, you can download maps at home before you travel. They remain active for 30 days. They do use a lot of data so you save a few bucks when you do it on Wifi connection.
Robbie
What T Mobile plan are you talking about?
I have the Magenta plus, which basically gives you unlimited data and texts, also overseas. Voice calls are 25cents a minute. If you have that it would probably suffice.
Vodafone and TIM have various plans for foreigners. They start at 30€ for the first month and they can be renewed automatically for 10-12€ a month if you stay longer.
