Best Sim for cell phone - will be in Italy for a month

What is your current carrier?
What phone do you have?
Is it unlocked?
Does it have dual SIM/eSIM capability?

The major mobile phone providers in Italy are TIM, Vodafone, Wind3. All of them can sell you local SIM (eSIM included, since physical SIM are going out of style) and prices are similar. The issue is whether you can install another SIM in your existing phone or if you need a new one.

Here are the search results for "Sim italy" for the past year:

https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=1y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=Sim+italy&utf8=%E2%9C%93

Results for "esim italy" for past year. There may be some duplication:

https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=1y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=ESim+italy&utf8=%E2%9C%93

What is your current carrier? ATT
What phone do you have? iPhone 13 may upgrade before I leave
Is it unlocked? Yes
Does it have dual SIM/eSIM capability? Don't know. This is a new topic for me.

The major mobile phone providers in Italy are TIM, Vodafone, Wind3. All of them can sell you local SIM (eSIM included, since physical SIM are going out of style) and prices are similar. The issue is whether you can install another SIM in your existing phone or if you need a new one.

Thank you for this information Roberto. I now have questions to ask ATT.

Thanks Mark CW. How did you find this information? Did you do a general search on the internet?

I believe AT&T caps their $10/day international roaming after 10 days so for $100 you'd just have normal use of your phone without any hassle. That is per billing cycle month (not calendar month) but you can shift your billing date before you leave.

How did you find this information?

I used the Search function right here on the Rick Steves website. It isn't that easy to find the first time.

You access it based on the device you're using to access the site. Right now I'm on an Android tablet, so I would find the Search function via the menu icon [the five horizontal bars] at the top of the page in the blue bar to the left of Rick Steves Europe. On a browser on a computer the Search field may be displayed at the top of the main page.

It's best to use limited search terms - "Sim italy" may return better results than "best Sim for cell phone italy". The query uses AND [+] to join each word in the search string, so the more words you use, the smaller the result set.

Once the search results come back, you can further limit them by specifying travel forum only, and then how many years you want to go back. Give it a try.

I think dual sim capability is for IPhone14 and after.
If your phone is unlocked you can insert an Italian physical Sim Card with any Itslian provider of your choice. However once you insert an Italian SIM card in place of your US SIM card, you won’t be able to receive or make calls or SMS text messages on from your US number. You can make calls and texts from your Italian number to anybody, but if you make a regular phone call (or text) to an American number you will incur expensive charges. In terms of data usage you will be using the data allotted by your Italian plan. That means you can use WhatsApp also. If you upgrade to a iPhone 14 or later, you can have two eSIM (basically two numbers, your Italian and your US number. I presume ATT will charge you for the use of your US number, but I don’t have ATT so I don’t know how it works. Obviously the updated phone must be fully paid because if you purchase it with a payment plan with ATT, the phone will be locked and you can only insert ATT SIM cards. I have TMobile Magenta plan, and I can use it overseas with no extra charges (aside for a $0.25 a min charge for regular calls. Bought a iPhone15 yesterday, which has dual eSIM capability, but haven’t used it in Italy or in the U.S., so no personale experience yet.

Roberto et al:

One minor correction... I have an unlocked 12Pro and I can run multiple eSIMs. You can even switch back. and forth if you need to for any reason. (eg you bought a "data-only" eSIM and you need to make a normal phone call without WhatsApp)

I’ve had good luck this year getting Iliad eSIMs for my friends and family visitors. Iliad is a mobile virtual network operator that offers great prices and their plans include a ridiculous amount of data (e.g., 150 GB/month) and free calls to the U.S., Canada and lots of other countries. The price/value is the best I’ve found, 7.99 Euros for a month of unlimited texts and calls + 120 GB of data, plus a one-time activation fee of 9.99 Euros. You can sign up online or at kiosks found all over, including in grocery stores. Cell coverage is 5G in most places, including my tiny mountain village.

BUT - It is a little finicky to sign up. You have to have an Italian codice fiscale (comparable to a social security number but easy to obtain online) and you need to be sure NOT to enter an ongoing payment method so they don’t bill you for future months. The website doesn’t have an automatic toggle to English, although the kiosks do. At the kiosk, you can get a physical SIM or an eSIM.

So it depends how much effort you’re willing to put in to save money. For about twice the cost, you can get a Vodafone or TIM SIM upon arrival at an Italian airport and they will activate it for you. That’s still half of what your American or Canadian provider will charge you.

I do the setup for my visitors, so it’s easy for them. Up to you, but Iliad is a solid option.