Do you know if there's a place at the Venice airport to buy Vodaphones? And staffed with people who can explain the use and topping off minutes? I read somewhere on the Forum that "customer service" is not so great at some phone vendors and they just sell you the phone and leave you to figure it out yourself. If available, would the airport be a better place to buy 2 phones?
Posted by
🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️
3309 posts
Venice airport is on the small side. According to their website, there are no dedicated telephone stores at the airport. Just curious. Why are you buying phones in Venice?
Posted by
Pacific Northwest
2699 posts
Have you looked into options for just bringing your phones with you? And if you're willing to buy two phones, how about buying two cheapie TMobile phones and then using their service....free data and texts, calls at 20 cents per minute and free if you call on WIFI.
Posted by
OP
North Carolina
362 posts
Valerie - we are taking both our Verizon phones with us. I will use the monthly international plan and husband will use the $10 a day international plan - both expensive considering the long length of our trip, when using minutes and data. There will be many, many times when we are out of the apartments and not together, so the cheapest way to communicate without WIFI is an Italian burner/flip-phone so we can call each other. At least, that's our thinking.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
I bought a phone at the TIM store at Milano Centrale a few years ago, I use it for 89 days and get a new SIM card every summer from whichever company has the best deal (this year it was Vodaphone, €20 for the new SIM card, €30 for three months' contract, 900 minutes total). The salesperson set it up, including date, time, and default language.
Never have had a problem with customer service.
If you can't find a store at Venezia Marco Polo airport, you will find a store in the city, I am sure, for one of the carriers.
Posted by
Pacific Northwest
2699 posts
If your already shelling out for the Verizon plans and you're going to buy new phones and coverage with the other phones, why not consolidate and just bring two TMobile phones? You can use those for your international use and then you two can text away to each other all day long for no cost. And you get free data then!
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16236 posts
There are Vodafone stores and authorized dealers in Venice itself but not the airport.
Just use your home phone for when you first arrive then you have time to search for Vodafone stores.
If you plan to use local phones while in Italy then you may not need to purchase the international plan from Verizon on top of that.
If you have smart phones you can buy the Vodafone holiday plan which includes 2Gb of data, 300 minutes of international voice calls and 300 text messages. The above are outgoing calls and texts because incoming calls and texts are always free. The cost is 30€ including the cost of the SIM card.