We are arriving and departing from Milan for a two-week trip to Cinque Terre, central Switzerland and Chamonix, France. Should I buy a new SIM card for my IPhone, or purchase a disposable phone for this trip? Does one SIM card work in all three countries?
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16243 posts
If you have an unlocked iPhone, you can buy a SIM card in Italy when you arrive. It will work in all 3 countries, however international roaming charges will apply once you cross the border and the phone picks up the signal from the Swiss provider. I have my SIM from Vodafone, and I purchased my last one near the Malpensa airport (in Gallarate at the Vodafone store), there is no store inside the airport. Vodafone has a "passport" deal that for a certain amount a day (I think it was 3 euro/day or a higher amount for the week), they include data and voice roaming charges when you cross the border. You can activate that service on the day you cross the border. Other providers (such as TIM, or Wind) have similar plans. For examples TIM has a "TIM in viaggio pass" that for 20 euro gives you 500 min+500 SMS texts+500 Mb data to be used for 10 days in Europe or USA. Otherwise for one day only would be 3 euro/day, but for each voice minute or each SMS text you would pay 16 cents each.
http://www.tim.it/estero/chiamare-e-navigare
If you use outside Italy, buy that feature because international data roaming charges are not cheap.
Posted by
Charleston, SC, USA
927 posts
We just returned from Italy and we used an iPhone on Verizon. If you have an iPhone 5 or higher, it will work in Europe. Verizon has a new international plan that gives you 100 minutes of talk and 100 texts for $40. It also includes a small amount of data.
Posted by
OP
20 posts
Thanks for the great information. One more uncertainty about Europe travel has been answered.