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Cell Phone in Italy

We are trying to figure out the best service for using a phone in Italy. We have Verizon and can get a monthly plan for $100, which has 5 gigs of memory. However, we will be gone 6 weeks. Our hotels will have free wifi that we will use while in hotels. We will be on our own for about 10 days at the beginning, will join our tour group then for 2 weeks and will be on our own for another 2 weeks at which time we will be driving and will want navigation access. During the 2 weeks with our tour group, we won't need phone service much. I hope this isn't too confusing. Any advice would be appreciated.

Posted by
11052 posts

Since you say “we” I assume there are two phones you can use. Get a European SIM card for one phone for local calls. For the other phone, get Verizon’s international plan. We use that plan for medical emergencies we have had, lots of calls to US to doctors, and your family can text to it. With your long time abroad this will cover your needs best. We always do this.

Posted by
154 posts

Do you really need a phone service? We use wifi and email and tell everyone to text us or email us. That is cheap and if something urgent comes, we phone and pay the high roaming charges. I enter the phone numbers of our accommodation into my phone and don’t answer any phone calls unless I recognize the caller.
You can access directions to your next destination through wifi and download it to your phone and it works like a charm. Just watch out for directions that will send you into restricted areas in towns and cities or you will get a large fine.

Posted by
5687 posts

Patty, the Italian prepaid SIM cards are good for about a month. Your Verizon phone must be unlocked to use one - if you bought the phone from Verizon, check with them about that. "Unlocking" means that the first time you insert a SIM besides your Verizon SIM, you have to enter an unlock code one time - you get that code from Verizon. Once you enter that code, your phone is unlocked forever.

Your phone may also have an 'eSIM' capability, meaning you can get an electronic SIM without removing your Verizon SIM card. I have no experience with this - others in the forums have.

You'll have an Italian phone number while you have an Italian SIM card in place. If you want to call or text the US, I recommend signing up for Google Voice (free) - which gives you a second US phone number you can use from your phone to call and text people. Calls and texts to/from the US are free, even from Europe. The person you are calling does not need Google Voice - you can call landlines with Google Voice. Google Voice can work with just WiFi. You could skip the Italian SIM card and keep your Verizon phones in Airplane Mode the entire time and enable WiFi, and use Google Voice to call home (or listen to voicemail messages) and text people while you have WiFi. Just make sure anyone at home who might be expecting a call/text from you has your new/additional Google number first before you leave the states. Test it all out before you leave; it works the same from Europe.

If you got an Italian SIM, then you'd be able to use Google Voice even while you aren't on WiFi.

I find it very useful to have mobile data all the time on my phone when I travel. I find maps and directions especially helpful. However, for just driving, you don't need mobile service at all to use your phone as a GPS. Download maps ahead of time for the region where you will travel ahead of time e.g. with Google Maps "offline maps," and then you can keep your phone in Airplane Mode but GPS will still work for driving directions and driving maps. (Not walking directions.)