cell phones in italy

Get a used unlocked GSM phone on ebay, then purchase a pre paid SIM card for Italy. Example: The Samsung A437 works really well as a travel phone through out the world, except in Japan. But it must be unlocked, easy to find the free instructions on the internet.
TIM is one of the GSM carriers in Italy. I believe all incoming calls are free, you just pay for outgoing calls.
Another option is to call you cell provider here in the US and tell them you are going overseas, and need to get your phone unlocked so you can use the purchased local country SIM card. But you must have a GSM phone, which you probably do.

Steve, who were you calling? At $1 a minute and for 12 days, that meant you spent over an hour on the phone each day! You're on vacation; put down the phone!! Just kidding :-)

Seriously, though, it isn't that hard to get a cell phone. Either get your USA phone unlocked if it is a GSM phone, or buy a cheap unlocked one on eBay. Buy a SIM card in Italy. You are supposed to have an Italian identity card (Codice Fiscale) to buy one, but many shops will sell you one with just your Passport as ID (they'll make a photocopy of it). Try a couple of stores, you'll find one that will sell you one. Then you can make cheap calls in Italy, and calls at much less than $1/min to the US. Furthermore incoming calls will be free, so if you need to talk to people from home have them get one of the 4 cents/minute plans and get them to call you.

steve,

As your bill last year came to $800, I'm assuming you already have a quad band GSM phone. Were most of your calls back to the US or within Italy?

Using a PAYG SIM card on one of the Italian networks is certainly one option, but you might find that if you make a lot of calls back to the US you'll be topping it up frequently and it won't be significantly less expensive. Would it be possible for you to use text messaging more, as it's considerably cheaper?

If you're travelling with a Laptop, you might be able to save some money by using SKYPE, but of course you'd need to have access to Internet each time you wanted to make a call.

Good luck!

thank you jeff mike and ken,i travel ith kids hence the heavy useage i think i am going to insist on more texting and less talking. Planning to get i phone next month hear they are great for european travel

We had unlocked phones and bought Italian SIM cards. As far as instructions are concerned, your bilingual hotel clerk will help you as will every young person in Italy who are probably all bilingual.

So easy. So inexpensive. 0.12€/minute in country. 0.50/min to call the US and incoming call time is totally free.

Steve,
If you take an iphone to Europe be sure to turn off the data update transmission or you will have a huge bill.

Just back from Italy, used my iphone, it was great. I did turn off data roaming before we got on the plane in the US. I found several places that had free wi-fi. I used text messages only to get in touch with my kids at home. Waiting for the bill next month...we'll see. Should only be about .50¢ per text according to AT&T website.

I loved having my iPhone this trip. I was able to check email, even surfed the web a bit. I posted a few photos on my Facebook page too.

You will love your iPhone once you get it. Make sure you find some good apps that will be helpful. I like the currency exchange rate, language assists, and a few games to play when bored on a long train ride, or at night in the hotel.

I just got back from Italy and used an unlocked cell phone with a TIM SIM chip that I bought from telestial.com. Chip costs me $39 and I added 10 Euro of airtime. Rate is 9c/minute, incoming calls are free. You can buy the whole package from me if you want, including the unlocked Motorola RAZR V3 quad-band phone, SIM chip, and existing airtime for $99. Contact me at 425-894-0993 if interested.