How well does at&t international plan work in Italy?

We've used it twice in Italy and in other countries as well. What could be difficult about it? Once you've had ATT add it to your service, nothing changes in how your phone works. ATT doesnt run the networks over there anyway, they just use local partner service providers. Nothing changed in the way we operated or used the phones, other than we minimized data usage to avoid the $10/day rate. Perhaps they were just not used to thinking in European phone numbers or failed to use the right international codes to call home.

Agree with Stan. We've used it for years - at least a dozen trips to Italy. We don't use the $10/day plan, however. We go with a $60.00-for-30-days plan with limited data and then try to confine our data usage to WiFi by keeping cellular data turned off until we need to use it, turn it on (usually to look up transportation schedules or maps), get what we need, and turn it back off. In 28 days on this year's trip I didn't use more than half of the data I was allowed.

Edited to add: I should say that we make (or receive) almost no calls from the U.S. while we're over there, communicating mostly by email.

Mary, one possibility is that your friends' phones just aren't able to pick up the fastest European data networks (LTE). It may be due to the phone, not due to AT&T, who simply has roaming partners in Europe e.g. Vodafone and TIM. The US uses different mobile frequencies than are used in Europe. Could be a phone that works great in the US because it can connect to all the AT&T frequencies can only connect to 3G or even slow 2G networks in Europe. It seems unlikely to me to be an AT&T issue (other than AT&T's roaming plans being expensive, in my opinion).

It’s expensive but has worked fine for me. When the phone has cellular data allowed it works just like it does at home and you’re charged $10 for that day. What problems has your friend seen? I don’t make many phone calls, I mostly use it for internet and for texting home or my travel companions (in Italy with me but with their US numbers). So if the problem is with voice call I might not have noticed. Internet and text works well.

Worked great on our decent two week trip. Expensive? How much are you spending on your trip?

I used it in Rome and Sorrento in 2015 with no problems. My phone just continued to work as always. I texted and used data the same as always. I used the one fee for 30 days plan rather than the $10 a day plan.

Mary,

We used the plan last year in Italy and it worked well. We used the $10/day plan as it leveraged our US data plan. We tried the other plans, but my husband can't stay off wireless and in two days we blew the plan away. To minimize the costs for the $10/day plan limited it to one phone and used wi-fi as much as possible.

Sandy

If your phone is unlocked, buy a SIM card from either TIM or Vodafone. Both have Tourist plans for €30 per month. Each company offers plans with different benefits. If you are flying into FCO, TIM has a store in Terminal 3. There are stores from both companies all over Italy. Their cell service is as good as AT&T in the US.

My husband is only staying three weeks, though, and he is more interested in not missing any important business calls from home, so we are trying to figure out which plan to get for him - the $10/day or the $60/30 day plan. I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this, but when they say how much data you get for each plan my eyes glaze over because I really don't now how much that is! Since we have unlimited data, I just don't pay attention to how much I use - I know, my bad - so when they give me a number I really don't know if it's "enough" or not.

I'm guessing he would be better off with the $60/30 day plan. It's a better deal than Verizon's monthly plan in my view: at least you get 1GB of data, which is not much for three weeks, but if you get a local SIM card in Europe, at least you can share data with him from your phone if you turn it into a WiFi hotspot. He can keep track of his data use through his phone - should be able to check that in settings. (Not sure AT&T officially lets you track it.) If he gets close to using his 1GB, he can stop using data - put the phone in airplane mode, turn on WiFI, and use your hotspot from your phone or just use the phone on WiFI at the hotel, etc.

Most modern smart phones are smart enough to limit data use when you are not on WiFi. They put off downloading updates, etc. So you yourself might not use much data per day while traveling. Try to avoid streaming videos on the phone. When I travel, I avoid that too - I use about 100MB to 150MB per day just using Google Maps pretty much everywhere plus Facebook and email. So I might use 3GB to 4GB a month. You can track your own data use as you go on your phone, too, but you should be able to get a lot more data than your husband will have on his AT&T monthly plan.

(And so because your husband's phone will think he's on WiFi when he connects to your phone as a hotspot...it WILL do updates and download stuff using your data, so be careful! If he needs to use your phone's hotspot, tell him to do it sparingly.)

You can connect your iPad to your phone's hotspot, too, using the mobile data on the SIM you are going to buy over there.

Be sure to install WhatsApp before you get to Europe. It is very popular there, and you might be able to call a lot of people for free with it without needing to dial actual phone numbers to call them.

Talk to the ATT reps, but as the $10/day plan could potentially cost you up to $210 for three weeks, it seems like the monthly plan would be more reasonable. I think (can't recall) incoming calls and texts also trigger the $10/day charge, so leaving your phone on all the time would be a risk.

Might also be wise for your husband to learn to use the "WiFi Calling" feature if is phone supports it. If so, if he has any long phone calls to make home, he can make them while on WiFi and save the hefty 35 cents/minute for using AT&T (if he goes with the $60/month plan). He needs to understand what "WiFi Calling" means though - it's more than just "making a call while you are on WiFi." It's a feature your phone has to support and you must turn on.

He could also setup the Google Voice app on his phone before departing. This app would let him call the US for free, even to landlines, while on WiFi or using his plan's mobile data. Nice to have if you have to call your airline or your bank and get put on hole for a while. 35 cents/minute adds up fast!

Expensive.
So I switched to T-Mobile just because of the international pricing.
No regrets. Way better both at home and abroad.
I have no idea why it took me so long to switch.
Do the same. You will be pleased. And if many do the same, maybe AT&T will stop gauging its customers.
Unfortunately companies know how much people dislike change, so legacy monopolists take advantage of their longtime customers who stick with them.
No more. AT&T took me to the cleaners long enough.

Yes, they work in France as well.