International Celll phone / Data Usage

aaron - I have Verizon too. Their data prices are horrible for miniscule amounts received. If you must have data and your phone is unlocked you would be better off getting a sim for your phone once you get to where you are going.

I did buy the $40 plan my first trip but last time went with no plan at all, only because I knew I had wifi through my apt. for the whole trip. I used wifi in restaurants and on the train when needed to look things up. I spent 5 weeks in the Netherlands using wifi only and had no problems, but I wasn't trying to make bookings on the fly. I used whats'app and fb messenger to communicate with family and friends. If you can use wifi much of the time you don't need one of their plans. In an emergency I would have used the $10/day Verizon plan but never had to.

Verizon and I are going to have a long, unhappy chat when I return. I suspended service while I travel but still receive monthly bills. They are the worst unless you need coverage in the Rocky Mountains.

I have a phone I bought in Italy and just use whatever plan is best (TIM, Vodafone) with a new SIM card every trip.

And some more important information.

https://www.walksofitaly.com/blog/all-around-italy/cell-phones-italy-country-code-mobile-phone-call

Keep your phone on airplane mode, use wifi. Your hosts are usually happy to make reservations for you.

To keep in touch back home, I use FaceTime. Just remember there's a time difference.
For you that might be 8-9 hrs.

If you will have access to WiFi and only need a phone in an emergency or maybe on one or two days, you can go with Verizon's Travel Pass. It's $10 a day for each day that you USE it, and the usage is what you'd have if you used it at home on your Verizon plan.

Be sure that you understand what using your phone means before you commit to this plan. The $10/day covers texts, phone calls & data usage. If you can get by with just using WiFi for data, then do that. Use the phone once to make a reservation and it'll cost you $10 for that 24 hour period. Once you've activated the 24 hour period, do anything else you'd want to do with your calls, texts & data.

Or you could buy a local SIM card. Even though my phone is unlocked, I hesitate to do that. It changes the number, and that could be an issue if I HAVE to contact someone at home.

Yes, buy a SIM card. Verizon does not lock their 4GLTE phones (AT&T does if you are under contract though).

You can't buy an Italian SIM until you get to Italy - you'll need our passport and have it copied to get the SIM activated. That's the easiest thing to do. I bought a Dutch Vodafone SIM card on eBay (no passport requirement for SIM cards in the Netherlands) before my last trip (Slovenia, Italy, France) because I needed it to work in all three countries, and that SIM card already offered free EU roaming; today roaming surcharges have been abolished in the EU, so if the SIM you buy in Italy allows roaming, it should be no extra cost to use it in other countries, like my Dutch Vodafone SIM allowed me in Italy. And my SIM worked as soon as I landed in Europe - didn't have to go to a store in Italy once I got there.

Otherwise, stop in a mobile store once you get to Italy - TIM, Wind, Vodafone - and have them set up the SIM for you. You'll get an Italian phone number while you have that SIM installed. You'll get your old US phone number back once you put your US SIM card back in the phone.

Install the Google Hangouts app on your smart phone, and you can make free calls to the US from Europe (even to landlines) while you are on WiFi or have mobile data, no matter what SIM card you have in your phone. You can receive phone calls with Hangouts, too, from any phone (even a landline), if you get a free Google Voice phone number ahead of time. In this way, you can reached in Europe by phone and get Google Voicemail if you say aren't on WiFi when the call comes. So at least you can do to this if you don't buy a SIM - use WiFi and Google Hangouts to make and maybe receive phone calls from home.

aaron,

I haven't checked the details of Verizon's international roaming options, but it would be worthwhile to check that. For the last few years, I've just been using the "Roam Like Home" plan with my home cell network. It's a bit pricey but it sure does work well for voice, text and data. Although my phone is unlocked, I'm not able to use a local SIM as I have to be accessible from home. Also, having to notify all my family members, financial institutions and credit card firms where to contact me while in Europe is a PITA, and I can't be bothered. The financial institutions are less likely to call me if there's a problem with my accounts, if they have to dial an international long distance number (that has happened in the past).

If you spoke to someone at a Verizon stores or one of the regular phone numbers, you may or may not have gotten good information. I usually don't. But, Verizon has a Global Customer Service that actually has knowledgeable folks working there. The telephone number is 1-800-711-8300. Give them a call and see if perhaps they can give you a better picture of what is and isn't available and what can and can't be done.

I hope this helps but I don't know where you're flying into..we arrived Milan on 14th. As soon as we exit with our luggage we saw a booth selling Vodafone SIM card so we bought 4 for 90euros as we have iPads and mobile phones. Too easy, just show passports and takes all of 5 minutes. And the sim still working. Not for text but data and what's app messages and phone calls only. I was told it will lasts for 30 days which is ideal for our stay. So convenient with local sim especially googling places etc and getting in touch with your partner when you do seperate things. Hope this helps

I signed up for the Verizon $10 a day Travel Pass, and used it for one day when I wanted access to turn-by-turn directions in Rome. Just got my Verizon bill and I was, indeed, charged only $10 for that 24-hour cycle. Otherwise, we relied on wifi for 12 days in Italy in May, generally back in our hotels, though free wifi is widely available at cafes, etc. We used Facebook Messenger to communicate with our cat-sitting sons back home. You can use Messenger to make voice calls via wifi, as well.

If you want to use your phone all the time just like home, the Travel Pass would be WAY too expensive. But for limited usage, it's seamless and handy.

I know it won't help with reservations etc. but the Duo app is very handy for making video calls home to others who have installed the app. Works just like Facetime but can work between android and iPhone.
As for cell and data service while in Europe, no one beats Tmobile!

If you will have access to WiFi and only need a phone in an emergency or maybe on one or two days, you can go with Verizon's Travel Pass. It's $10 a day for each day that you USE it, and the usage is what you'd have if you used it at home on your Verizon plan.

Here's another vote for the Travel Pass. It's easy, you don't have to mess with trying to find a SIM card and get set up with another provider.

We have used the Travel Pass on two trips to Europe. We've been in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands. With Wi-Fi being so prevalent, it takes little or no change in your habits to still be in touch with folks at home. You can also use the available Wi-Fi to make dinner reservations, book tours, etc. If you need to talk with someone local, most B&B's and hotels are happy to make the call for you. I think out of the two trips we made, we used Travel Pass twice.

What DougMac said. We were in four countries in 16 days and I never turned my phone off airplane mode. Wifi is available all over the place, literally, some cities have free public wifi and most restaurants/cafes/bars have it. I had set up my husband's phone with the $40 plan for infrequent calling, texting and data usage if we needed it, and set mine up with the $10 a day plan in case we needed more extensive data usage. We never used mine. We did need to make a few short phone calls and he texted a bit but the $40 was sufficient for our needs.

I just signed up for the Travel Pass through Verizon as well. However, plan to be in airplane mode all the time and only use if necessary.

Does anyone know if you still receive Voicemails if in airplane mode?

You'll get an alert that you have a voicemail (when you connect to wifi), but unless you can figure out how to activate wifi calling, you can't retrieve the messages. Maybe if I had activated the wifi calling before I left, it would have worked, but I didn't take the time there to try to figure it out. I wasn't expecting any calls.

I used Verizon's TravelPass ($10 per day) in Italy this past March and recommend it. I encountered no problems and, once you sign up, it apparently will be active for future European trips if you so desire. When you arrive in Europe and turn on your phone, you will receive a message like this one: "3/23/2017 (7:35 a.m.): Free VZW Msg: Welcome to Italy. Dial +1 & 10-digit# to call US. For Int'l Support call +1-908-559-4899 or visit www.vzw.com/intltrvl." Then, each day, you will receive a message to alert you when one 'day' session is ending and the next one beginning: "3/24/2017 (2:43 a.m.): Your daily TravelPass session will finish in 1 hour. After that, if you're still abroad and use talk, text or data, another daily session will be triggered." I could see not wanting to subscribe to this for long trips, but for short ones, it was great having cell and data service (whatever your data plan is back in the US) when out and about.

I have used the Verizon $10 a day plan when in Bermuda. I liked it, it was seamless.

We will be in Tuscany for 5 days with a car, has anyone used google maps driving directions while on this plan? Is google maps reliable when used this way. We are on the unlimited Verizon plan so I don't need to worry about data.

Google Maps is absolutely reliable in Italy ...use it all the time, even while walking Venice at night

Thanks Jim!

Quick question. When you use google maps in a foreign i.e. Sicily, besides the street directions, do you also get audio/voice directions with those directions. Reason being that you don't want to keep looking down at your CP for directions while driving.
If not, are there any app maps that give both visual and voice directions??
Thanks