i will be in florence 5 days alone and thought about renting an international verizon phone, but now I'm told I should get a satellite phone.. any suggestions?
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9101 posts
Whoever told you this might be pulling your leg:) Satellite phones are meant for professionals traveling in desolate areas that have no communications links; like in the desert or a war zone. They cost about $200 a week to rent the equipment and about $3 a minute for calls. Sticking with Verizon is a better deal.
Posted by
Gloucester, MA, USA
59 posts
Agreed. Sat phones will eat you alive and the call quality is pretty substandard. They are great in the middle of the kalihari desert but I think there is enough cell coverage in europe to meet your needs.
For a $100 you can rent a GSM cell phone with about $30 of prepaid calls included. That should be enough for 5 days.
Posted by
Wilmington, DE, USA
712 posts
My huband called our cell phone company and activated our phones for overseas use while we were in Italy. My phone worked in Italy, but his did not. Phone calls were about $1.45 a minute, but it did come in handy for us a few times and we were glad we had mine. Just try not to use it too much.
Posted by
APO
12 posts
If you have a quad band phone, get it unlocked (usually only about $20), then go to Italy and stop at a vodaphone or somewhere and buy a pay as you go SIM card. The vodaphone one costs 10 euros right off the bad, but included 5 euros of phone calls. We just kept topping up as needed and it worked great. We considered using our regular cell phone, but the roaming rates were too high!