Iphone 5 in Italy

Buy the plan, turn your cell data off and be happy. Txts are 50 cents to send and 5 cents to receive.

Call Verizon and run through your options with them first. The 3.99 does not protect you from expensive data or Text messages. I have AT&T, and I buy an international Text message package and data package (I travel alot for work, and find this works best for me.). When you return home, you delete those features. Glenn

I can't speak for Verizon, as I have AT&T. I pay $20 for international 200 Outgoing texts. All in coming texts are free. Also with an iPhone, Iphone to iphone is not SMS, and does not count as a text (of course, it is still data). I then by the 300 MB international data package for $60. This is enough for a week biz trip, and getting work emails daily, doing some facebook stuff, and general web searches. All this can be done on the AT&T APP. When i get home, I cancel those services. I like having the "insurance" of calling when i want, and searching the web if i need to. Of course, at the end of the day, i expense these anyway when traveling... but when i go on vacation, i do the same thing. Glenn

i forgot to mention, the 300 MB data plan also gives 1GB access at AT&T wi-fi hotspots from the AT&T international app. Glenn

Thank you each for your speedy relies. I really appreciate your experiences!

I would buy a TIM (or Wind) sim card in Italy. It cost about €20 will work for text, data and calling within Italy. I did that this past winter and 2 years ago while in Italy. The Verizon iPhone 5 has an unlocked SIM slot. Keep the SIM in a safe place because you will need to put it back when you get back to the states. You need a small paperclip to pop open the slot, they will help you at the phone store in Italy when you buy it. I also buy a Skype credit for $10 and can make dozens of call back to the U.S. (real phone #s) using the Skype to phone calls.

Now I am confused. I thought Verizon iPhones are CDMA phones and would not work in Italy. Or am I missing something?

Evidently, Verizon iPhone can be bot gsm or CDMA:
http://osxdaily.com/2012/11/15/determine-iphone-gsm-or-cdma/ Glenn

@Glenn, Many of the newer Verizon phones are capable of accessing either technology, especially Smartphones such as the iPhone or Galaxy models. For example, a Verizon iPhone 4 could not be used in Europe on GSM networks but an iPhone 4S (and later) could. Cheers!

The Verizon iPhone 5 (not 4 or 4S) has a SIM chip (that it actually needs to access the CDMA system in the U.S.) but overseas you can remove it replace it with a local SIM card (very cheaply) and be online for data and making local calls with ease.

Thanks everybody....that clears things up.

FYI, Verizon has a variety of phones that have a GSM band (besides the iPhone 5); I've had a Verizon GSM phone for at least 5 years. I just switch the band of my regular Verizon phone to GSM when I arrive in Europe.