iPhone in Italy

Ken, it's an iPhone4 and I'm with Bell. The main purpose is internet access, email and text. Bell's travel plans seem pretty expensive.

Matthew, yes my iPhone is unlocked, I was wondering whether anyoe had any experience with pay as you go plans in Italy.

I've always taken my phone with me on trips. Just back from france, and each night in the hotel there was free wi-fi available. Last trip to Italy, wi-fi was a bit spotty, but that was in 2009, so might be better now. I didn't buy a Sim card, I just used my iphone as is. Didn't call anywhere, didn't need to. My kids sent me text messages if they needed something. Never have used the "international" plan. If you keep your phone calls to around 20 min, it's about the same as if you paid the plan price for one month. No hassle in calling to activate, or calling to discontinue. The phone will automatically find a provider, and that can change from one side of the street to the other, but I always was connected. I've found the phone service in Europe to be much more advanced than here in the US. I never saw "no service" on my phone!

i doubt carrier matters. i assume your phone is unlocked already?

Meredith, which version of the iPhone are you using and which network are you with? Also, are you planning to use it mostly for voice calls, texting or Internet use? ¶ To begin with, unless your phone is unlocked you won't be able to use any other SIM cards. The simplest option is simply to use roaming with your home network. If you're with Rogers, they offer voice, text and data "travel packs" which will reduce the costs of roaming somewhat (the data travel packs start at $50). ¶ It's generally a very good idea to disable the data roaming on iPhones and just leave the voice and text portions active. It's also prudent to check this periodically during the trip to ensure that it remains "off", and check the usage meter to verify that. You can still access the Internet via Wi-Fi (in your Hotel or wherever) but using cellular data can get VERY expensive in a very short time! See the post in the "General" section regarding one person's recent experience with Cellular Data Roaming. You might want to call customer service at your cell network and find out what your options are. Happy travels!

Meredith, unless you bought your iPhone 4 directly from Apple Canada, it's highly likely that it's locked. If that's the case, you WON'T be able to use it with other SIM's, either from Italian networks or any others. Unlocking (aka "jailbreak") is fine for short term, but if the firmware is uppdated, I believe the phone re-locks itself. One other potential issue is that while you'll be able to purchase a SIM for voice or text use, it will be more difficult to obtain one which includes a data plan in Italy. In the same situation, I'd use the roaming with Bell, but keep the voice calls to a minimum (texting is much cheaper). Disable the data function on the phone and use only Wi-Fi for Internet access (that means of course tht you won't be able to access the net when you're away from Wi-Fi hotspots).

I always take my iPhone and use my own SIM card and just sign up for AT&T's international roaming and data roaming plans. It's expensive, but I know that my phone will work, and I know what my charges will be (more or less).