Iphone in Italy? sim card?

I don't know how to unlock/change a sim card on an iPhone, but I suspect it isn't easy.
On the other hand, adding the international plan to your phone will enable you to used your phone in Italy, but it will still be VERY expensive. With Verizon, I think it costs about $20 per 100 MB data if you purchase the international plan... get the DataMonitor app (or similar) to see how much data you use on a typical day and you will quickly recognize that it is completely impractical to use your phone with a data plan in Italy or elsewhere in Europe. So, make sure that you turn OFF cellular data before you head off on your trip.
But, you can use your iPhone for limited phone calls without breaking the bank, and also for limited texting (5 cents to receive a message, 50 cents to send a message). And you can use the GPS function for FREE. Google maps uses updated maps via cellular data, so that's no good. But, I recommend two apps that use pre-loaded maps: MapsWithMe and CityMaps2Go. You can download the apps and some maps for free, or pay a few dollars if you want more maps or the enhanced apps. You don't need any cell data service to use these apps. These apps are also useful when walking in European cities -- it's better than using a paper city map when you can also see where you are on the (iPhone) map.

If you have purchased your iphone from your mobile provider at a subsidized price, you need to call your provider if it's eligible for unblocking (usually after 2 years). To unblock it you need a code that you enter after you insert another SIM card. Or you can goto your mobile provider store to do so.

You need to make sure the phone is unlocked before you take it to Italy. Let the store test it with another sim.

The removal and replacement of the iPhone SIM card is easy. The store in Italy will do it for you, but a SIM removal tool is needed. It looks like a paper clip and costs less than a dollar (The Vodafone store in Italy just gave one to me for free). Actually a paper clip or a safety pin will work just as well. You just use the tool to press inside the little hole on the side of the phone and the SIM card pops out. Google it and there will be plenty of examples on YouTube.

The cost of a month data plan for 1Gb + 600voice min + 600 SMS is about €15. Add to that €10 for the cost of the SIM card which include €5 credit. So for €25 you will be set for one month. I paid €30 with Vodafone because I wanted 2Gb, which however didn't use, therefore 1 Gb would have been enough.

There is no way you will spend that little if you use your plan from your US provider, even if you purchase an international plan. Overseas roaming is very expensive. My wife's bill with AT&T for just having left the cellular data on (she didn't even use it much) was over $600 her first time with a smart phone-in Italy for a couple of weeks (when we didn't know better). We learned our lesson. Now we turn it off and remove the US SIM card on the plane even before we land.

To avoid international data charges on your iPhone, go to settings, click on Cellular.
Turn cellular data off (tap on switch to turn it from green to gray).
Ensure Data roaming is off ( switch is gray not green). It should be off by default.
At this point your phone will work like a dumb phone (voice and messages only).
Buy an Italian SIM car, install it, and turn cellular data on again. You are now back in business as if you were using it at home.

My experience and opinion differs from those above. I have used the Verizon international plan many times in Europe, most recently with an iPhone 5. I use Wi-Fi when available, and most of my calls on cellular are short, checking in with family or arranging logistics. At $0.99 per minute, those phone charges were quite manageable. And last fall, in almost one month in Italy, I use less than $50 data. I also was able to put my US service on hold, so I wasn't double paying for cellular service.

A number of years ago I went the international SIM card route on one trip. I found dealing with recorded foreign-language messages and instructions to be more trouble than it was worth. Even when the language was one that I know, the recorded instructions and messages were too fast and too complicated for me to adequately understand. After that one trip, I got rid of that European phone, and have used the Verizon international plan on each subsequent trip.

If you have Verizon your texts and FaceTime calls to other Apple uses is free when on WiFi because it uses the Apple imessage service.

Also, if you have a Skype app on your iPhone you can call other Skype apps for free and land lines for a rather cheap fee, cheaper then 99 cents a minute.

I used the AT&T International Roaming Plan when I was in Italy for two weeks last March, and I was quite happy with it. If I recall correctly, I paid about $60 --- $30 for voice and $30 for data. I tried to use Wifi whenever possible, but it was handy to have cellular data available when I needed it. I didn't come close to my limits for either voice or data.

One word of caution. I have one of the really low (200MB) plans for my domestic data usage, and so I am very accustomed to keeping an eye on my data usage, even in the US. If you are not accustomed to tracking your data usage, it might be easy to go over the limits. I don't know.

If you decide to go with an international roaming plan, here are some tips to keep your data usage down.

• Make sure automatic downloading/fetching is turned off for mail. Settings -> Mail,Contacts, Calendars -> Fetch New Data = Off

• You can control cellular data usage on a per app basis. Go to Setting -> Cellular, and scroll down to "Use Cellular Data for:". You can see which apps are eating up most of your cellular data. Turn off cellular for apps where you don't need cellular data and for apps that hog a lot of cellular data. Also, it's a good idea to reset the cellular data statistics (scroll to the bottom of the page) as soon as you arrive in Italy.

• In general, text requires very little data. Web pages run about 1 MB per page unless you have images turned off. Try to avoid loading images whenever possible. Streaming audio and video eat up huge amounts of data --- don't even think about them if you are trying to conserve data.

• Mapping can eat up a lot of data if you are not careful. I think that Google Maps allows you to cache some of the map images, but my preferred solution for mapping is MapsWithMe, which keeps all the map data on your phone. MapsWithMe also allows you to import KML files from Google Maps. I highly recommend MapsWithMe if you want to conserve data usage. It was a lifesaver for me on my last trip.

I still prefer a local SIM and plan. €25 ($35) and you have no restrictions whatsoever to pay attention to as it's very hard to go through one full Gb of data in less than a month. I doubt any international plan will give you 1Gb and hundreds of minutes and texts for $35. I spend more than that just on my regular ATT bill at home.
To check how much credit you have just dial 404 or 414 and Vodafone sends an SMS with the credit available. How much Italian do you need to know to read a number on a message? The word credit is credito in Italian and euro is the same in both languages. That's all the Italian you need to deal with and the store clerk will tell you all of that.

If you purchase an Italian SIM card, do you need to make adjustments if you travel to other countries? For example, my husband and son will fly into Nice for the Monaco Grand Prix and then join the rest of the family for a month long trip in Italy. Can they purchase an Italian SIM card in France?....or do they need to wait until they get to Italy?

I doubt you can buy an Italian SIM card in Nice or Monaco. You can buy a French number card there. But if you spend most of your time in Italy you will be roaming in Italy with the French plan and the 'roaming plans' would be extra money. I would wait until they get to Italy. While in France they can use their US phone on dumb mode ( cellular data and roaming data off) and just make calls or text as needed. Messages will be only $0.50 each.

The first thing I would do is to call your carrier and see if they are able and/or willing to unlock your phone. If your phone cannot be unlocked, then the SIM card issue is moot. If your phone can be unlocked, then it's up to you whether to use a SIM card or an international plan. There are good arguments both ways.

You have received a lot of great advice so for and there isn't much more to add. Prepaid data can still add up fast in Europe and if data is your main worry then using wifi as much as possible will save you a lot of money. If you plan to use data and phone/text sparingly then an international data plan from your provider could be worth it. You can find a lot more information here.

I just got back from Italy and we bought an Italian sim card for our iPhones. We have Verizon and I debated whether I really wanted to pay Verizon's Global plan for our 2 1/2 week stay. I have an iPhone 4S and Verizon unlocked it for me at no charge. I had to reset my phone to factory settings and download all my apps & stuff from the cloud - extra work but definitely worth it. Verizon said all 5C and 5S iPhones comes unlocked. I talked to Apple and they said no if you are on contract so I was a little worried but Verizon was right!
There are 4 main providers - TIM, Wind, Vodafone and Tre. 4S takes a nano sim card, 5S takes a micro sim card. You can check out their websites. We used TIM as they had both the nano and micro sim card. They popped the micro sim card in the 5S and it worked! They have a travelers plan where for 20 euros you get 2GB data, 200 minutes and 5 euros credit for texts (0.16 euros/text sent, incoming texts are free) plus 10 euros for activation. So for a total of 30 euros for 30 days, we had all the technology we needed. You can call a number to get a verification of how much data, minutes and text credits you have left. BTW, they do not round up to the next minute on phone calls like in the US and we had over 175 minutes left on our card. My husband used his phone religiously to look at Google maps and he had over 1 GB of data left!
Yes, we spent about $40/phone for the sim card, but we would have spent more on the Verizon plan because our trip fell between two billing cycles. Plus, texting is extra.
Also, we stayed at 5 places and I gave my Italian phone number to all my landlords. My Cinque Terre landlord called me when there was a 24 hour train strike on the day we were traveling there to alert me. We communicated via texts to keep him up to date on our progress from Florence. I don't know if he would have called me if I didn't have an Italian phone number because it would have been long distance for him to call my US number. Plus, Italians seem to prefer texting to calling and I almost used up all my text allotments. Perhaps it's easier if they need to translate the written word than try to speak English.
Overall, I would recommend getting an Italian sim card. I didn't expect to use it as much on communicating w/ my landlords as I had to do. Things happen. Depending on the airport or train station, you may be able to get it there. Otherwise, wait till you get to the city and just look around. There were places where there was a TIM and Vodafone store next to each other! Touristy areas or urban centers is where I'd look. The store employees can do everything for you. Make a call before you leave to make sure it works! The sim card slot is on the long side of the phone - use a paper clip to make the slot pop open.

The benefits of unlocking your phone and getting a local SIM are that you will save more money. A local Italian SIM card (I think TIM is the name of the biggest provider) will have the lowest rates you can get in Italy. You can get the Italian SIM probably at the airport, or order it online before you leave. It shouldn't be too hard to replace, you can check the web for instructional videos to show you how to change the SIM out. To get your phone unlocked, you should contact your phone provider.

Another option is to get an international SIM card and/or unlocked handset before you travel. There are places like GO-SIM.com that sell roaming international SIM cards and also unlocked travel handsets. I got one of their cheaper models as I just wanted a simple phone with a decent battery life, and it lasted two weeks without needing to be charged. Just what I needed!

We just added what we needed to our regular plan instead of getting SIM card. It was about $100 total, more than enough for what we needed, and no hassle. We got 300MB data, 50 texts, and 30 minutes for 3 weeks.