phone in italy

It would help to know which cellular network you're with? The easiest solution would be to use a roaming package with your network. For basic service the costs are often quite reasonable, however if you want data as well the costs will be higher.

A few thoughts on your questions.....

• How does it work - buy the phone at a cell shop, get some help from the staff to set it up and pay for some airtime, since you'll be on a PAYG plan. If you buy in Italy, you'll probably have to register using your Passport.
• Activation fee - I don't believe they charge an activation fee, but maybe one of the others can confirm that.
• Billing - you won't be getting any bills since the service will be pre-paid. When you run out of minutes, you'll have to top-up.
• Using the phone when you get home - you may or may not be able to use the phone, depending on whether it has the necessary frequency bands for North America. You won't be able to continue using the foreign network for a variety of reasons, with cost being at the top of the list.
• Calling the U.S. - your costs to call the U.S. will depend on which calling plan you choose when you buy the phone. There won't be a roaming fee, since you'll be calling from the "home" area for the phone service you're using.
• Calls from the U.S. - yes, anyone calling you will be charged. They will have to dial an international long distance call, and will be billed in accordance with the terms of their phone service.
• Calling Cards - I've never used a calling card with a mobile phone, but it should be possible. I don't know what the costs or charges are for calling cards.
• Buying a phone - Yes you can certainly buy a phone from E-Bay, but why bother if you can use your iPhone.
• SIM cards - Yes, SIM cards cover Spain and Italy, and lots of other countries. The specific costs and features will depend on which SIM card you buy. You can buy local SIM cards in-country, or you can use a SIM card from one of the travel phone firms such as Roam Simple, Cellular Abroad, Telestial, Mobal, EuroBuzz or Lebara. Regarding travel SIM's - they cover virtually all countries depending on which one you buy, often use U.K. based phone numbers, provide consistent rates throughout most of Europe (or elsewhere) and often use post-paid billing with calls charged to a credit card. Basic voice and text service for these is usually quite reasonable, but data costs can be high.

The easiest and simplest solution might be to just use your iPhone along with a roaming plan for voice and text from your home network. Leave the cellular data switched "OFF" and only access E-mail or whatever when you're in Wi-Fi areas at the hotel. Of course, all of this will depend on which cell network you're with and which model of iPhone you're using.

You could also check online for local cell shops or other places that could unlock your phone. I bought my iPhone directly from Apple, as it was delivered factory unlocked, which makes travel much easier.

Hi and thanks for the info. I have iPhone 5s and with AT&T. They will not unlock my phone because I an still under contract. Sounds like I should look into their international plan if they have one. Again thanks for the info

It may be easier to just buy a phone in Europe. I bought a TIM (provider) phone (the brand was Samsung, I think) in Italy a few years ago for €30, it came loaded with a few minutes. You can probably get one in Spain if that's your first stop, you may need to replace the SIM card when you get to Italy or you may be able to keep the original one.

The salesperson can set the phone up for you, you can have it default to English (but text messages from the provider will be in Spanish, usually only telling you how many minutes you have remaining).

I use that phone every year, just charge it up and buy more minutes.

I had almost the exact situation, down to the same carrier (AT&T) and the two countries we're traveling to (Spain and Italy). AT&T refused to unlock my phone to allow me to use an Italian SIM because I was still under a 2 year contract. To the rescue comes TMobile. Currently they will buy out your AT&T contract if you trade in your phone AND they have unlimited text, voice and data for travel abroad at a really low rate. Seriously. It's called their Simple Choice International plan. It could be exactly what you're looking for. Check it out:

http://www.t-mobile.com/simple-choice-international-plans.html

The one catch that I just realized is that it's limited to five weeks at a time, so maybe it won't be such a great deal for you.

Good luck.

Many staff here are switching to T-Mobile for unlimited date use in Europe, but I understand that AT&T also has a reasonable international plan that you can request.

lm,

Here's more information on what Laura was referring to.....

https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-3226

One point to note is that data service may be at 2G speeds. If you want 3G or higher, I understand there's an additional charge.

Thanks Laura. I checked with T Mobile and I have to be with them 30-45 days before they unlock phone. Looks like I have to get phone when I get there.
Thank you to all.

lm,

If you just want a basic phone for voice and text, you can also obtain phones with SIM cards for reasonable cost from the travel phone firms I listed above. They usually deliver within a day or two, and that option would provide you with a working phone as soon as you step off the plane. Check their respective websites for details and costs.

Have used this and service was great. http://www.cellularabroad.com/phone-rentals-internat

With all our European travel, my husband takes an Iphone 5 and we have Verizon. We always sign up for an international plan. For us it works because we only call home for an emergency and to check in with my 88 year old mother who doesn't have email about once a week. With everyone else we just email from the Ipad. In the last few years all our hotels have Wfi. But I know majority of people these days want to do every thing from their phone, facebook ect. I try to leave all that stuff back a home and vacate my life!

With AT&T you can easily add a plan. I think it is about $30 for the month and includes unlimited texting, a reduce rate for calls, and some data. I would not trust the data as it is impossible to know what you are using, but for the peace of mind to be able to call and text with your own phone number is worth a lot.

I, also, have been thinking about the phone. I have an iPhone2. It has lots of personal information on it and I am leery of taking it and misplacing it or otherwise losing it. So I thought buying a "throwaway" phone would be best. But can I add APPS, like maps, hotel and other scheduling info on it? Will be connecting with home by email.

Also, if I bought a phone in Italy and brought it home, could I use it for off-line stuff? That was interesting, I hadn'tthought of bringing it home. Also, glad to know that anyone who called me would be billed.

tnx

nanc1930,

"Also, glad to know that anyone who called me would be billed."

To clarify......

• If you're using a SIM purchased in-country and receive a call from home, the caller will pay for an international long distance call, and you may or may not be charged for the incoming call. That will depend on the specifics of the calling plan chosen when the phone was purchased.
• If you're roaming with your home network, there will be a charge for each incoming or outgoing call, in accordance with the terms of the roaming plan. The caller will likely not be paying anything, since they will simply be making a local call to your regular cell number.

Are you sure that you're using an *iPhone 2"? AFAIK, the first model was simply called an iPhone and the next model was the 3G.

You can buy a high quality phone in Europe but why? Whatever my cheap Italian phone won't do gets done on my iPad mini. As for bringing it back, you would need a contract for service, have to figure out how to pay for it, and need an adapter plug to keep it charged.

"I thought buying a "throwaway" phone would be best. But can I add APPS, like maps, hotel and other scheduling info on it?"

That depends on what kind of phone you buy. If you buy the cheapest "dumbphone," then no, it will just do calls and texts (although it may have a calendar on it - mine does). If you buy a smartphone, it will have these features, but you'll pay more for that.

If you get an unlocked phone, it will work in other countries, so you can save it for future trips - or use it in the US, with T-Mobile or AT&T, provided it is quad band.

I got an unlocked quad band GSM blah blah blah phone from Amazon for $17......all I really need it to do is call and text, so I am happy.....people got along before cell phones, so I am positive I can deal with just the limited access that this will give me, really just to update our hotels/hosts where we are staying....

If you sign up with your mobile phone co. you will know what the charges are. On ours the people calling us don't pay anything, but we get charged on our cell what ever the rate we have agreed on. And also what ever the data plan we pick also. It is not cheap, but with airlines the way they are and everything else in this world of travel the phone has got us out of a jam more than once. So I think it is good to have and skip an expensive dinner one night to add in the cost of your phone. But you should have the price and a start and stop date for the International plan.

Do you know exactly WHAT you want to do on your phone? As mentioned above, you can use hotel WiFi to send email and do research (and free WiFi is in lots of hotels) "Emergency" calls are few -- not that much can be handled from thousands of miles away (with a 12-hour time difference) that can't work as well with well-thought-out email.

If you can estimate the amount of European calls, trans-Atlantic call minutes and data time you will be using you can make an informed choice between AT&T international plan choices and buying phone plus European prepaud usage.

I use my Italian phone for calls, texts, alarm clock, some games, lists - and that's the cheap model.

Believe me...AT&T $30 international plan doesn't work at all . Found that the hard way last April of last year when we're in Paris and south of France . Can't even make an emergency phone call to home . Was in Asia trip last month and I took the same plan again after a long talk with the customer service agent that gave me a 100% assurance that my last experience will not happen again ....guess what , exactly the same thing happen that when I got home , I demanded a refund ! You're better off with the SIM card thing or make use of the Wifi which is widely available in hotels where you stayed in !!!

When my husband and I were in Italy 2 years ago, we bought a cheap phone at the TIM store and reloaded minutes as needed. It was significantly cheaper for local calls than our iPhone 5s which we used for email etc when connected to wifi. Although we activated an international plan with our carrier (Verizon), I think the TIM phone was also a less expensive option for calling the US than the iPhone. Having two phones also afforded us the security of being able to reach each other if needed.

A friend rented a phone to use in Italy last summer from a US carrier and it never worked for calls, but she could email and text on it. It cost a lot and required a big deposit as well.

I added an international plan to my ATT iPhone last summer and it was great. I think I got 30min, 50 texts, and 3 GB (or whatever they measure in) of data, for about $100. I hardly used it, but did a couple of times. I had tons of data left over at the end, but my husband pretty much used his phone for everything the first 2 weeks, mine the 3rd week. So I am guessing the data would have been just about right. I used wifi when I could.

For me, just using my own phone was better than dealing with trying to get another phone, or SIM or whatever. You can just add the plan online, and remove it when you get home.

Good luck!
Kim

We've done what Kim suggests last three trips- added the ATT international plan, paid for some data, and then cancelled when we got home.