Pocket wifi VS SIM card vs. ATT intern. Plan

That is the reason why I dumped AT&T and switched to T-Mobile. Since you phone is locked I wouldn’t pay $170 for the 17 days there. For that kind of money you can buy a cheap phone and a local SIM card. If you have an iPad or tablet with a SIM slot, I would by a local SIM card for the ipad since all you need it is for maps. iPad plans in Italy cost as little as €10 or less (plus €10 for the cost of the SIM card). That’s what I buy. I also use my phone with T-Mobile (Magenta plus plan) which works overseas at no extra charge.

I'm an advocate for local SIMs. Carriers usually will unlock a phone once it's paid off and an iPhone 8 is probably old enough to qualify.

Yes - try to get the iPhone unlocked, then try a local SIM. (You won't be able to use your AT&T phone number for texts or calls with an Italian SIM card - you'll have an Italian number while you have an Italian SIM.) TIM or Vodafone both have good reputations for mobile service in Italy, though lately I've heard of people having setup issues with TIM, so I might go with Vodafone.

I don't see the point of a pocket WIFi unless you have several people using it and all will mostly be together. (Can't message your traveling companion if you are separated but both rely on the pocket WiFi.)

Wi-fi in any of the tour hotels in which I’ve stayed on 7 trips has always been extremely reliable, bough years ago on the slow side. On the Best of Tuscany last year, no problems whatsoever.

ATT will not automatically unlock your phone. You must ask them to do it. I agree that with the age of iPhone 8, yours most likely will be unlocked. On my trips to Italy, I always use the TIM Tourist sim. TIM is the largest telephone company in Italy and I’ve always had excellent service. The card is good for 30 days, has 200 minutes and 50 gigs of data. It costs €24.99. I always get the voucher on line and then they will know exactly what you want when you go to the TIM store.

I will be the outlier here. We are just finishing two weeks on the AT&T plan. For the ease of using the phone we are used to,especially for maps we really appreciated not having issues ( like some of our fellow travelers) We took our pictures, they transferred seamlessly. I got almost instant notifications of any charges on our credit card( had notifications set up before leaving) We texted our kids etc..all in an easy manner. I know there are cheaper ways, but for us this was worth the money,
I will add to get a portable charger/ battery you can carry with you daily. Maps and photos drain a phone quickly.

I’ve been on over a dozen RS tours. I would say hotel WiFi is unusable about 10% to 15% of the time. Sometimes it’s poor coverage due to physical layout of the hotel. Sometimes it’s because there’s not enough bandwidth so I’m waiting incessantly. So on a tour with 8 different locations I would expect about one hotel to have subpar WiFi.

Cellular service is cheap enough that I get a local SIM card. As others have indicated get ATT to unlock your phone and check that it really is unlocked prior to leaving. You can check by popping a SIM from another carrier like Verizon into your phone.

Enjoy the tour!

Probably not a Verizon SIM - an AT&T phone may not work on Verizon's network. AT&T and T-Mobile both use GSM whereas Verizon uses CDMA for "legacy" phone service. (Yeah, today they both use 4G LTE or 5G mostly.) A T-Mobile SIM though would be easy since any AT&T phone should work with T-Mobile. You can probably get a free SIM from some carrier or another...or at worst spend $2 to buy a Tello SIM on Amazon (Tello uses T-Mobile). If you pop in a Tello SIM and turn the phone on and it asks you for an unlock code...then it's not unlocked.

I've said before on these threads: Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile are all what I consider "premium" phone services. If you have those, you are surely paying more (maybe a lot more) than you need to annually for mobile phone service. The "premium" services do have perks e.g. easy international roaming. T-Mobile doesn't charge extra for international roaming like Verizon and AT&T do...but you are still paying for it, because you pay more for T-Mobile than for someone much cheaper like Mint or Tello who gives you unlimited talk + text for half or less of the cost of T-Mobile. I pay about $15/month for phone service with Tello. But no international roaming. I have Dutch Vodafone SIM that I've used since 2017 for international roaming - works great, and I get incoming calls to my US phone number with Google Voice just like at home, so I can still call and text in Europe like at home.

But...many people don't want to mess with SIM cards or Google Voice - that's fair. And they don't mind paying a little more. Fair enough. Getting a second SIM card is probably only something you need to do if you are frugal. If you are already paying for one of the 'premium" phone services like Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile and don't mind that, who am I to argue? But in that case, I'd just pay the $10/day for the roaming, since compared to the annual cost of your mobile service, $10/day isn't very much more for a few weeks of travel.

On the other hand, if you want to be frugal like I am, switch to a much cheaper service like Tello or Mint...and get a SIM card when you travel. It's a little more hassle - maybe not for everyone.

Andrew H- Just a reminder that not everyone has all the options you enjoy. TMobile's network, on which Mint, GoogleFi, and many other cheaper options, had the smallest footprint of the big three. None of those carriers are remote possibilities for me—my town is a stark white on their coverage map. (And I'm not even that remote.)

Scudder, Red Pocket Mobile is only $20/month for unlimited talk & text plus 5GB/month of data - and works on Verizon's network.

https://www.redpocket.com/plans

Thanks for the responses. If I get a SIM card in Italy, I assume I will not have direct access to my email or apps on my phone, correct? Will I be able to upload my photos to the cloud? Sorry I’m not SIm Saavy and really don’t know what this card can and cannot do.
I like the idea of preordering online - I assume shops are plentiful in the area? The airport? Did this take more than say 20-30 minutes?

To ncangelosi: did you just use airplane mode on any days to avoid the charge? Wondering if that worked. Was AT&T honest about their charges or were there any hidden costs? Did you truly have unlimited data, text, and. Talk. Was cellular 100% cellular? Could you elaborate on your phone settings?

Thanks all

If I get a SIM card in Italy, I assume I will not have direct access to my email or apps on my phone, correct? Will I be able to upload my photos to the cloud?

The local SIM will give you access to the internet and therefore your email and apps, and the ability to upload your photos in the same way you do now. However you will have a local Italian phone number.

kathryndesign, you'll be able to use your phone as at home with all of your apps etc...except for texting and calling with your AT&T number. If by chance you want to access those occasionally, you can swap your AT&T SIM card back in briefly, then make sure you have "WiFi Calling" turned on on your phone (try this at home first!) and of course that you are connected to WiFi...and you should be able to call people for free via WiFi calling without international roaming. (You might confirm that by calling AT&T, but it should work that way.) Same with texting.

But yes, while you have the Italian SIM card in place, you'll have an Italian number, so you'll be texting and calling with that number while the SIM is in place.

Personally, I would not pre-pay for a SIM - both TIM and Vodafone are fine. I would not want to be locked into one but find the other store is convenient for some reason...but you already prepaid for the other one.

To be sure you do not accidentally incur any charges from AT&T, should you plan to rely on WiFi, put your phone in airplane mode. This step will turn off the cellular connection and turn off WiFi, too. Then turn on WiFi only.

Also, regarding your original question, a portable WiFi device might in fact be the best solution for you, especially since you have some hesitation about the ins and outs of swapping SIM cards. If your phone is set to WiFi only, and if the device uses an Italian SIM card, you should be able to use your phone as you do at home. I am assuming AT&T allows WiFi calling and WiFi texting, though. I know T-Mobile does, but not sure about other companies.

I am locked into AT&T mobile service for various reasons. (some good some bad). I have used the AT&T international plan with my cell service in Europe for several years . and I have purchased and used a portable hotspot like travel Wi-Fi sapphire which has also periodically worked very well if you do not need to actually talk to anyone., depending on the level of cell phone service you have with AT&T you may save money by renting or buying a hotspot. The hotspot was a great and affordable option when I spent two weeks in Paris in an apartment. It’s important to understand the level of data that you can access in your plan in order to evaluate the best option and budget for you. the AT&T international plan (at least up to last year) is not per day, it is per 24 hours. I believe the amount you will be charged is capped at $100 but that is per your billing period. it is possible to manage your use of the international plan by managing the timing of your use. So if you are going to be in Europe for 17 days, you would not necessarily pay as much as $170. If the time you are in Europe is all within one billing period, then you should be capped at $100 per billing period for use of the international data plan.

For me, as I have a premium, unlimited cell and data plan., the international plan works well for me. I like the separate hotspot because you can share it with multiple devices among your traveling companions, but I do not understand how much data I actually need, and do not want to encounter limits at the wrong time.. I will be in Italy this fall for three weeks, and will probably not bring my portable hotspot this time. Just one less device to worry about, I will be solo and having use the AT&T international plan for several years, it works for me. AT&T is always playing games with its plans so I would suggest that if you consider using AT&T international plan, you spend the time on hold and get to a live person who confirms how the plan would work for you under the terms and Billing dates of your personal phone. Always verify ahead of time. Good luck!

I used the ATT international plan last fall and was happy with it. The cap is $100, which is the total amount I paid for my three weeks in Italy. I used my phone constantly, especially the gps to keep from getting lost! In the grand scheme of things, it did not seem excessively expensive.

Thanks for the options so far. If I get a SIM card, I would likely need to get it at the Malpensa airport in Milan since I will be directly taking a train to Varrena.
There are mixed reviews about getting a SIM from the airport since they are highly recycled and vendors have less accountability. I’m a bit hesitant about dragging my luggage around Milan and then getting to the train station. Ideas?

I’ve learned that I can order a pocket hotspot online
and have it mailed to me and can do wifi calling etc. It’s just me traveling solo, but with the group. I could mail it back in Rome?

For AT&T , I would need to check my billing period and whether $100 is capped and if anything is hidden. Also if I turn on airplane mode for a few days, whether or not it counts in billing.

Learned a lot so far. It’s been helpful and likely to anyone else reading these comments. Still open to your suggestions.

Will your train trip take you to Milan Centrale? Google maps shows a Vodafone shop in the station.

Since the cost of the AT&T roaming is capped at $100 per month (unless your billing cycle ends in the middle if your trip I guess), it's hard for me to imagine it's worth hassling over a SIM card or especially a pocket WiFi - how much are you really going to save, $50 or $60 total at most? I would call AT&T to confirm that you won't pay more than $100 for the whole 17 day trip.