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Sicily Sim Card

Posted by (Atlanta) on

Hi folks, we are going to spend a bit over a month in Sicily next spring and a week in Malta. Previously I've exclusively used the GPS I brought from home on European roads. Yeah, it sent us to some strange places, but with the minimal common sense that remains, it has been possible figure out the proper course. From what I've read it seems Sicily has many more navigation challenges than other areas of Europe (is this actually true). In years past we have just obtained an European plan for our US phone that worked fine for intra-European communication. But now we have read that using a service like waze is more accurate than our GPS (sure is here), and so we will need more data to navigate roads, thus we are considering buying a sim card.

Vodaphone is the largest, but looking at which card to buy muddles my little brain. Can anyone offer assistance as to which card, where and how to purchase with consideration we will need to use data? Also, can anyone recommend a map?

Many Thanks for the assistance

Posted by
5687 posts

TIM and Vodafone are the two biggest mobile companies in Italy. Both have a good reputation for coverage. Wind is #3 and cheaper, but from everything I've read, I'd stick to TIM or Vodafone. I've used my Dutch Vodafone SIM in Italy and roamed on the Vodafone network all over northern Italy - generally excellent reception almost everywhere.

More info on Italian SIMs here:

https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/Italy

For TIM, the obvious choice looks like the "Tourist SIM" (30 Euros for the SIM + month of service).

For Vodafone, looks like for about the same price you can get a SIM (10 Euros) and the "Unlimited x4 Pro" Combo plan for 19.99 Euros for 28 days, 10GB of data (which would be more than enough for me for a month). So the TIM option looks to be like a better deal for data. The Vodafone option might hare more calling minutes or something. Not sure how texting works with either.

FYI, you don't need a SIM card at all to use your phone as a GPS. Your phone's GPS function does not need mobile data - but it needs map data to make the GPS function the way you want it to. You can use the "offline" mode - download the map ahead of time into your phone, then put the phone in Airplane Mode then go for a drive with it. Try it out. I've used this with Google Maps and it works fine (for driving). Never used Waze, but I assume it works about the same way. Without mobile data on, you lose traffic info but you can always turn the phone back on (turn off airplane mode) and get data. Just leave it off to save data while driving. Download the "offline" area for your phone at home and try it at home first.

Posted by
7258 posts

I had no problem with my Garmin in Sicily; it worked like a charm. The problem was with a lack of signage and markings on the rural roads. Google maps downloaded for offline use worked very well for those small places that were not in my Garmin. The GPS tried to take me on some convoluted routes in Spain, but not Sicily. Fortunately, I’ve been to Spain enough that I knew right away, when it was off.

Posted by
11651 posts

We spent three weeks in Sicily and a week in Puglia last fall. We left our Garmin with Europe map chip home, saved some space and frustration, bought a 30€ SIM card from a TIM store for one of our iPhones which worked great with Google Maps. We crisscrossed Sicily, mountains too, construction zones and traffic were marked. The Google Maps app did a great job. Our rental car came with built in GPS but it took forever to program it so we were glad we had the SIM card. The car was fairly new but it’s GPS
Seemed ancient. We always use Google Maps at home, not WAZE , but it should work well too.
We have driven all over Europe but mostly in Italy. Sicily is more challenging as you need to drive defensively, never assuming what other drivers might do. Stop signs and traffic lights are considered suggestions!

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