Sim card cost

Katherine, you write you have an unlocked ATT phone, does that mean you have an account with AT&T? For only two uses, why not just use your phone from home? If the two uses are short, then the total cost may be less than the cost of getting an Italian SIM (and it won't have the hassle factor). (This works, however, only if your account isn't a prepaid account, which won't work overseas.) Otherwise, check out this post: SIM Card for Italy. A post by RB mentions a price of 10 Euros.

If you just need to make two calls, then the standard AT&T international voice cost is $1.49/min. You can buy the monthly $3.99 discounted international voice roaming option and get it down to $0.99/min. Expect to pay 20-30 euros for a TIM SIM plus calls. So you may be better off roaming. Mathew

I agree that you should use the AT&T Plan for just 2 calls. Last fall I bought a sim card for my unlocked phone in Italy and still have $20.00 credit left. I think I spent $35 for it.

I agree that you should use the AT&T Plan for just 2 calls. Last fall I bought a sim card for my unlocked phone in Italy and still have $20.00 credit left. I think I spent $35 for it.

You can set up AT&T international roaming on your account before you leave. Here's a blog that walks you through the process: http://www.lodgephoto.com/blog/set-up-iphone-for-europe-travel-save-money/277/

You people are wonderful. I educated myself about how to make an international call by (gasp) looking in the front of the phone book, so I think I've got it. It's not an Iphone, so no apps. I'll call ATT's customer service next week before we leave to let them know we're going. Thanks a million.

Hi Katherine, TIM sells their SIM cards for €10 and Vodafone's are about €25. With each of these SIM cards you get about €5 worth of minutes.

Thanks, everybody. I will try the roaming and hope for the best. One of our calls is to the owners of our B&B to get them to meet us and let us in, and the other is to the owner of our apartment in Venice to meet us and take us to it. So you see why I'm worried! If all else fails I'll try the public phones, which Rick seems to think are okay.

As another mentioned, TIM's cards are only 10 euro, which comes with 5 euro of talking time (plenty for the two calls). That should work for you, if you'd like. Calls to other Italians will be around 10 cents/minute (depending on which plan you have) and a 16 cent start up fee for each call. You will get more talking time than with ATT. But it should work for you either way.

Katherine, now that you've explained what your two calls are, I'd definitely suggest staying with AT&T. Getting an Italian SIM and properly configuring your phone will be more hassle for the use you've described. Both calls should be short and by using your home account, you should be comfortable with using the phones. Just educate yourself how to call an international number from your phone and also be sure and let AT&T know that you will be using the phones internationally. The only downside I see is if the folks you are calling want to call you back. They'll need to make an international call to reach you, which costs them more (but not much). To make an international call, you will basically have to mimic how you would call these places as if you were calling from the U.S. The fact that you are actually in that country doesn't change this fact when you are roaming on your home cell account. If you're not sure how to make the call, let us know and someone will explain further.