I am leaving for Rome on Thursday and I had my cellphone unlocked. It's a quadband phone and, supposedly it will work in Italy but I don't know where to purchase the sim card for it. Apparently, the cellphone centres in Fiumicino airport are all on the departure side of the airport and I'll be on the arrivals side. Help please because we have to drive 3.5 hours to our hotel and I wouldn't want to do that without the use of a cellphone.
RS
Rhonda, just outside of the arrival gates (Terminal B) there is a SMARTPhone store... bear right as you come out of the frosted, sliding glass doors and you'll see it on the hallway headed to the train station. To see a picture and perhaps better description, CLICK HERE
Ciao and Good Luck - Ron in Rome
I've also heard that it can take up to 48 hours to have that Italy sim card activated and working. Most being activated within 24 hours. Is that true? Has anyone activated an Italy sim card from a store before, and can they report how long before actual service was available?
The folks at the SMARTPhone store told me 1-2 hours... but I've seen other postings that say their phones were connected immediately after the store rep's called...
I bought a cell phone at that SMARTPhone store in May and the TIM sim card was active within 2 hours, as the store promised. Not sure whether it was active sooner since I didn't make my first call until 2 hours later.
Thanks for a first hand experience on Italy sim card activation. 1-2 hours is an acceptable wait time, but if you need it right away, I suppose that won't work.
In July I purchased a sim card at the Vodafone store in Venice for my phone previously purchased in Italy and was able to make calls immediately. .16 Euro for calls within Italy, .50 Euro to the U.S. and all incoming calls free.
Did have a problem with a 2nd phone we brought along with us that was purchased in the states. It was to have been an unlocked phone and unfortunately that was not the case. After trying several things, the clerk at the store said it was a locked phone.
Sorry to sound so ignorant of these kinds of things. I just got a world phone from Verizon, they activated the sim card, and I was told I can use it just the way it is while in Italy. Is this really so? I know there is a fee of $ 1 .20 per minute, less if a text, but is it that simple? And what does it mean to be locked/unlocked. I am assuming this does not apply to my phone. Thanks!
Whoops...doesn't sound good. I went specifically to have mine unlocked and the thought has crossed my mind as to whether he really DID unlock it. I'll be really upset if I find out that it's still locked.
Rhonda - See if you can locate or borrow a friends sim card on another network as the one you are on. Insert that sim card and if your phone works, then it is unlocked. Or even go to another carriers store, say you may want to switch carriers, but need to check that your current phone will work on their network. Have them put their sim card in to see if your phone works or not. It it does, then you are unlocked.
