I have read various posts, and they are swirling in my head regarding phone use. I will be in Italy for 3 weeks and want to be able to phone locally and text, including with my travel mates. I also plan to use my cell phone camera and What's App to text home. Am I better off to get an Italian SIM card for my regular Samsung phone or purchase an inexpensive Italian phone? Would it be an advantage to tether with my US phone? I also will be taking a tablet. My US plan allows for daily use for calls and texts at $10/day. I don't want to make a habit of using that option, but in case of an emergency it's there.
Grazie.
Posted by
OP
8 posts
What about getting an old cell phone unlocked? Would that work? Verizon is my carrier.
Posted by
Portland, Oregon
5687 posts
The only disadvantage of getting an Italian SIM to replace your Verizon SIM while in Italy is that you won't have the use of your Verizon number for calls or texting until you put the Verizon SIM back in. (Perhaps via WiFi Calling, not sure how that works when you remove the SIM with Verizon.) If you can live without that number for a few weeks, I don't see any reason not to get an Italian SIM.
I myself would not want to carry two phones around. I'd want my stuff on one phone and get the full use out of my primary phone - camera, everything. Why fool with an old phone?
If you want to call the US for free, even to landlines, use Google Hangouts (to be retried this fall) or Google Voice. WhatsApp is great if the other person has it (and it is popular in Europe), but sometimes you need to call your bank or airline back home and they don't have WhatsApp...
Posted by
Midwest
2768 posts
If your phone is unlocked and you can live without your US number for the 3 weeks, then a SIM is the way to go.
Getting another phone would probably mean you'd need to carry around 2, which would be annoying. I assume your existing phone has a better camera than any cheap phone you could buy there or ahead of time - so if you plan to use the phone as your main camera you need your current phone. For me personally, I like my apps/contacts/library of videos/music/photos - and I download all sorts of stuff to it before the trip for planning purposes. Setting all this up on a new phone would be difficult, especially because I'm tied to apple and iphones aren't usually the cheap option!
That said, there are scenarios where buying a local phone is an option. If all you want is a couple simple apps and are fine with the camera then buying a new, cheap phone could work. Leave your current phone in the hotel with data totally off so you have it when you get home (you could occasionally check messages on wifi), or just leave it at home.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area
5697 posts
Don't forget that your home phone is running up basic charges even if you're not using it-- we put our AT&T phones on vacation hold so the cost drops to $10 per line per month while we are off using Wi-Fi or having a European SIM card. One quick email gets them back to normal.
Posted by
🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️
3300 posts
For an unlocked phone, you can get reasonably priced (€30) tourist SIM cards from Italy’s 2 major providers. Both TIM and Vodafone offer cards. Check on them both since they offer different things. For instance, TIM Tourist gives you 15 gigs of data, 200 minutes of phone time Italy or international and a $5 credit but texts are €.20 each. Vodafone Holiday gives you 2 gigs of data and 300 minutes.