Will my smart phone apps such as Google maps and others requiring wifi, work in Italy? If so is there a charge for using it? If not, what is the best way to make it work. 5 years ago it was not an issue, but now, I keep so much information on my phone, it has become indispensable.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Jeff Masters
Yes everything will work just like at home.
The charge will depend on your home carrier, check with them. International data roaming can get expensive. T-Mobile has great rates. All others suck.
If your smart phone is unlocked you can also buy a local SIM card which will probably cost you signifcantly less than any international plan with your home carrier. However while the Italian SIM is installed you will have an Italian phone number, therefore if people need to reach you they need to call you at that new number.
I always buy the Vodafone plan below when I go to Italy (at least once a year). My AT&T wants too much money. Go to any Vodafone store or authorized dealer and they will install the SIM card for you, if you don't know how (it's easy, all you need is a paper clip).
Vodafone Holiday plan is designed for foreign visitors to Italy.
It charges a total of €30 for one month. It comes with 300 outgoing voice minutes and 300 outgoing texts (to anywhere in the world) and 2Gb of data. Incoming calls and texts are always free and unlimited.
http://www.vodafone.it/portal/Privati/Tariffe-e-Prodotti/Tariffe/Estero/Vodafone-Holiday-English
Yes it will work. Wifi is free in many places like hotels and cafes. What will get expensive is using cellular data - 3G or 4G. Look into this with your carrier - there are plans you can buy to make it more affordable. Or you could turn off data and just use wifi, depending on what and when you need.
I thought they worked on wifi with your phone on airplane mode. Why did I think that google maps worked off line?
Now I am confused. I have google maps and I have Maps.me that I thought I could use in my car without turning my phone off airplane mode. yikes!!
Pat
I use CityMaps2Go Pro, and it definitely works without phone service (spent 89 days in Spain with no phone service). Once you've downloaded the maps you need, Wi-Fi isn't necessary, either. The app uses GPS satellites to figure out where you are on the map.
And along with using maps on cell phone, what about a translator app? I am wondering if this can be used without using data? Thanks for any advice.
Google maps works offline now, I hear. This is new - less than a year I think. I haven't used it offline. I use City Maps 2 Go because it's offline and lets you mark places on your map. Google My Map does too but it's not offline although plain google maps is.
Translator - google translate works offline assuming you download the language you need first.
To test what works offline turn wifi off and put your phone in airplane mode. Anything that works will work over there
I went to Italy twice and bought a sim card for my unlocked iPhone. If your phone is not unlocked it will not work with another sim card. Its inexpensive and will save lots of money on roaming charges. If you are in airplane mode if an area has wifi it will work as well. My husband had his set this way and it worked for him. Enjoy Italy we loved Florence.
If your phone is GSM Quad-band compatible and unlocked, I would definitely go the local SIM card route. A lot of the municipal free WIFI requires you to SMS-text a local number in order to get an authorizing code to log into the network. Also, it's not advisable (in other words - downright foolish) to perform any banking or on-line purchase transactions while using the free (open) WIFI networks. You're just asking to be a target of identity theft. (Best to use your cellular data for that as it's encrypted by default.)
