Success taking your iPhone?

I take mine all the time. Talk to your provider at home to see what type of plan you may need to switch to in order to get service.

Donna

Thanks, Donna, that's good news.

Does the phone have to be unlocked?

Yes you can take your iPhone to Europe, but as the previous reply indicated you'll have to check with your home cellular network to find out what the terms and costs for international roaming are. If you could indicate which network you're with, there may be others on the forum that have had experience with that.

You would not be able to "set up with an Italian provider" unless your phone is unlocked.

Your profile doesn't indicate which country you're from, so one other point to note is that you may require Plug Adaptors in order to connect the phone charger to Italian power outlets.

It depends on what you are planning on doing with your phone. If you're planning on making a lot of calls, a local phone might most sense. If you're interested mainly in texting, some data, and a reasonable rate for the occasional call, adding a temporary overseas plan (I thought) was a pretty good value. However, the minimum AT&T offered was a 30 day plan. I don't know about Verizon, but I would think it wouldn't be too different.

~C

Great article on this website, under "travel tips" tab - then the "Phones and Technology" link - that will answer a lot of your questions and help you figure out what works best for you. I prefer taking my unlocked iPhone (Verizon plan) into the SIM store in Florence, upon arrival, and getting an Italian SIM card. About 30 euros buys me all I need for 2-3 weeks. Cheapest and most dependable way for me. Also suggest you look into the "WhatsApp" app on the iPhone store as also a way of free communication, both in Italy and back to States.

Yes, you can pay a US cellular company to provide service in Italy. But for a fraction of the price, if your phone is unlocked, you can get an Italian SIM card and use your phone liberally. The first couple of years I went to Italy I had AT&T add Europe to my coverage. I use a lot of data and my bill was $150 and I was being careful to not use my phone as much as I do at home. Now, I have an unlocked phone and pay Vodafone $30€ for 4GB data which I don't use in a month.

It depends on if your phone is unlocked, which basically means you have paid for the phone. They are required to unlock it once the phone is paid for.

Many of the newer phones come already unlocked.

I just add 30 day international service to my plan and it's worked for me but I just use phone service sparingly but use text and data very liberally. I have Sprint.

We get a data plan that allows for unlimited texts. I'm not sure how much other data we can use, for things such as maps and such, but we never hit the limit. We have 2 kids (young adults now) and the unlimited texting works out great for them. We use AT&T.

Donna

I find a cheap tablet or Ipad the most useful travel item for staying in touch in Italy. Every, and i mean EVERY, hotel and apartment has WiFi. Many bars too, but often you have to ask.

Setting up a sim card in Italy is more trouble than it is worth unless you plan on staying a month or more IMO. It will take you at least an hour of your time in a phone shop with various documents to photocopy, and then the wait for it to be initialised. Even then it might not work. Do not bother.

DO...download an offfline map of Florence/ Tuscany with one of the many free online android or ios apps. In any case every hotel has a free tourist map for the centre of Florence.

I was told by Verizon that all 4g phones come unlocked. Back when phones were locked verizon over the telephone (my landline)walked me through the steps to unlock my phone and we would just get sim card in country we were visiting. Lately we have just added an Intl plan through Verizon but still look for accommodations with wifi.