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telephone in Italy & Spain

we want to call/text in italy/spain.
we do not have a carrier that gives international calling except from US to other countries.
where in italy (rome) is the cheapest and best place to buy a phone with sim card that allows calls within italy/spain and to the US?

thank you
linda

Posted by
811 posts

use any cell phone stores you can find, i.e. in roma termini you'll find a wind branded store. they have a 30 day italy only sim card you very cheap with voice/sms/data services. i'd buy another card in spain instead of getting the roaming services.

Posted by
8889 posts

where in italy (rome) is the cheapest and best place to buy a phone with sim card

But, it is a lot cheaper and easier just to buy a new SIM card for your existing phone, which is what David suggests.
In order for this to work, you need a GSM standard phone which is unlocked.
With a new SIM card, you will get a new Italian phone number.

Any Italian SIM card should allow use in any EU country, and phoning to and from any country worldwide.

Posted by
4 posts

is roma termini the airport? or store?
are stores easy to find?
thank you very much for your reply
linda

Posted by
11679 posts

Roma Termini is the train station.
FCO is the Rome airport.

Posted by
136 posts

If you don't need to purchase in the airport, I recommend going to either a Vodaphone or TIM dealer in Rome. We are currently in Italy and purchased SIM cards at a TIM kiosk. I got the package that includes 10GB of data, 150 minutes of calls in Italy and unlimited text messages and my husband got 30 GB of data (15GB during the day and 15GB during the night). We each paid €30 (€20 for the plan and € 10 for the SIM card). I notice on their website that they are currently offering 4GB and 100 minutes of calling in Italy and internationally for €30 (includes the SIM card). My husband has used less than 1 GB and I've used 2.9 GB in 3 weeks. Last year we purchased SIM cards in the airport (Paris) at a newsstand for one of the lesser carriers (can't remember the name - Libre perhaps) and they were a disaster. We could never get access to the internet and eventually ended up getting Orange SIM cards which worked perfectly. Lesson learned - go with one of the major carriers if you want reliable service.

Posted by
11613 posts

There is also a TIM store at Roma Termini.

Be aware that when you replace your SIM card, people will need your new phone number in order to call you.

Posted by
5687 posts

If you have a smart phone, you can use it on WiFi in Italy and Spain without buying a SIM card, if you prefer. Keep it in airplane mode, then enable WiFi to use it without any roaming charges.

You can call phones in the US for free (even landlines) with the Google Hangouts app (for Android phones, also need the Hangouts Dialer app), but you need to set up Hangouts before you leave the US. It only works to call phones if you have an existing phone service to verify. But it will work in Europe without even a SIM card once you have verified it in the US. Calls to US numbers are free from Europe (add the +1 country code in front, perhaps); calls to non-US numbers aren't free but can be made for a few cents per minute with Hangouts.

There are a lot of free texting apps that work on WiFi. I use Google Voice. Many people use WhatsApp.