telephone use in Italy

You probably would have saved plenty by picking up a used phone and buying an Italian SIM card but that's water under the bridge.

If your phone has an Italian number, you simply dial any other Italian number when in Italy. The plus sign is an international indicator that means what immediately follows is the country code. e,g, the US country code is 1 (Hey, we invented it!) so a U.S. number is +1 800 555 1212. If you call from one country to another, you use the international access code for the country you are calling FROM. So when you call FROM the U.S. to any other country, you use the international access code 011 then the country code, then the number. To call the U.S. from Italy, you need to know the Italian international access code that would allow you to call another country.

Grace, get ahold of any of Ricks books. In the back is an appendix that explains how to make int'l call to/from the US.

Or you could find that same information on this website under the Travel Tips; look for "European Calling Chart"

Thanks to both respondents. I did read Rick's bit in Italy 2008 but it didn't seem clear. And John, you're probably right that there are cheaper ways to get a working phone for Italy. But my husband and I are senior citizens that struggle a bit (OK, quite a bit) with cell phone technology, so we took the easy way out. At least, I hope it will be easy.
But my main question is about calling an Italian number once we get there. If we have an essentially American phone, does it operate as though it's still in America, and require that we dial that way? I know my cell phone here is in the 609 area no matter where I go, so I have to dial other area codes as though they are long distance even if I'm standing there.

Grace,

Using Cell phones in Italy (or anywhere else) is not too difficult, but I can understand your position with respect to technology. The "+" sign is obtained by holding down the zero key on some phones (not sure what phone you're using).

You might print a copy of Rick's Phone chart and take it with you on the trip.

Hope this helps. Happy travels!

Grace,
It depends - is the SIM card for the phone US or Italian...for instance..I have an extra cell phone...it works here in America like a normal phone with a T-Moble SIM card and we prepay for minutes...but...whe n I go to Italy, I take out the battery and take out my T-Mobile SIM and pop in my TIM SIM (Italian) and then the phone is Italian ;-)same phone...the SIM is really the phone number. Weh the T_Mobile one is in, I can't use it in Italy...when the TIM one is in, it won't work in the US. (changing it makes it local to each country) different, for example, from my "normal" cingular/AT&T phone I have here - I COULD pay for in International plan and use it in Italy since it's GSM and will work...but then I'd be PAYING like it was a US phone in Italy and not a local phone with a local number...does that make any sense?? I'm assumming your phone will be a local, Italian phone.

Make great sense. Thanks to you and everyone.

Grace, the "+" key is actually the phone's shorthand to access the international long distance network in Europe....like we dial either 011 or 001 to call from North America to overseas. The "+" sign is equivalent to "00," so if you can't get the "+" sign to come up, just dial double zero instead. So to dial back to the U-S from a European cell, you can dial 00, then 1 (the "country code" for North America), then the area code, then the number.

Thanks, Norm, that's helpful.