travel wifi

I am currently in Bilbao Spain and there are several free wifi connections throughout the most busy sections of the city. Most of the restaurants have it too - although not all of them. At&T charges $10/day for international travel access to cellular and I have never paid it so I don't know if it is more available than Wifi in Europe or less.
I will be in Florence in a about 10 days and can post again on the availability of city wifi there.
Good luck!

And T-Mobile had "free" wi-fi most everywhere we went last April from Rome to Padua. You pay a set charge ($35?) for access to high speed internet and some other features for a month. Seemed like a good value.

we have verizon and would have to pay for the travel plan. previously it was cheaper to get the WIFI, especially since we will be needing it for navigation, etc.

it's not as popular as it used to be but you could also get your own wifi hotspot (like a little hockey puck)

Just returned from Georgia and Italy (21 days) using the AT&T international travel plan. It worked great. You pay $10/day fort up to 10 days then the rest of your billing cycle is free. I was able to navigate in Venice, Florence, and Rome as well as Tbilisi without any trouble. Worth the investment.

I've never seen the benefit of these WiFI hotspots unless several people are sharing it. But a phone with Verizon international roaming would be able to share its internet via the phone's WiFi hotspot anyway. Four travelers sharing one WiFi hotspot with unlimited data might make sense I guess, but then if anyone gets separated, they can't use their phones without finding WiFi somewhere else.

We have T-mobile. We also took the mobile hotspot, which is a device which run $10/month. I was able to get wifi access while walking around. Thus, I could use map navigation.

In 2017 and 2019, we had relied on free Wifi in cafes and restaurants - of course, there is wifi in hotels. But on the 2022 trip, we found few cafes and restaurants in Italy had free wifi for customers. Italy contributors stated that the use of wifi/cell service is so reasonable in Italy that everyone has this service.

thanks. we are doing more investigating. more than likely we will rent a travel wifi, primarily for navigation but also to follow myMaps locations we have.

We just returned from ten nights in Catania (Sicily). We found absolutely zero free wifi hotspots. We were thankful that we came prepared with the Verizon monthly international cell plan with unlimited data!

I find having a working smart phone everywhere is hugely beneficial when I travel e.g. for maps to find my way around walking or with public transit. I stopped relying on "free WiFi" years ago. Since mobile data with a SIM card is so incredibly cheap now, it seems pointless not to have it vs. the huge benefit it provides. Last fall I spent 14 euros on my Dutch Vodafone SIM for 4GB of data, much more mobile data for my 10 days trip than I needed. (2GB would have sufficed but 4GB was only 5 euros more). I had access to my regular US phone number for calls and texting since I use Google Voice at home anyway. Only 14 euros for this seems like a huge bargain.

If you have a newer smartphone (within the past two years or so) and don't need to make phone calls from an Italian phone number, an eSIM is very easy to use and will give you data on your phone, which you can then use as a hot spot.

Last summer, we were in Italy for 2 months and my husband and I used eSIMs purchased through Airalo. I believe 20GB was about $15. We stayed north of Rome, but had great service everywhere we went. The eSIM plugs into local networks (TIM, Wind, Vodaphone, etc.) based on whichever company has the best service at your particular location. It worked great for texting, FaceTime, Google maps, email, ordering food through apps, and everything we needed.

On the very rare occasions where I needed to make a phone call using my US number, I paid the Verizon $10/day charge only on the days that I needed it. We purchased the eSIM from the US and then activated it as soon as we landed in Italy. It was very convenient for us to have service immediately, rather than having to shop for a physical SIM on arrival.

Erin, next time save yourself the $10/day by signing up for Google Voice. Then you will be able to call US phone numbers (even landlines) for free from the Google Voice app, using your new Google number (not your Verizon number, though). If you have specific people you need to call on US numbers who will be looking for your phone number before answering, just tell them your new Google number ahead of time.

(You may be able to set up WiFi Calling as well with your Verizon phone to make free calls from WiFi with your Verizon number without paying the $10 roaming fee - not sure.)

Thanks, Andrew! I had a few work-related phone calls that I needed to make, so it was worth it to me to pay the $10 and have my Verizon cell number. Our company has since switched to 8x8, so I believe I'll now able to make any necessary work calls via the 8x8 app and still have caller ID show up with my US-based work number. Fortunately, everyone in my personal life has an iPhone, so we used either FaceTime or FaceTime audio for those calls.

Google Voice sounds like a great backup, I'll be sure to set it up before we travel this summer, just in case :)