Using my iPhone 12pro max in Italy

We will be there as well some other sights have said buying a SIM card in Italy ( found almost everywhere ) for approx$30-40 for one month.
I’m not tech savvy enough I have only paid the $100 for the month on trips to Greece. Something I will leave to our techie son doing the study abroad there to figure out and let us know.
I have read to power off phone at night to have better easier access to gps In the morning linking to the nearest tower right away quicker location That’s all I have learned so far

I've been travelling with a mobile phone on travels to Europe for many years. In the beginning I tried using different SIM's but found that to be a bit of an awkward solution. I have a technical background so I looked into the best options in some detail. I finally decided that the easiest and best solution was to just use the roaming plan with my home cell network. It's definitely a more expensive option but so easy and seamless, and I don't find the cost to be a problem in the overall cost of a European holiday.

My plan allows me to use the phone exactly the same way I do at home, and I don't have to turn off cellular data or change anything else..... I just use it normally. I don't know of any technical reason to turn the phone off at night, so I leave it on continuously (although since I'm using my home number, I occasionally get calls in the wee hours of the morning from somebody who doesn't bother checking the time difference). Being disturbed at night was actually a very good thing on one occasion, as I received a call from my bank about a problem with my primary ATM card. If they hadn't been able to reach me, they would have simply frozen my card.

Ken, my easyroam plan is $16 per day. That would be $160 for 10 days.

I use an eSIM from Airalo. Very cheap and can be topped up. I only use it when wifi is unavailable.

I too have Verizon and like Ken I just use their $100 per phone travel plan so I can use the phone exactly as I do at home for an entire month. I've tried other solutions and they're just not worth the hassle for me since we do use our phones for everything.

If your phone is paid for, it’s easy to “unlock”. This just involves contacting Verizon and asking them to unlock it. Then just choose an eSIM that fits your needs and install that via the link they will send you when you pay.

Verizon isn’t in Canada. Phone plans and roaming are not cheap in Canada.

I’m unsure where the OP is based, but the OP mentioned it would be $177 to use the phone. A sim or eSIM would be much cheaper.

I'm planning to get an eSIM for my next trip. But truthfully, using the hotel wireless (and WhatsApp to call home or a traveling companion) I was able to do everything I needed on my last two trips. In Greece and Austria I could find wireless in museums and cafés and didn't need to turn on cellular service.

I just tell Verizon to turn on my Euro package and I pay what they charge, you gotta pay somebody. Just don't have your phone turned on all the time if you aren't expecting calls, and use wifi as much as possible.

KB,

My Roam Like Home plan is about the same as the one you mentioned..... $15 a day for a maximum of 20 days in any billing period ($300). My trips in the past tended to be three or four weeks, so I typically used the full 20 days. I have to be accessible on my home number so using other SIM's is awkward. We do pay exorbitant fees for roaming but thankfully there's some good news on the horizon.... The CRTC is now investigating roaming rates charged by "the big three" so we may be getting a break in future.

Drop Verizon and get T-Mobile.
No charge for usage overseas (except for making regular calls which costs $0.25/min).

https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans?ICID=MGPO_TMO_U_UNL55PLUS_RXTFSBK65GRY9FIB13PRU

Click on “see more plans” to see also the Magenta plans

I simply stay with ATT and use their always active International Plan. Yes, it’s $10/day with max at 20 days so not “cheap”. However it’s a no-brainer and I like my home phone number to travel with me. By using free WiFi and WhatsApp I typically never exceed $50 / 5 days use over our 16-18 day trip. Then again we travel to see and experience and untether from the phone. Paper maps are still a wonderful thing!

DurJim, I am seeing that the AT&T International Day pass thingy is $10 for a max of 10 days per period, so you won't spend as much as you thought! (Unless your trip spans two billing cycles! I'm lucky mine doesn't)

Maybe it’s old-fashioned but I go to the TIM store, and get a Sim card and get a three month plan. I’m here now and got a three month plan for €42 total for 3 months, with more data than I will ever need even though I still hook up with my apartment data and not use my data. And I get unlimited calls to Italy.
I have all of my family and friends that I need to talk to on WhatsApp.

I can call on this phone for any reservations. I need in Italy for restaurants or checking in on my accommodation reservations.

And everyone else I use WhatsApp