Verizon Razr Maxx with Android 4 in Italy

You would still need to look into options for data. You can easily buy a SIM card for voice to put in your phone, providing it is unlocked, and take care of cheaper voice rates. On my non-smart phone though, even roaming at $1.25 a minute is not bad as I do not have a high volume of calls, fewer when travelling, it is sometimes not worth the hassle of a separate sim card and new number. Data is a different deal, many who talk about getting a Sim card are doing so only for voice. Shop around, there may be some good deals for Italy, it varies wildly by country. Yes, roaming charges for data can be very expensive, but the deals you may find may not be that cheap either. This site has some info to start with: http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/instructions/internet_with_cell_phone.htm

Yep! Much cheaper to get an Italian phone there or have your phone unblocked in the US and buy a SIM card there (which you can insert in your unblocked phone). Roaming charges on US based phones are a rip off. My wife has an android smart phone which she hardly used in Italy for a month there in 2011. The bill for Data roaming was $600 in one month. She could have bought 20 Italian phones with that money. When we went back this year she used the Italian phone only and had her smart phone either off or on airplane mode the whole time (she was so scared to even turn it on). AT&T still managed to charge her for $300 in roaming data (which they promptly reversed after we complained and told them they were full of "cacca di toro")

Thanks for the responses so far. Perhaps I should have more clearly stated that I am specifically interested in hearing from someone who has a Verizon Razr or Razr Maxx with Android 4 installed who has tried using a local telecom SIM card in Italy and if they were successful. Thanks!

The Android 4.0 update for Razr Maxx was launched in Italy last August. So I don't see why it wouldn't work. The important thing is that you have yours unblocked so that you can insert a local SIM card. I wouldn't buy a whole new Razr Maxx in Italy just for your trip because the cost of the phone is advertised at Eur 749 (VAT included). I noticed that it doesn't have Dual SIM card capabilities, therefore you won't be able to switch back and forth between two numbers. That's a feature that many of my friends use there. Basically with the same phone you can switch between two numbers (let's say one for their business and one for their personal, maybe even with a different provider). So I guess you can't have both SIM cards (US no and Italian no.) inside at once with the RAZR.

If you don't get the answers here, go to the Italy forums of http://www.prepaidgsm.net. Discussions there can get VERY technical, so don't be afraid to ask for clarification if needed.

Thanks again for the responses. I'm still searching for feedback on the specific combination of a Razr\Razr Maxx and Italy. I have found record of plenty of folks who have had success ing a local SIM card into these two phones in other countries, and into other Android 4 phones in Italy, so I guess there's a good chance that the process should also work for the Razr\Razr Maxx in Italy.

I stumbled across the following message on a dedicated Razr\Razr Maxx forum that seems to answer my questions. I hope this helps others who are looking for similar information. http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-razr-maxx/212942-international-travel-razr-maxx-11.html#post2291468 ****** 10-03-2012 08:00 AM #104 I just returned from 24 days in Italy, traveling with my Droid Razr Maxx. When I got to Italy, I found you can only buy a SIM card at a cellular store, so I went to a Vodafone store and bought one of their SIM cards - you will need your passport, and it takes a while to get all the paperwork filled out. The store employee adjusted the phone settings, including the APN, and in about 2 hours, I had service. Then I just bought more time as I needed it. A side note, though - to buy more phone time you can only go to certain stores, in Italy it's mostly just Tabacchi (tobacco shops) and large grocery stores, and they close in the early evening. I found myself with no phone time and no open shops at about 20:30 (8:30pm). I had to ask some nice Italian man if he could call a taxi for me. Also it costs 4 Euros a day to use the 3G (they don't have 4G in Italy), not counting data usage, so use it judiciously. When I received calls from the US, they were free to me, so I could get calls from home, even if I had no more time on my card. For me to call home was about 60 cents a minute. I tried to use Skype, but I think the foreign SIM wasn't recognized and it asked me to register as a new user. I tried a few things to get it to work, but never could. I'm not ruling out user error, but it just didn't work for me. ... snipped ... When I returned home two nights ago, I replaced my Verizon SIM card, powered up and the phone works just fine. Last edited by Teener; 10-03-2012 at 08:24 AM.
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