What SIM card to use in Italy, France, Switzerland and Britain?

Who is your service provider? Check to see what plans they offer.

We use Verizon and they have a plan that costs $10 for 24 hours. It's only activated when you use it to call, that's when the clock starts. It uses your regular call, text and data.

On two separate trips to Europe, one to Italy and the other to Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands, we only activated the service once. We used Wi-Fi for emails and Facebook to keep in touch with home. We looked into SIM cards, but it was confusing and messy. There are plenty of stories of bad service. Using Verizon's International Plan cost us a total of $10.00, much less than any SIM service. My wife will be going on a medical mission to Tanzania in April. That's all we plan to use.

DougMac, What happens if a lot of people call you while you're in Europe in regards to Verizon's charges?
I have Verizon and I have a lot of clients that call me every day, which is why I'm asking. Thanks.

DougMac, What happens if a lot of people call you while you're in Europe in regards to Verizon's charges?
I have Verizon and a lot of clients that call me every day, which is why I'm asking. Thanks.

Susan, my understanding is that it starts the $10.00, 24 hour clock. Make sure you check with Verizon before deciding.

Thanks DougMac, that's why I didn't go the Verizon route. $10 per day for 17 days is too high for me. We bought a SIM card at Orange (one of the best carriers) in Paris. $40 for 2 wks. Not cheap, there are other cheaper SIM cards, but service isn't as good as Orange and I wanted good service. My son has TMobile, they charge so little for calls and nothing for the rest while traveling out of the US which is why he switched his carrier to them.
I did sincerely ask you the question though DougMac, b/c my son simply said a SIM card would be cheaper than Verizon. When I asked why he was too busy to go into detail and I forgot to ask again at a better time.

Thanks DougMac, that's why we didn't go the Verizon route. $10 per day for 17 days too high.

I understand. We have different requirements. My wife and I are blessed that we can really take time off from our jobs, although I do think Deb had to check her emails every other day. This is a far cry from when I managed the sales and accounts receivable systems for a large manufacturing company. I was on call 24/7 because if there was an error with one of my systems, the nightly processing of the rest of the systems halted. I paid my dues and I'm glad I've spent the last decade in a less stressful position.

You could do something like this from Cellular Abroad, although it is data only. Or you could do a worldwide plan through them. Otherwise, SIMs are usually country-by-country. We did have one in ItIaly that we got through TIM for Euro 40.00 per month that allowed us some usage in other countries as we traveled. I think this is the offer or similar. Because the included usage usually only lasted me 5 days outside of Italy, I would load my SIM with another Euro 20.00 or so for overage. If we were going to be a week in a country it was pretty reasonable to just get a 15-20 Euro SIM in each country. EE (Everything Everywhere) in the UK was very economical. Try Orange in France.

FYI, the TIM store on the second level at Termini Station is very helpful and they speak English.

DougMac, I'm lucky in that I can take time off (I own a small business) but I still have clients calling me daily b/c they don't know I'm away. I was able to relax and enjoy Paris for 17 days, just got back.
Thanks so much for your helpful info.

We spent a month in France this past summer and used the Verizon Travel Pass plan. It cost us an additional $90 on top of our regular plan. An elderly friend kept calling me to see what we were doing, how's your trip going,...that sort of thing. Many times we were in a church or museum. She didn't realize the $10/24 hour clock started. It got to the point where I just let her calls go to VM and sent her an email that phone service was spotty so best to reach me via email. I understand T-Mobile has the most economical plan. I think something like $30//mo for unlimited talk, text, data?

Thank you everyone for all your helpful information. My two kids have very different interests, so usually after some family time together, my husband will take our son to do the sort of things they enjoy while I stay with our girl. So having our mobiles work is very important, but I also don't want to spend a lot on it considering we'll be away for at least 5 weeks. I suppose we don't have to call each other, but can use some APP to communicate as long as there's internet/data connection. Is there some sort of Wi-Fi device for hire to cover the countries we'll visit?

Sorry Laurel, now I read your post again, Cellular Abroad may be just the one we need, thanks heaps...

I used Vodafone last year in Sicily and it worked well. About 20 euros for a month's service, 100 mins of calls (local and back to US too), 3GB of 4G data. As of mid June 2017 EU roaming rules should kick in which may allow travelers to use their service EU wide. That should cover your trip except for possibly Switzerland.

That's great to know, thank you Rocket

Or get a cheap phone in the US and sign up for the cheapest T Mobile international service, use it like crazy on your trip, and then cancel the service when you get home.

Unfortunately, Phred, to get the T-Mobile international service you have to pay for a $50/month domestic plan. T-Mobile's international rates are very good if you already have T-Mobile service or are in position to switch to that company and need a monthly contract. Otherwise, T-Mobile isn't a particularly great solution.