Which phone plan?

We used Sprint and had free usage while we traveled from Venice to Florence to Rome last year. We also purchased a sim card but never used it.

Since my carrier (AT&T) has outrageous prices for international plans and I use a lot of data while in Italy, I generally buy a Vodafone Sim Card with the Vodafone Holiday plan, which is designed for foreign visitors.
It costs 30 euro for a month and it comes with 2Gb of data, 300 outgoing minutes nearly anywhere in the world, and 300 outgoing SMS texts (also nearly anywhere in the world). Incoming calls and texts are always free and unlimited.

We also have Verizon and always use the International Travel Preferred Pricing Plan. It's $40 per month, per device, and gives you 100 mins. of talk, 100 sent emails, unlimited received emails, and 100MB of data. Between that and just hooking into wireless at cafes, etc., we find it to be more than plenty for our needs. It has always worked very well for us everywhere we have gone in Europe. Much easier than switching carriers or messing around with sim cards.

Anita - does Verizon still offer that $40 plan? I thought they went to some ridiculous $10 a day nonsence

Verizon just introduced a new plan (although I'm not sure how new it is). It's called the TravelPass. For just $10/day per line you can use your phone just as you do in the States for talk, text and data. Since you are going for a month it could get expensive. But they only charge you on days when you use your phone, so if you don't use it one day, they won't charge you!

http://www.verizonwireless.com/landingpages/international-travel/

There is a $40 plan that may work good for you, depending on how much you want to use your phone off WiFi.

I always get the simple data plan for $25 because I like to rely solely on WiFi, since nearly everyplace has free WiFi nowadays. This may not be enough for travelers who like to stay in touch, but I enjoy going off the grid while on vacation and only using my phone while at my hotel.

I have had a different experience than Roberto in regards to ATT. I think the difference in our perceptions is that he needs a great deal of data and I use very little.

I use my international phone plan primarily for text messages and to have my usual phone number easily reachable by elderly parents if they need to get in touch with me. I use wireless at the hotel for data so I don't worry that there is a limited amount available.

I think you need to think about what your personal needs will be. Will you be using data a great deal during the day, or will you be able to utilize the wifi at your hotel and other public locations instead? I think this will be a major factor in just what type of plan you really need.

I spoke with a rep at Verizon. They still have the $40 a month international plan. If I remember correctly, it allows for 100 calls and text messages and there is a certain amount of data. I will use the wifi at the hotel, cafes and the school that l will be attending. I quess this plan will work ok. I want my family in the states to be able to contact me. The $10 a month is additional. The rep said that's for people who will be making a lot of calls to other people in Italy.

Anita has it correct for the$40 per month plan. If you watch your data usage and use wifi at the hotels for most things, that works well. The $10 a day plan lets you choose the days you will have access to the same plan you have at home, but you have to group your usage into those $10 days, otherwise the cost will run up very quickly. Four usage days = $40.
The rep I spoke with at Verizon while setting up our plans recommended resetting our usage statistics to zero just before we began using the $40 plan. Then we could see how much data and call time we had used. On an iPhone, go to Settings, then Cellular, then scroll all the way to the bottom of the screen to Reset Statistics. We were able to track our usage. You also should turn Celluar Data off, except for when you are actually using it. I thought that might be a hassle, but it wasn't.

well, I did this last year in my 2 month stay. Used the Verizon $40 add on. ...100 min..100 txt,..100mb data.. .$40 .That was perfect. for me ..Google Maps and GPS use's very little data...maybe 2 mb for a three hour trip

Since you already have Verizon type phones, you might do best to go with that. We just got back from Italy where we used three iPhones and TMobile and had data pretty much everywhere for free - which was great. TMobile really is a great plan for International Travel.

I have been talking to Verizon about the $40/mo plan also. We have four phones so it would be 160. I am afraid my teens would not be so great about the limited texting so we have told them they can only use whats app on wifi except in an emergency. All phones will be useable for talk and text in Europe and cellular data will be turned off. So we are taking the pay as you route and hope it our needs end up less than $160 for 20 days.

Diane,

The easiest solution would be to use the Verizon international roaming plan (since your family has to be able to reach you). That will provide the ability to call and text easily, and if you limit your calls as much as possible it shouldn't be too expensive. If the Verizon plan also includes data (ie: 200 GB or whatever), that would be good as it will allow you to access data if you really need it. However, I'd suggest leaving "Cellular Data" switched "off" unless absolutely necessary.

For the majority of your data use (E-mail, social media or whatever), wait until you're back in the hotel and can use Wi-Fi for that. That's especially important if you're sending larger files such as photos. In Wi-Fi areas, you can also use something like Viber make inexpensive voice calls and send free texts (the receiving party also needs to have Viber).

Some important points to keep in mind regarding use of a local SIM card.....

• your phone handset would have to be "unlocked" or other SIM cards won't work.
• with a different SIM card, you'll have a different phone number and billing terms. A different number means your family will have to make an international long distance call anytime they need to get in touch with you.

I have verizon too and is planning to get their $40 international plan. It is 100 mins talk time and 100 text received but I was not told it is unlimited received emails. If it is then it is a good international plan.