I just bought a Mobal phone (www.mobal.com) for use when I will be in England next May. I haven't used the phone yet and I don't know if it will meet all of your requirements, but you might want to check out their website.

Thanks Jeanne! The only downsides are a UK phone number rather than Italian (not sure how much of a difference that actually makes) and a rather high per-minute rate. We will be a group of 20 travelers (half of them 20-something sons, nieces, and nephews), and I suspect there will be a lot of local-call phone-usage among us when we're out on day-trips.

All you need to know is quad band GSM unlocked, then choose a phone you like and consider affordable.
As for the SIM card, you might pay slightly more by buying it in advance, but that might make it easier--and it will certainly be cheaper than any kind of intl plan.

We bought a basic phone for 29E in Naples. Then we bought a SIM card for 10E, including 5E worth of talk time. It's easy to refill with more minutes at tobacco shops.

Thanks, folks! I checked out eBay for "quad band GSM unlocked phone", and there's a good selection, starting at $30. Looks like a good way to go!

I was going to post a similar question. When arriving in Australia a year ago, I was able to buy a cheap phone with a prepaid SIM card and ample minutes (including text messaging)in the Sydney airport. I used it daily and didn't even use half of the minutes during our one-month stay.

Are these sold at airports in Italy? We'll be flying into Venice, so I'm wondering if we can buy it at Marco Polo Airport. Or do we need to look for a tobacco shop as Marija indicated?

You can buy a TIM card when you get to Italy.
http://www.tim.it/consumer/c102951/i102953/livello2standard.do

Thanks, kybourbon. The website is in italian, though. How to translate?

Several trips ago, I went to the TIM (my Italian is virtually non-existent, but that roughly translates as Mobil Italian Telephone) store in Florence and bought a cheap flip phone for about 70 euros, which included about 20 euros of "talk time." I have used the phone on every trip since then and simply go back to the store in Florence (or another store, as TIM is well positioned throughout Italy) and refilled my SIM card. This past September, I had to buy a new SIM card, as it had somehow "expired" but the new card also included minutes.

I too considered the Mobal solution, but I liked the convenience of an Italian number as it made calling restaurants, hotels and taxis much easier.

Hope this helps!

Yes, many Italian websites are in Italian. LOL! You can use google translator. TIM stores are all over Italy (don't think there is one in Venice airport although FCO has one). If you have an unlocked quad band phone, just buy a TIM card for 5-10€. You will need your passport to buy as they are supposed to register the card to you.
http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en

Other phone stores you will see - Vodaphone, Wind. Just ask at the info booth at the airport where the closest place to get a phone card or nearest TIM.

Thanks for the info! I'm a techno-klutz - do you think the Vodaphone I bought at the airport in Australia would work if I bought a SIM (or TIM) card in Italy?

Kybourbon -

So in Italy you can buy a SIM from TIM (chuckling as I typed that) for 5-10€? Buying an an Italy-specific SIM here in the States seems to be considerably more expensive (e.g. $39, with a 5€ airtime credit, on this site: http://www.telestial.com/view_product.php?PRODUCT_ID=LSIM-IT01 )

When you buy a SIM chip in Italy, will you be up and running immediately? I was reading somewhere that it can take as long as 3 days delay to be able to make calls. (Sounds dubious, but who knows!)

elnap29. The Vodaphone phone should work in Italy as long as it is UNLOCKED. That is not locked into a certain Australian network.
I only say this because once my brother gave me a phone he had bought in Australia and it would only work on the network from Australia. But once I had it unlocked it worked in Europe...all over.
That is not to say that your phone is the same.

We were "up and running" with our SIM card in Naples within an hour of purchase.

save

Telestial is not TIM. Telestial is based in the US and sells various sim cards. They are a middle man. If you want to pay a middle man $20-30 over the cost of the product it's up to you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telestial

I would check to see if your Vodaphone is actually unlocked and not locked to Vodaphone only. Borrow someone's AT&T chip and put in it and see if it works (anyone that has an AT&T cell phone). You also need to know that the phone is GSM quad band. I assume it is since Vodaphone has service in Europe. What phone did you buy?

The last TIM card (it's Telecom Italia) I bought (in Italy) was 10€. Usually, you are up and running right away, but in Italy they are required to get your passport number and register it which is supposed to take 24 hours or so. It would be the same rules even if you bought a Vodaphone or Wind sim card.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecom_Italia

We did the Telestial thing, and calls home to Australia were not cheap.

But local calls were OK.

Tobacco (aka "Tabac") shops are where you buy things like phone cards, ferry tickets, bus tickets, mobile phone top-up cards, stamps, postcards. They are the universal corner store in Italy.

I went ahead and bought an LG quad-band unlocked phone on eBay from a seller that seems to have a ton of them (and lots of good buyer-feedback). It was $30 with free delivery. A good start, I think.

It might be worth some extra money to have the SIM card delivered here in the States prior to our trip, with the registration process already done, so we can go directly from customs at the Pisa airport to the rental car and be on the road to our villa rental in Chianti. (The villa is way in the boonies, so it would be good to have a working phone in case we get lost along the way. Plus various other members of our group are coming from different airports.)

Telestial sells SIM cards on the TIM network which seems reliable, with ease of purchasing more minutes. Some of the U.S.-based sellers use the UnoMobile network, and I've read that there are issues with adding minutes in Italy.

I just saw a mention of mobal sim up in the thread. I think I should mention that this is one of the most expensive international sim out there. It's definitely not a good option for the UK, where they are pretty much giving away sim cards, you just need to topup. And most of the UK carriers have rates to the us of about 5 - 10 p/min.

Telestial is OK - we used them. You can buy top-up cards at any Tabac.
Don't activate the card until you reach italy. Long story!

if i am already in rome, where can i buy a timm card for my cell phone. the tobacco stores only sell the reload cards.

You have to find a TIM store - your hotel may be able to advise

This is all great information.

I am just wondering how much you get for your 10euro sim card -- in terms of data/ internet surfing and phone calls. also, how much does it cost to call the US from italy.

thanks!
dina

We bought sim cards from Vodafone in a currency exchange store at Pisa Airport. The ones for the smartphones worked well, but the one for the USB dongle of our notebook did not work at all.

Unfortunately, the people had no idea why it did not work and they did also not refund the 20 Euros for the card.

I would NOT buy there again, as they do not know what they are selling and they do not even have the simplest manuals.

I researched this fairly well before we went to Italy for a month last fall. Went to TIM right after we checked into our hotel in Rome and freshened up. Bought sims for both my little old unlocked Motorola and my iPad2. Had George Clooney install them both and explain what I'd need to do ( TIM seems to hire attractive people to work in their stores in Rome...). I was indeed up and running om the spot.

I THINK I did register with TIM prior to leaving home...it didn't cost anything, and I printed off the paper work and took it with, but I'm not sure if that really made a difference.

If you want a SIM-Card that works well in Italy (with 500 MB per day for 2 €) and in all other EU countries (33) for 2 € per day, with 100 MB, check Europasim.
TIM, Vodafone and Wind are good choice if you stay only in Italy, but if you travel a lot (even in different years), a single card will have much lower cost of ownership + the convenience to have one setup and one credit for the whole continent!

My last trip to Italy, once I landed, I purchased a SIM card for my Blackberry (unlocked before I left the US.) For 20 Euros I got free Internet/Web, free incoming calls/text and approx 10 Euros of outgoing calls/text.
I was up and running by the time I got back to my hotel.
Remember to ask the clerk to disable or block your phone from ads, otherwise you'll be bombarded with Italian ads on your phone.
I topped up with another 20 Euros during my 3 week trip.
If I was staying any longer I think paying for a month long plan would be cheaper.