Well, it seems that in order to make phone calls in Italy with your own phone, assuming it even works there, you must be financially on par with Warren Buffet. It'll cost you, maybe even more than the airfare. So for staying in touch with our family in the states we will use FaceTime on our iPad , but what about all those other conveniences that we are so spoiled with? Things like using the Internet to look up information or get maps or call for help in an emergency or get directions when we are hopelessly wandering the streets of Rome or Venice. Is there such a thing as an inexpensive phone you can buy once you get there? One that will fulfill those other needs ? One that has some kind of vacation plan that is only good for the 2 weeks we are there? Or maybe we just need to remember that people traveled for centuries without a cell phone and for the most part things worked out o.k. Is it a good idea to have a phone or really not necessary?
Can you hear me now? Cell phones in Italy.
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Yes, remember that people traveled for centuries without a cellphone and had a wonderful time. Having traveled both with and without a cellphone in Italy for the past 5 years, I have found it is really not that necessary - especially if you are staying in hotels where the front desk can make arrangements for you.
I have an iPhone 4S through Verizon, so I simply sign up for their international plan a couple of days before I go, and then cancel the plan upon my return. That way I only pay for the time I am away. The cost per minute for a call is around $1 I think, but that just means I keep any calls I make short and sweet. I buy a certain amount of data so I can look stuff up on the internet, if I feel like I will want to do that on any given trip.
But on my vacations I like to be as low-tech as possible, so I can really connect with and enjoy beautiful Italy!
We have a basic European cell phone. For travel in Italy, we use an Italian SIM, for travel in France, we use a French SIM. Nowadays, you can buy such a phone in Italy for 30 euros or less. The SIM card should cost about 5-10 euros. You usually get about 5 euros worth of calls and then you add credit to your phone using a Ricaricard (recharge card, nowadays, a paper receipt with information for addition the extra credit). With a basic phone, you don't get any mapping capability.
We use the phone for contacting our accommodations, making dinner reservations, occasionally calling home, and contacting one another. We have two of them now.
Friends and family can call us from the U.S. and, unlike in the U.S., the Europen cell phone is not charged any time for receiving calls. The same is true for calls received within Italy.
If you buy such a phone, make sure to have the clerk set the prompts to English and also ask how to find out how much credit you have left on your phone.
You can find a lot of information about cell phone usage in Italy by searching the Italy forum for that topic.
Depending on your usage model, here are the options:
1. Use your phone as is. Pro: You don't have to do anything. You know how to use your phone. Con: This is the most expensive way. This assumes your phone hardware is capable of operating in Italy.
2. Use your phone with international package from your current carrier as descriped by ekc. Pro: You know how to use your phone. Mostly likely cheaper than #1. Con: if you don't know your current usage model, you can blow past your package limits (which the carriers hope you will do.) This also assumes your phone hardware operates in Italy. You will likely to use more data than at home looking up maps.
3. Use your phone with an Italian data/voice SIM. Pro: You know "most" of how to use your phone. Retain smartphone capability. Cheapest practical voice/internet rate. Con: you get a new number. The carrier specific portion is often in Italian even though the sales person sets language to English. You must unlock your phone.
4. Get an Italian phone/SIM. Pro: Always works in Italy. Cheaper voice/data rate. Con: Need to learn how to use a phone. Smartphones are very expensive.
So what are the key missing information to characterize your usage model?
Maps: is this a primary map or a secondary map? You know, they still sell paper maps.
Call help: Whom are you going to call and how often? Someone in Italy or at home? These are different usage models.
What is your current carrier? What is your phone model?
Thanks to everyone. It looks like we will either use my husbands iPhone 4s with an Italian sim if Verizon works there, which I don't think it does? Where do we go to get the sim? Or we will pick up a basic phone when we get there if we feel it is necessary. It would actually be kind of lovely to do without as my husband's job requires a lot of phone time. Thanks to Greg for reminding me that we are perfectly capable of using an actual map and to eke for encouraging us to go low tech .
EKC-exactly my situation. 4S with Verizon. I'll go in and ask about the international plan. Traveling sans phone is not an option for us, due to responsibilities @ home. Keeping our calls short and sweet is fine. Ah, but CJAR, above, questions if Verizon works in Italy. Does anyone know!?!?!?!
Why wouldn't it work in Italy? Your phone will find a local provider and use that. They sort out the costs with your US provider, just the same as European providers do.
Download maps before you leave, and use WiFi as much as possible. Keep in touch with home via Skype or email, using a WiFi connection. Not all free WiFi has the bandwidth for Skype though.
With all the information available I'm surprised people think that Verizon will work in Europe. Europe uses GSM technology, Verizon uses CDMA technology. These are not compatible. Verizon does have some phones that are both (called World phones and includes iphone 5, but not previous versions).
Decide if you need a smart phone, if yes, contact verizon and have them help you out. If not get a cheap unlocked quad band phone and put an Italian sim card in it.
you might want to get that iPhone "unlocked" or else you're in for a nasty surprise when you put a different SIM card in it.
When I went to Italy and Spain a couple of years ago, I added 50 (?) MB of data usage to my iphone but kept the bare-bones, no-frills phone capabilities. I have AT&T, and their free international plan is $2.99 (I think) per minute for calls and 0.50 for texts. I made 1 phone call and received 1 phone call, and made a handful of texts.
The data plan was $20, and it was useful when I was out of wi-fi range. Otherwise AT&T charges an exorbitant rate per MB of data -- a rate that would make even Tony Soprano blush. I forget how much the rate was, but $60/MB comes to mind. Having wi-fi in the hotel was fine for doing most stuff. The data plan was useful for checking maps, checking my bank account, etc., while on the road.