Using a Cell Phone in Europe

Old May 24th, 2016, 06:25 PM
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Using a Cell Phone in Europe

We will be traveling for two and a half months in Europe this fall. The majority of our time will be spent in Italy. What does anyone recommend for using a cell phone? An international plan through Verizon is so expensive. I need a phone to contact the places we are going to stay as well as meeting up with friends we have in Italy. What is best course of action? Thanks
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Old May 24th, 2016, 11:59 PM
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Assuming you have an unlocked phone, buy an Italian SIM from TIM once you get there.
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Old May 25th, 2016, 12:28 AM
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Is your Verizon phone GSM or CDMA? If it is CDMA, then your phone isn't going to work and you will need to procure an UNLOCKED GSM phone. If your phone is GSM then all you need to do is ensure it is unlocked and then as StCirq said, buy a local SIM and use that. If you buy a local SIM, do not leave the shop until you can confirm you can make calls and use data (if you need data).
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Old May 25th, 2016, 12:32 AM
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Here's what I would do (and no this is not an ad; I don't work for anybody and I am sure there are other companies who would do the same).


If you don't already have one, purchase a smart phone say from e bay. There are lots of android phones available for under $200 just as good as the iphone and the latest samsungs. You can go to you tube and do a search for inexpensive android smart phones and you'll find lots of great suggestions.

Upon arrival in Italy, I would go to a TIM store and buy a prepaid sim. I would try to do some research on their web site of the various plans or maybe somebody nice here will have some ideas (I am not sure if their web site has an English version but I do hear they have some good plans).

Now the only problem with this is letting everybody know your Italian number so I would hook up with a firm called local phone. For $1/month they will provide you with a local number in your own home town. Via the web, this number can be programmed via localphone to ring to your Italian number. (They also provide calling card calling and the like). You can then set your verizon phone to forward to your localphone number which will forward to your Italian sim having set that as your ring to number and voila. (Localphone rates to Italy are like 3¢/minute).

Bear in mind, your hotel may have wifi to cut down your data costs.

There are other companies and possibilities too. But I would look into locaalphone which has amazing (t least to me) services at very low rates. (I bought a Ulefone smart phone, it is made in China probably from cheap component but it is every bit as good as the Samsung 6 except it cost me $120 instead of $600 that Samsung wants for a phone with much the same capabilities).
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Old May 25th, 2016, 12:33 AM
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Now the only problem with this is letting everybody know your Italian number so I would hook up with a firm called local phone. For $1/month they will provide you with a local number in your own home town. Via the web, this number can be programmed via localphone to ring to your Italian number. (They also provide calling card calling and the like). You can then set your verizon phone to forward to your localphone number which will forward to your Italian sim having set that as your ring to number and voila. (Localphone rates to Italy are like 3¢/minute).

OR

You can just send an SMS to your friends saying hey this is my phone number.
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Old May 25th, 2016, 01:24 AM
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sparkchaser: Is your Verizon phone GSM or CDMA?

Probably both if the phone is a newer smart phone. My Verizon Moto E Android is obviously a CDMA phone, but like most modern smart phones, it can roam on GSM. In fact, I use my Moto E exclusively on GSM in the US - it's never been used on CDMA.

Verizon isn't even allowed to lock their 4GLTE phones per agreement with the FCC. So it may not even need to be unlocked. (Some of their phones are not easy to unlock, but I was able to unlock mine without any help from Verizon - and no, it is not rooted.)
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Old May 25th, 2016, 01:27 AM
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The first question I have is whether you'll need data services at all, to connect to the internet when there is no wifi available.

If you tell me how you'll be using the phone, I'll give you a detailed explanation of the plans available.

I live in Italy, but I have lots of friends and relatives in the US. I have a US Skype number that my friends can call and it will ring on Skype if I'm connected. If not, it's programmed to ring on my Italian cell phone. This is the same idea as the "local phone" mentioned above, but having a Skype account is useful for many other things. For instances, you can make Skype calls to other countries for pennies. The Skype number costs $18 for three months. You can get a sizeable discount if you subscribe to any other Skype services, such as unlimited calls to the US. A 3-month subscription for calls to the US costs $23, and the Skype number would cost $12 if you bought that, for a total cost of $35.

I would prefer not to have all calls to my regular number be forwarded automatically to my phone when I'm on holiday. At least half the calls I would get would be either nuisance calls, or calls about things that would be useless to know about if I weren't at home. Plus the people who didn't know I was away would be calling me in the middle of the night. It's better to give the important people in your life a number where they can reach you as needed.
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Old May 25th, 2016, 06:55 AM
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I have an unlocked Verizon iPhone 6. I will use my phone mostly to text through whatsapp with my friends I need to meet up with. I would also like option of having google maps available in case we get lost. Is it as simple as buying an italian SIM card?
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Old May 25th, 2016, 01:05 PM
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It's pretty clear that you'll need data services to use What's App and mapping. (You can download maps in advance using wifi, but that is not a seam-free way to navigate, as I've learned.)

All of the major Italian providers have plans for visitors. I'll list the main features of each below.

TIM has TIM for Visitors, which costs €20, plus €10 for the SIM card. The plan is good for a month and includes 100 minutes of phone calls (within Italy and from Italy to international numbers, including calls to the US); it also includes 4 gb of data, which is the most of any of these tourist plans; you probably don't need anywhere near that much for What's App and mapping. The plan is only for use only within Italy. It cannot be renewed at the end of the month, which makes it less than ideal for your purposes. However, you could activate a similar plan at the end of the month that just wouldn't include the ability to call international numbers. You could add an option called TIM International, which lets you call the US for €0.16 per minute; this is free to activate.

https://www.tim.it/offerte/mobile/es...for-visitor-uk

Vodafone has Vodafone Holiday, which costs €30, including the cost of the SIM card, and offers 300 minutes (from Italy to Italian and international numbers), 300 text messages, and 2 gb of data. The plan is renewed automatically at the end of the month, which I don't consider ideal for anyone, because to cancel the automatic renewal, you need to go to a phone store. If you don't have enough credit to renew it, it will leave a negative balance on your SIM card, which would have to be repaid if you ever wanted to use the card again. Also, the cost for additional months (€25 per month) seems excessive to me.

http://www.vodafone.it/portal/Privat...oliday-English

Wind has a plan called WIND Tourist Pass, which costs €20 including the cost of the SIM card. It offers 100 minutes (for calls to international numbers including the US and Canada), and 200 gb of data. The plan can optionally be renewed at the end of the month by sending a free text message. Wind doesn't have the best nationwide coverage, but if you'll mostly be in cities, you should have no trouble with it.

http://www.wind.it/it/privati/tariff.../tourist_pass/

I just noticed that this page said that the plan could only be activated up until a date in April, so it may no longer be available. Last year, they extended the offer when it ran out.

Since you'll be in Italy for more than a month, I would imagine that the WIND plan would suit you best, if it's still available.

When you are outside of Italy, your best options depend on how long you'll be in those other countries, whether all of the countries are in Europe, and how much use you'll make of data services. Assuming that data services will be necessary for more than a few days, here are the options you can pair with the plans I mentioned above.

TIM has a plan called TIM in Viaggio Pass for when you're outside of Italy, which costs €20 and is good for 10 days, anywhere in Europe or the US. They also have a by-the-day option, TIM in Viaggio Full, which costs €4 per day, charged only when you actually use it. You would activate these plans when you buy the SIM card.

https://www.tim.it/offerte/mobile/estero/allestero

(The "Mondo" plan is for when you're outside of Europe.)

Vodafone has a by-the-day option, for €3 per day, which is charged only when you actually use it. It has a lot fewer minutes and texts than TIM's plan, but they may be sufficent:

http://www.vodafone.it/portal/Privat...SMART-Passport

WIND has a by-the-day option, similar to Vodafone's, but €2.50 per day:

http://www.wind.it/eng/privati/tarif...lusive_travel/

All in all, if WIND's tourist plan is still available, that's probably your best option, and certainly the cheapest. I suppose the second-best would be Vodafone, which costs more but also has excellent nation-wide coverage. Just remember to cancel the automatic renewal of the plan before you leave Italy for good, unless you don't think you'd be using the card again within a year. (After that, it's almost impossible to keep it active anyway.) TIM's plan is excellent, but it's only available for one month. You could, as I said before, put a different plan on the card for about the same price when the month is up. TIM Special Start, for example, costs €20, but has only 2 gb of data, which should be enough for you.
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