daisy58

Hi everyone, I haven't posted for awhile, because, unfortunately ,my father passed away recently, and I had to fly out quickly to Oregon to help her and to be with her. But..here I am, back again, still going to Italy in May, and lucky you guys--more questions! I have read on a site or two that of course you can rent a cell phone while in Italy, but what intrigued me was that if you have certain cell phone service, you could actually purchase a sim card for Italy, from the US, and have free incoming calls from the US to you, and pay about as I recall, 50-60 cents per minute for calls placed by us to the US, with the sim card costing approx 69 dollars US. This was contingent of course, with having the correct cellphone/service to begin with. I currently have a motorola V180 phone, with a sim card for the US as I recall, and I **believe** I have GMS service. So for all you techno travelers, what are your recommendations? This is of particular importance to us, since our son and daughter in law will be doggy sitting while we are gone for 2 weeks, and would like to keep in touch with them, as well as if my mother feels the need to call, the incoming calls are free, and she would be able to call me as she needed (just have to be sure she is clear on the time zone differences!

daisy58

ttt-don't let me disappear!!!

daisy58

ttt help!

grsing

I don't know prices specifically for Italy, but SIM cards are cheap in Europe (very likely not more than 5 euros for the card, plus another mandatory 5 for some prepaid service; these numbers could vary slightly, but certainly not up to $69). You do have to get your phone unlocked, though (your service provider may be able to help you with that, or you can get it done in Italy, either in the shop that sells you the SIM card, or in a sketchy stall somewhere on the street). If it turns out your phone doesn't work with the service (I don't know if that one does, but if it has a SIM card and is dual or tri band, it probably does), phones aren't that expensive in Europe; if you're staying for more than a week or so, it might be cheaper to buy a phone rather than rent one, and then you'll have it for any future trips to Europe. Only downside with this plan is that you won't know your number before you leave, but it's not hard to use the phone to call or text your dogsitters and let them know.

xyz123

Boy Daisy are you impatient..imagine a couple of hours without a response...

Who is your US carrier? Probgably either Cingular or T Mobile USA...

Yes your phone will work in Italy and the easiest thing to do (but most expensive) is to use their service by activating international roaming but you have obviously done some homework and are aware that a local prepaid sim will give you free reception of calls.

If you deal with the outfits in the US that sell sim cards you will be ripped off and pay 3 times or even more as much as you would by waiting till you get to Italy and once there you can e mail or call the people you wish with your mobile number.

But you have to make sure the phone is unlocked or when you get to Italy, you can buy a very inexpensive phone in most any mobile phone store.

daisy58

xyz123-sorry if I seemed impatient, I just saw my post moving rapidly down!
Thanks for the info, we have cingular, so I guess I should start there??