We will be spending 16 days in Italy in June. What is the easiest and most inexpensive way to obtain a cell phone for international (Italy -US) use for this short period?

Phyllis, I have not had a personal experience with international rentals, but I am currently researching it myself for an upcoming trip. Here are some websites to look at: www.autoeurope.com, wwww.roadpost.com, www.rentalcell.com, and www. roberts-rent-a-phone.com. They all rent GSM phones for use in Europe. Rental rates are by the week or month and they all ship the phone to your home or office the day before you leave and you ship it back to them upon your return. Be sure to check the calling rates. It's somewhat tricky to compare which gives the best deal, as just like cell phone plans in the U.S., it's like comparing apples to oranges. Has anyone had personal experience with any of these companies?

Phyllis:<BR><BR>If you check the rates for renting a cell phone, you will find them pretty expensive. Not only that, you pay high rates to make calls and to receive calls.<BR><BR>On the other hand, in Italy as well as most other Western European countries, you can buy an inexpensive cell phone for around $50 which will come with a prepaid calling plan. The plans in Italy are very inexpensive. The advantages are you can call the US pretty inexpensively or you can establish a prepaid account with Net2Phone, use the local Italian number to access the network, and make inexpensive calls back to the US. Or you can buy a long distance card in Italy, access the local Italian number and make inexpensive calls to the US at any time. But international rates of Italian cell phones are pretty inexpensive from what I have been able to garner.<BR><BR>The advantage of going this route is that you will have your own Italian number where you can be reached 24/7. Calls from the US to Italy are not all that expensive with some of the alterntive long distance services; I use 1016868 myself. Not only that, you do not pay a red cent (or an Euro cent) to receive calls in Italy. At the end of the stay, the phone is yours. You don't have to give it back to anybody. You can give it to a friend who can buy their own pay as you go service pack, get their own Italian number etc. Or you can save it for your next visit and buy another service pack as generally, although I do not know specific Italian policy, these pre paid plans expire in 6 months if you don't use it. Or, depending on the tariff rules, you can simply make a call to your Italian voice mail to keep the number active. I know the rules in England and in France where I have been and they are different so you would have to check with the Italian company.<BR><BR>I have become more used to doing web searches and I think one of the web site search engines (google?) will translate web sites into English if you can find an Italian cell phone web site.<BR><BR>There are those who disagree with this. Who think why waste time when on vacation and are happy to pay the high cell phone rental rates ($2 a minute to call the US, charges to receive calls, pre knowledge of your cell phone number). I respect their rights to disagree but if it was me, this is the direction I would go. This is the direction I went when I visited England and now I have an English cell phone number. When I went to France, since my phone was not locked (that is tied into one company), I simply bought a French mobicarte as it is called and voila, my cell phone was now a French cell phone for the week I was there. Gong back to England, I switched the SIMS card (a microchip card) back and I had an English cell phone again. If I go to Italy, I would do the same thing....<BR><BR>Hope this helps and maybe some people who have been to Italy and gone this route can chime in with prices and policies. <BR><BR>Incidentally, as I have found in England and in France and I suppose in Italy too, there are tons of cell phone stores selling these services.

Jeff--You are my hero! How can I find one of those prepaid phones in Italy, do you think? I speak Italian, so if you can recommend a website to start with I would be forever in your debt...

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=1386505<BR><BR>As posted on another thread.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Here are the websites for mobile phone service providers in Italy:<BR>www.vodafoneomnitel.it<BR>www.tim.it<BR> www.blu.it<BR>They are in italian though. I can translate to english for you any text you send to my email address (moderate quantities please) [email protected] if you are unable to find an online translation site.<BR>Regards,<BR>Simon

Quick comment. The phones need to be used (re charged) within 12 months not 6.<BR><BR>The one problem with buying a cell pohone in Italy is that you "need" a codice fiscale. Many stores will calculate this social security type number for you but some will not and won't sell to you. <BR><BR>There is a thread right now on http://www.slowtalk.com with the name and info on a company that will sell you a phone from Italy and send it to you at home before you leave.

topping<BR>

Just got back from Italy, France and spain. I used an i2000 by Nextel. It worked everywhere and was very easy to use. I already had a Nextel account and was not required to open any special account for Europe. Someone recommended it here and it was great!

to the top.

Phyllis,<BR>I followed Jeff's recommendation - I bought a cell phone at the "Wind" store at the mall (where else?) just outside Chiusi. the whole transaction took 10 to 15 minutes - mainly spent in model shopping. Between my pidgin italian ("non troppo caro") and English we managed just fine. My 30 euro SIM lasted 10 days for both local and US. I spent $130 on a phone (I'm a sucker for cute) but they had less expensive models that would have done the trick.<BR>My daughter is traveling to Europe in the fall - I will lend her my phone - and then use it again when I return to Italy next spring. A good investment with minimum hassle.<BR>