Iphone and ipad...will they really work in Italy??
 

Hi there!

We are leaving to Italy in March for 12 days and I will buy a special plan with ATT for my iPhone 4S and iPad 3G to use it there without problems or huge charges.
My question is ..Does anyone know if it really works good there or it's just a pain?
I'm hoping to use it for finding places , maps , GPS etc

I heard wi-fi is not so good , so I don't want to depend on it.
Places to visit; Venice, Manarola, Tuscany, Rome.
Have you use them there successfully ?

Thank you so much !

Yes, the iPhone and iPad will work just fine. I use AT&T's roaming plan (with teathering on the iPhone) and can connect my iPad or computer through the iPhone when and if needed. If you're not streaming music or video, then you shouldn't have any problems with usage. Just turn you data roaming off until it's needed.

You can use the mapping feature on the iPhone or iPad to find out where you are and need to be, but using the GPS to track your travels will use a lot of data needlessly.

All the hotels I'm familiar with have WiFi, some offer it free, other do not.

What Robert said. I've used both with the special plan (one month international data package) for both -- they worked great -- my advice: 1. use wifi if/when you can, and 2. as robert said, turn off roaming when not needed at that moment.

I also get off of all commercial mailing lists on the email before trips to avoid the data charges or definitely access email only when at a wifi point. Again, it's all about saving the data roaming charges.

ATT has it figured out; my DH had a terrible time with his Sprint-Iphone on the last trip; they had definitely not worked out the overseas issues as of last November.

I don't have an answer, but want to thank you for posting this question! I'm traveling to Italy in May, and appreciate all of this advice. Thanks for letting me coat-tail on your question, and I'd love to hear how the phone worked for you on your trip when you return. Can I ask how much that data plan is going to cost you?

An AT&T iphone/ipad will work much better in Europe than ones from Sprint or Verizon. You should have good service. So the answers to your question are 1) Yes they will work just fine ... very good cell phone service in Europe. 2) Yes it's a pain and expensive. If you surf the web much at all, you'll still run up high charges, so keep an eye on your usage and send texts more than phone calls back home.

I disagree with you about Wi-Fi. In Europe most hotels have good Wi-Fi service, and you can also find it at coffee shops and other places. It's often free in the hotel lobby but charged if it's available in the room (and it's not always available in the room). You aren't going to be sending a lot of emails unless you are in your hotel, so I am not sure it's really worth the expense of a data-roaming plan unless you plan to have your ipad with you at all times. Check your hotels. If they all have Wi-Fi, then you should be save without a data-roaming plan. Definitely get a plan for your iphone, but not data-roaming, just for calls.

When I was there last May with an NZ iPad, I bought a "Tre Italia/3 Italy" 3G card and it worked exceedingly well until.....we got to Venice. There is no 3G signal in Venice whatsoever so I ended up having to rely on the free wifi at the hotel, which was actually pretty high-speed:).

I'm so glad I asked! so much great info!
Thank you very much.

Robert2533: I'm not familiar with teathering on the iPhone, so I'll have to research it.
Is it the same as "mobile Hot spot'? sold by ATT . not very familiar with it either, but I think it creates wi-fi for your iPad from your iPhone (???) not sure
but anyway I won't buy Mobile Hotspot, trying to keep costs down

I like the teathering idea.

annw: I will follow your advice about the commercial emails. i won't check emails much

Doug_Stallings: I'm so glad to know the ATT's iPhone works much better than others and the wi-fi is good there. The reason I'm getting the roaming data is because we are planning on driving around Italy and I really don't want to get lost / want to make it easier to find places ( when there are no cafes around) or far from hotel.
I'm not planning on spend much on the plan.
but it's good to know it's not needed. thank you.

PDersch; Att plan for 12 days for 50mb data $9.99 OR 125MB for $19.99 for iPhone.
to make phone calls : $1.99 for plan then they"ll charge 99cents a minute .
It's not bad.
I'll get it for emergencies etc since we are traveling with kids!
happy to help you! I will write my trip report when I get back and let you know how it worked for me.
Thank you for all your advice!
have a wonderful day!

The last trip that my son used his Verizon Blackberry, he bought the international plan. His bill was almost $700. When he questioned Verizon, he was told due to updates on Facebook and his email that he went over the amount of his plan. They did adjust the bill somewhat, but it was still very expensive. The year before, he took his ATT Blackberry. His bill was way over the amount of the plan. He did get it adjusted because he had written down the name of the person who had told him that the plan was good for Croatia. It was not.

When I took my iPad2 to Italy last September, we bought a TIM mini-card for it at the TIM store for 29Euro with 19GB data over the course of the whole month. It worked very well -- once in a while we were with our 3G signal, and while wifi in Rome was fabulous, it wasn't always as good in more out of the way places (sometimes it was great in our little flat in Bazzano, sometimes just not there!). Sometimes when we were out driving the 3G would fade out but it would come back again. We used the GPS everywhere. It was particularly wonderful when we were visiting hill towns and trying to walk places. Make sure you "save" your parking space when you visit a new place :-)

I also kept in touch with friends, posted photos on FB, etc. It was nice to have that 3G back-up when wifi was iffy.

I'm afraid I'm coat tailing too but how well do the iPad and iPhone work in Turkey? Anyone know?

Sounds great. Where do I find a TIM store?

You shouldn't have any problem in Turkey. iPhones and iPads are very popular in the EU, as well as elsewhere.

I googled it before we left and put the two that were closest to our hotel in my contacts list so that it popped up on the GPS map, and we were able to walk there first thing.

uhoh_busted--- Where does the mini card connect to the IPAD 2? Is it something I can do myself?

I think you'll find that once you get outside major cities, there will be little 3G service in Italy, so that doesn't surprise me. The other thing that's not surprising is how much bandwidth using Google Maps constantly will use. Downloading those maps takes a LOT of bandwidth. If you really want a GPS, why don't you just rent one along with your car?

Yep. We took the ferry from Bellagio to Menaggio and then drove SS340 to Lugano. We found a parking lot near the Parco Civico and walked through the park straight to the main part of "downtown." Lugano was a very cool little city. The post office looked like what we imagined Swiss Banks would look like!

The other EXTREMELY GOOD restaurant we enjoyed was just up into those mountains above Bellagio (Looking at the map, obviously it is South...in my mind it seemed like it was North. Ha!)
It is called Salice Blu -- that's the one the Chef sent someone to pick us up at our hotel and drive us to, and after dinner, the Chef himself drove us home!

Oh, great! I posted a totally unrelated response above! Obviously that has nothing to do with the Ipad.

Yes -- you can switch out the cards yourself. I just wasn't sure how to do it, so I let the guy at the TIM store show me. Someone told me they like to hire attractive people in those stores -- this guy looked like a younger George Clooney.

George Clooney!!! I have a huge crush on him. Maybe I can find that store. I will be at Bellagio. Every time I am there I hope for just a glimpse of George! May have to settle for a look-alike.

Thanks for all the info uhoh_busted.

The Google maps app and iPad GPS worked really well, just about everywhere. We even used it to drive to Riomaggiore from Lucca. I didn't spend the money to download maps of Italy to a "normal" GPS type app.

Doug_Stallings : Yah we might rent a GPS with the car or bring one we have from home.
It should be easy to download Italian maps right?

Thank you all for the suggestions!

uhoh_busted: The TIM card sounds great, lots of data, I might do that. thx

There's another thread I found here about SIM cards, with good info.
it's under :Who has used their iPad and sim card? in the Europe forum
check it out.

Johnnlilian,

Yes, downloading maps for Europe is easy... just go to the website of your GPS maker.

For those planning on using US carriers in Europe such as ATT... no doubt they'll work but be careful. Someone mentioned a bill of $700. It's very easy to do.

I think you are much better off using WIFI (who says it's a problem... it's always available when I've needed it in Europe even from MacDonalds!) and a locally available SIM with or without data. To use the latter you will need to have your device unlocked.

I used my iPad in the UK and Bruges where there was wi-fi. I kept the data plan and roaming turned off. All of our B&B's had wi--fi and so did a number of restaurants.

I'm going to Italy in May and I'll probably just use wi-fi there, too.

ParisAmsterdam,

Thank you for your suggestions. Glad to know it's easy to download maps on my GPS.

We'll try wi-fi as much as we can but around the countryside it's hard to find. It's just for emergencies. I'm very careful with my usage to avoid high bills at home so I'm sure I will do the same in Italy.
I did read about the $700, I would hate a $700 bill, it would ruin my vacation! So knowing that I'll be extra careful, good to know. That's why this site is so important, we can learn SO MUCH from others.

Keep up the great work Fodorites!!

This link has excellent information for international iPhone use.
http://www.holeinthedonut.com/2010/0...avel-settings/

Oops, left out i before phone in link.

http://www.holeinthedonut.com/2010/0...avel-settings/

violetduck,
Thank you it was a good article.

Johnnlilian, have a great trip! I'll be anxious to read your report of how this plan worked for you.

John, I took my IPAD 3G with me to Italy and Paris this past Sept, and I bought the international plan via AT&T. I'm not a technical person, so didn't want to mess with the SIM card, etc. I had access in Paris and all over Italy - no problem, WIFI worked great. And having my IPAD (which I love, love, love) was so great. Enjoy your trip

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Thanks for the link, Violet.

Agree with uhoh_busted that if you can get find Tre Italia/3 Italy store, their micro-Sim card for the IPAD is great. When we were there last May they had a special, sold the card for 8 euro with 19BG of data that lasted us the two weeks we were in Italy. And we have the card for recharging when we go back this May.

Make sure you have the ATT IPAD, look on the right side, there is a little cutout with a small hole in it for the MicroSim card to fit. If you have a Verizon IPAD, you will not be able to use it in Europe.

as to the iPHONE, Sprint has only had the Iphone since Nov or Dec 2011. You must have the Sprint 4S iPhone. The plain 4 does NOT have a place to put in a SIM card as it is not quad band.

Also Apple has made Sprint sell their 4S iPHONES "locked"...because people were going into Sprint stores, purchasing the ;phones andthen selling them at $$$ around the world (and presumably Apple wanted the $$$ for themselves).. But if you are a normal Sprint subscriber, just call their International department (tele is on their web page) and they will gladly unlock the phone for you free and with no hastle - so you can use it worldwide. (At least they did it for me)

Steve


Steve

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