scfphoto

I know this may have been covered but I have a few specifics maybe someone can help answer. We will be traveling to Venice and Florence. My wife has iPhone 4s through her job. We would like to take it and use it for making local calls to restaurants hotels etc. Checking e-mail when wifi is available. And in an emergency calling home or office if necessary. It is connected on Verizon. Should we add the international plan for a month will that be enough or too much $. We want to avoid any of the problems with huge data bills etc. Verizon's website lists $1.69/min for international calling plan. It is all a little confusing. Thanks.

Robert2533

Any calls you make to any location within Italy, while in Italy, will be at the interantional rate (calling first back to the States and then to Italy) and expensive with whatever plan you have from Verizon. (AT&T's plans are much better). You'll be better off using the phone in your hotel to make the local calls or have the front desk make the restaurant reservations for you. There's usually no charge for this type of service, but you can leave them a tip for their help.

If you want to make a local call using the iPhone, get a local sim card, but first you'll have to have the iPhone unlocked.

Checking email with wifi will cost you nothing, as long as the wifi zone is free.

greg

First you need to look at the calling plan (voice/text) and the data plan separately.

International calling plan:
http://businessportals.verizonwirele..._coverage.html

International Data plan:
http://businessportals.verizonwirele..._coverage.html

This kind of decision is HIGHLY usage model dependent, that is how you use the service. If you voice/text usage is really a rare event, that is in both directions, then you don't even have to bother with the plan. As you climb up in your usage the international calling plan noted gets more appropriate. If you usage climbs even further, you would consider unlocking the phone to accept Italian SIMs.

The DATA is a different matter. It would happily chew up international data roaming charge on an enabled phone. How much? You need to know your usage model. Unless you have a good grasp on how many MB you use, it would be difficult to choose a relevant data plan. noted above Even so, it is very high. Some folks here are very disciplined and can turn on just when needed and immediately turn off to prevent background sync to use up MB. Unless you are in this category, it is best to turn off the mobile internet access during your trip. Use only Wifi.

steve1218

Verizon phones will not work in Europe. Verizon uses CDMA technology, while Europe uses GSM. They do have world phones you can rent, but the iphone through them won't work. You can use it in wifi mode where wifi is availble.
It would be much cheaper to buy an unlocked quad band phone from ebay and a SIM card in Italy.

2012moving

Been following the communication technology challenge posts. Hope you don't mind me joining in here. steve1218 - What is meant by "quad band phone". I have ancient Motorola mobile, trip to Austria 2007, had it "unlocked" before leaving, purchased prepaid SIM in Vienna, worked for me then, would it still be OK to do this for Italy, Switzerland, Austria? However, I only ever use my mobile as an emergency contact tool so may not suit everyone to do this.

steve1218

Quad band: There are 4 frequencies(?) used, I think they are 800, 900, 1800 and 1900 ( I don't know what these actually mean, but I Have done just enough research to know them). It seems the US uses two of them and Europe uses the other two. Unlocked means that you are not "locked " to any certain provider, you can buy a SIM card and use the phone. If your phone worked previously in Europe, I would think it still will. There are different methods of getting a SIM card though. Cheapest is to buy one in the country you are in. You can also get one from different companies that will work in all of Europe, more expensive, but you will know your phone # in advance. The companies are: http://www.telestial.com/and http://www.mobal.com/

mrcamp

A little bit of correction here - The verizon and Sprint Iphone 4s will work in Europe, because they have the bands used there. Yes, those 4s are CDMA/GSM capable. You just need to make sure verizon unlocks it for you. My understanding is that they will do it upon request. However, if you do not want to rack up a high bill, just get a cheap phone/sim package when you get there. And just use the iphone for data when you are within range of free Wifi.