iphone service???
 

Does anyone know if you can get AT&T iphone service in Rome and Sorrento?? I am hooked on my iphone and plan on using it for email, internet and calling or texting home.

be sure you find out ahead of time what the cost will be for using I-Phone in Italy AND, how to avoid having the phone on all the time for which you will be billed even if no phone calls.. It can be enormously expensive. So expensive that I bought a phone in Italy that I use in italy and my office in usa can contact me on that phone.

there was a lot of discussion on this site related to this I-Phone subject in the last 2 months or so.

Voice calls are $1.29 a minute.
Texts are (IIRC) 50¢.
International data roaming is expensive beyond reason.
For email and surfing, use WiFi - it's free if you can find an open network.

Several people I know took their iphones overseas and used them on the phone network (not WiFi)....and came home to bills of $500+ in two weeks time.

I always take my iPhone with me but turn off data roaming. I made the mistake of checking email sans-WiFi once while in Morocco and the extra charge on my bill was over $50, and that was over and above the extra fees for international data roaming I had signed up for. Now I use only WiFi, which is usually pretty easy to find.

First, you do not get AT&T iphone service in Rome. You will be getting a service from AT&T's Italian roaming partners. In particular, the unlimited data plan is not extended to your iPhone while in Italy. To prevent breathtaking data roaming charges as noted by others, you should turn off data roaming while outside the U.S.

I am so glad I found this topic. I too have an iPhone and am planning a trip to Europe in the summer! I was already aware that data roaming was ridiculously expensive, but I wasn't sure of the availability of free WiFi in the countries I want to visit (UK, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Belgium and Holland). I was thinking about signing up for the international data roaming plan for a month, and using Fring on my iPhone to make voice calls if necessary. Do you guys think the data roaming plan is worth it, or is there such an abundance of WiFi in Europe that it is not necessary?

Also, I have created a tentative itinerary for my trip, and would really appreciate comments and advice! You can find the itinerary by viewing my profile. Thanks to anyone that can offer me any help.

I haven't had much trouble finding free WiFi throughout my travels in Europe. Even found it in Iran and Turkey last autumn. Here's alink to a directory I've used: http://www.wififreespot.com/europe.html

There are probably others too, if you do a search.

I also have an iphone and alao have been deliberating on the best way of travelling with it abroad. I looked into Skype which I could use on wiFi but the website says it only works to landlines in Italy, not mobile phones. I am staying at B&Bs and need to be able to be in touch with the innkeepers in case of any change of travel plans and don't want to spend a fortune doing so. Any insight on this?

AT&T offers a couple of plans to reduce the roaming charges abroad. I had signed up for the cheapest one, $20 for the month as well as the international roaming charges and it will significantly reduce the cost. Also, turn off the push feature on email, and only do it manually. The phone works well overseas, I had no trouble at all.

$20 for the month as well as the international roaming charges and it will significantly reduce the cost.

Calls from your iphone in Italy will be $1.29 a minute unless you sign up for the monthly plan, in which case they'll be $.99 a minute (outgoing and incoming). If you're not going to make or receive a lot of phone calls, that works (that's what I did in Egypt, Madrid and London last summer -- and the whole bill was less than $50 for the phone and texting -- it was the email that killed me...I didn't know in advance, hence Tobis' advice to turn off "push" email....in other words, set it up so you have to go to the internet, using WiFi, to get your emails, and surf the 'net). It's the data roaming that's the killer.

In case anyone is reading this thread to decide whether an iPhone would be a good thing to use for email in Europe, I suggest they look into T-Mobile.com's Unlimited Blackberry International Email for $19.95 a month.