more on cell service - italy
 

Hi, this posting interested me much . Does anyone have any idea of exactly what I would search for if I would like to have a cell phone for Italy? I arrive in Venice and it would be nice if I could have it with me - any U.S. vendors to buy from? Thanks<BR>Patti

Hi Patti: We just went to a telephone store in Rome (you can go in Venice) told him what we wanted and that was it. We have a phone that we can change the chip in for each country we go. Each chip has a different number. You can just add time by buying a card. The telephone tells you what to do to add the time. Make sure they program it to speak to you in English.

In every Italian City you will se mor or less everywhere shopr with signs saying "Tim" or "Vodafone" or "Omnitel" or "Wind". They are the various Italain Cell hone companies. All these shops will sell you whatever you need.

Try www.globalphoneworks.com, excellent service at very reasonable prices. You can rent a phone for the amount of time that you need.

I just looked at the web site...anybody who would use their service is nuts....<BR><BR>They want $40/week to rent a phone and charge like $1.64 for local calls in France and $2.38 to call the US.<BR><BR>For a little bit more, you buy a GSM phone which is yours to keep. Using France as an example, you go into any phone store and buy a mobilcarte. Cost 30 Euro. Calls in France, 30 Euro cents/minute. Calls to the US 80 euro cents/minute timed to the second after the first 30 seconds.<BR><BR>And most importantly the phone is yours to ikeep forever and forever.<BR><BR>If you do a search, you can find many unlocked GSM 900/1800 band phone available for around $70. The important thing about being unlocked is you can use them in every country you visit. All you have to do is change the SIM cards. So if you're going to be spending a week in England and then a week in France, with phone in hand you go into any phone store in England and buy a prepaid service pack. I recommend Virgin mobile as it has the least hassle, the cheapest service pack and calls to the US are relatively cheap. No registration is necessary. Insert the SIM card and voila you have an English cell phone with an English cell phone number. Use the internet (I use Easy Everything) to notify your friends of your number.<BR><BR>When you get off Eurostar at Gare du nord, after going to your hotel you hop into a French cell phone store. You buy a Mobilcarte, you switch the SIM card (the merchant can do it for you) and voila you have a French cell phone etc.<BR><BR>I just don't understand what anybody sees in renting a cell phone from organizations which charge these absurd rates. Once you are going to be in a single country for a week or more, you are much much better off just buying a phone.<BR><BR>European cell phone technology is a zillion years ahead of US cell phone technology in terms of using sim cards and prepaid cell phone plans. And guess what. In Europe, receiving calls on your cell phone is free quite unlike the web site cited in the posting.

I absolutely agree with the above message. Costs for both telephones and calls in italy are more or less the same as in France (telephones may cost a little more, but Sim cards cost a little less), so that if you stay for two weeks in Italy you already end up spending the same amount of money as renting a telephone. And even i you do not plan to be back in Europe for a long time, you still can sell your telephone and the sim card with residual money to another traveller for about half as much as you have spent for buying it.