TIM card phone use in Italy (to US)
Mar 16th, 2016, 11:05 AM
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TIM card phone use in Italy (to US)
upcoming trip to Italy from US: have purchased a new Motorola/moto g 8GB phone with ports for two micro SIM cards - after several, very lengthy postings of many years ago, can someone elucidate me about current/ subsequent changes to the 'best management practices' involving cell phone usage in Italy - eg. rate plans, TIM card acquisition, calls/texts to and from US (cost difference), Libara vs. CiE
Mar 16th, 2016, 12:54 PM
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Are you planning to try to use US phone service there as well as buying an Italian SIM? (Two SIM slots?) Otherwise, you don't really need two SIM cards for Italy, right?
If you want to try to use your US based service in Italy, they all have various international roaming plans. T-Mobile's is the best: free unlimited (2G) data, 20 cents/minute calls, free texting. I'm not sure about the other carriers these days.
If buying a SIM in Italy, then you'll have to decide which one to buy based on: how long you will be in Italy? How much will you use your phone? Calling locally vs. back to the US? Short calls or long calls home? How much data would you use on the phone? Obviously, you can pick based on your usage.
Last time I bought a SIM card in Italy, you had to show a passport and have your info recorded, unlike in other European countries.
If you get a Google Voice phone number (free) before you leave the US, you can use the Google Hangouts app to make free calls back to the US (while on WiFi anyway - otherwise it uses your mobile data). And you can receive calls on that Google Voice US phone number and also use Google voicemail, all free. If you don't want to use your US phone service in Italy, you can forward all calls to your cell number to your Google voice phone number before you leave, so you'd receive calls on Google Hangouts in Italy and they would go to your Google voicemail.
If you want to try to use your US based service in Italy, they all have various international roaming plans. T-Mobile's is the best: free unlimited (2G) data, 20 cents/minute calls, free texting. I'm not sure about the other carriers these days.
If buying a SIM in Italy, then you'll have to decide which one to buy based on: how long you will be in Italy? How much will you use your phone? Calling locally vs. back to the US? Short calls or long calls home? How much data would you use on the phone? Obviously, you can pick based on your usage.
Last time I bought a SIM card in Italy, you had to show a passport and have your info recorded, unlike in other European countries.
If you get a Google Voice phone number (free) before you leave the US, you can use the Google Hangouts app to make free calls back to the US (while on WiFi anyway - otherwise it uses your mobile data). And you can receive calls on that Google Voice US phone number and also use Google voicemail, all free. If you don't want to use your US phone service in Italy, you can forward all calls to your cell number to your Google voice phone number before you leave, so you'd receive calls on Google Hangouts in Italy and they would go to your Google voicemail.
Mar 16th, 2016, 03:43 PM
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extremely helpful Andrew, thanks - not planning on using US phone service (ATT carrier at home with very expensive international plans) - will look into Google voicemail for incoming calls but will use texting for non-urgent, US communications - otherwise, phone mainly used for calls within Italy plus some data needs
Mar 16th, 2016, 05:41 PM
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Just to be clear - it's called "Google Voice" (and you get voicemail with it), and the app you need on your phone is called "Google Hangouts" (or "Hangouts Dialer.") You can try it out now before you leave for Italy and see how making/receiving calls works.
Mar 17th, 2016, 09:40 AM
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TIM, Italy's biggest phone provider, has a one-month plan for visitors to Italy called TIM for Visitors, which has 100 minutes of talk time for calls both within Italy and to over 50 other countries, plus 4 gb of 4G data.
https://www.tim.it/offerte/mobile/es...for-visitor-uk
The plan costs €20, and SIM card would be €10 more. It doesn't include texts, but with all that data, you could use something like Google, Facebook, or WhatsApp for texting.
The plan expires at the end of 30 days and can't be renewed, but you could put a different plan on it, or just pay as you go (which is OK for calls but expensive for data).
Vodafone, the second largest provider, has a similar plan, which costs the same and includes more talk time (300 minutes) but less data (2 gb) and also includes 300 texts.
http://www.vodafone.it/portal/Privat...oliday-English
Vodafone's plan doesn't expire at the end of the month; it's automatically renewed, at a cost of €25, even if your card doesn't have enough money, leaving you with a debit to be paid if you want to use the card in the future. If you think you'll ever use it again, you should make sure to cancel the plan before leaving Italy.
There's really nothing cheaper, even for Italians. However, I consider Vodafone's renewal cost to be overpriced. I would prefer the TIM plan, adding a national plan at the end of a month, if necessary.
https://www.tim.it/offerte/mobile/es...for-visitor-uk
The plan costs €20, and SIM card would be €10 more. It doesn't include texts, but with all that data, you could use something like Google, Facebook, or WhatsApp for texting.
The plan expires at the end of 30 days and can't be renewed, but you could put a different plan on it, or just pay as you go (which is OK for calls but expensive for data).
Vodafone, the second largest provider, has a similar plan, which costs the same and includes more talk time (300 minutes) but less data (2 gb) and also includes 300 texts.
http://www.vodafone.it/portal/Privat...oliday-English
Vodafone's plan doesn't expire at the end of the month; it's automatically renewed, at a cost of €25, even if your card doesn't have enough money, leaving you with a debit to be paid if you want to use the card in the future. If you think you'll ever use it again, you should make sure to cancel the plan before leaving Italy.
There's really nothing cheaper, even for Italians. However, I consider Vodafone's renewal cost to be overpriced. I would prefer the TIM plan, adding a national plan at the end of a month, if necessary.
Mar 17th, 2016, 10:54 AM
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<<Last time I bought a SIM card in Italy, you had to show a passport and have your info recorded, unlike in other European countries.>>
Passport required for Greece and Spain.
In Italy, depending on the POS location, this passport business can be fast (5 min at FCO TIM kiosk) or slow (30 min in Genoa TIM shop) depending on the sales person. At FCO, I told the sales person what I wanted, gave passport to photocopy, money, and got a SIM and my passport back. I then walked to the luggage retrieval and the phone was operational before I got my luggage. In Genoa, I waited through agonizing paper shuffling back and forth, typing, more paper shuffling, then was finally given a SIM.
Passport required for Greece and Spain.
In Italy, depending on the POS location, this passport business can be fast (5 min at FCO TIM kiosk) or slow (30 min in Genoa TIM shop) depending on the sales person. At FCO, I told the sales person what I wanted, gave passport to photocopy, money, and got a SIM and my passport back. I then walked to the luggage retrieval and the phone was operational before I got my luggage. In Genoa, I waited through agonizing paper shuffling back and forth, typing, more paper shuffling, then was finally given a SIM.
Mar 17th, 2016, 12:22 PM
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The OP is going to Italy, not Greece or France or Spain.
I mentioned the passport requirement for Italy not to suggest it was the only country where it was required - rather to remind the OP in case he/she had bought SIM cards in other countries (like Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Poland, Czech Republic, where I have bought SIM cards without a passport) and wasn't aware of it.
I mentioned the passport requirement for Italy not to suggest it was the only country where it was required - rather to remind the OP in case he/she had bought SIM cards in other countries (like Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Poland, Czech Republic, where I have bought SIM cards without a passport) and wasn't aware of it.
Mar 18th, 2016, 01:52 PM
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<i> In Italy, depending on the POS location, this passport business can be fast (5 min at FCO TIM kiosk) or slow (30 min in Genoa TIM shop) depending on the sales person. At FCO, I told the sales person what I wanted, gave passport to photocopy, money, and got a SIM and my passport back. </i>
This is more likely to depend on the speed of connections to the TIM servers.
This is more likely to depend on the speed of connections to the TIM servers.
