Holly_uncasdewar

If I get my phone unlocked before I leave the U.S., and buy a SIM card in Italy, what happens to any calls that might come in to my “old” phone number while I’m using the Italian SIM and new phone number? Anybody know? Will I be able to pick up those messages from VM once I put the “old” U.S. SIM card back in at the end of the trip, or not?

greg

Your incoming calls in absentia behave as if your phone was turned off or not connected to the cell network the whole time.

You don't have to wait until you go home to listened to your voice mail. All the voice mails I have used have a call in number where you supply your US phone number and PIN to retrieve message from any phone. You can use any of the voip products to retrieve them at no cost from wifi in Italy. If your voice mail system is not an old legacy type, you probably have internet interface where you read the transcriptions and mp3 or some kind of sound files you just click to listen.

AJPeabody

There also are dual sim phones that take two cards. Of course, using the US sim on your trip will get a hefty roaming fee.

Holly_uncasdewar

Thanks, greg. You kind've lost me on retrieving the messages from wifi, but good to know they'll be there.

Holly_uncasdewar

I'm thinking of just buying a cheap cell phone there, and not using my US phone for anything other than camera while there. Would I still be able to check my VM while in Italy, without incurring hefty fees? My carrier doesn't even have a European plan, to my knowledge.

michelhuebeli

If you call the US from your "cheap cell phone" you bought in Italy, you'll burn through minutes on whatever plan or allotment came with that phone. What the "hefty fee" might be will depend on the tariffs of that "cheap cell phone".

I always take out my US SIM card when I arrive wherever, place it in a safe spot (!!!) and insert a local SIM that usually comes with enough minutes, dirt cheap, to make a few reservations or confirmations along the way. My wife does the same on hers, and if we need to call each other, we're all set via local calls. In Europe, only the caller pays, not the receiving party.

We then email our new local numbers to folks in the US who must absolutely be able to contact us, and we let all calls to our US numbers go to voice mail. We retrieve them when we get home and switch back to the US SIM cards.

Hope this helps.

Holly_uncasdewar

That's what I'm hoping to do, michel, but not sure my provider will tell me how to unlock the phone when I call them. So Plan B is to buy a cheap phone there, and not make any calls to the US.

StCirq

Buy a $25 Blü phone on Amazon with 1, 2, or 3 SIM card holders. Keep your own US SIM card if you want, and fill the other slot(s) with Italian French, or whatever other SIM cards you buy when you get there. After June 30, 2017, there will be no roaming charges for any EU SIM in Europe if that makes a difference. I've used my 3-SIM simple phone since we moved here and it costs me virtually nothing, though I hardly call to the USA (I use Skype). WIth Orange, though, I can send SMS messages to the USA for very, very little. It recognizes when I cross a European border, sends me a message about how much it will cost me (before June 30), and it's usually something like 0.02 cents (euro) per minute.

You will be able to buy a cheap phone in the USA more easily than once you arrive in Europe.

I believe your provider is obligated to tell you how to unlock your phone, and you can also google it. But buying a multi-SIM cheap phone has worked for me since 2010.

xyz123

A tad complicated but this works real well for me. There is an outfit called localphone (localphone.com). For $1/month and I think a $5 set up fee, they will provide you with a number anywhere in the world. Just for simplicity let's say you live in the United States. They gave me a number and I was able to choose the area code (being a snob, I chose a 212 number and got it). You can then program via the net that number to ring to any phone in the world at extremely low rates (something like a couple of cents/minute). So once I get my Italian sim card and number, I set up call forwarding on my cell phone to my 212 number. Most cell phone companies allow that. Person calls my cell phone, which is my main phone, call is forwarded to the 212 number and then forwarded to Italy. Voila. I can afford the $1/month for this. And I will say that when I first set this up several years ago, the quality of the forwarded calls was a tad compromised and there obviously was a delay. That problem, as calling over the internet has improved, is no longer a problem.

bvlenci

Here's another method that's cheap (or free) and has other advantages.

If you get a virtual phone number, from Google or Skype, you can forward the calls from your usual number to the virtual number. The calls to the virtual number don't depend on the SIM card at all, so when you have an internet connection, it will ring on your phone even if you're in Italy and using an Italian SIM card. When you don't have an internet connection, it will go to the virtual phone number's voice mail, and you can check the voice mail the next time you're connected to the internet.

You would have to have the appropriate app on your phone of course. You can try it all out before going to Italy, and maybe get someone to help you set it up, if it seems too complicated. The SIM card has nothing to do with it.

Google's virtual numbers are, I believe, free, but are only available to people living in the US. Skype's virtual numbers cost about $5 a month, but the minimum time is three months. I've had a Skype US virtual number for years. My friends and relatives in the US use it to call me. I can't get a Google virtual number because I don't live in the US.

I don't see any advantage to buying a different phone, as long as you can get your usual phone unlocked.

AJPeabody

The apparently seamless forwarding of home calls to a vacation phone in Europe sounded wonderful, until I realized that I get at least three scam robocalls per day to my cell phone and a similar number to my land line.

Do I want multiple calls about my free trip to the Bahamas, my student loan rate, my credit card fees, carpet cleaning, and what not while I am on vacation? With a transatlantic time zone shift to boot?

I think I'll just text my European vacation number to family and the financial advisor/broker just in case the so-called president crashes the stock market.

bvlenci

If your calls are forwarded to a virtual phone number, you can direct all calls to voice message, and ignore the robocalls.