mrsbourgeois

What is the best way to call home from Italy? Should we purchase a calling card there? And if so how hard are they to get and from where? Or should we just bite the bullet and activate our home cell phone and pay outrageous phone charges when we get home?

Orlando_Vic

Not sure about the <b>best</b> way to call home, but here are two that have worked for me:

1- First, If the home cell phone is GSM, get it <b>unlocked</b> or buy an unlocked cell phone in the US before you leave for Italy. Then, in Italy, buy a local (i.e. Italian) SIM card and some additional minutes. You can call home much more reasonably than by incuring those outrageous charges you refer to.

2. Use an internet cafe for your phone calls. Some have VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) telephone service and calls are very cheap this way.

Here are some references for further research on these topics:

<b> International Cell Phone Service</b>
http://www.thetravelinsider.info/2002/0308.htm

<b>Unlocking Phones</b>
http://www.gsm-software.com/index.html

http://www.thetravelinsider.info/roa...aunlocking.htm

http://www.activatemyphone.com/

<b>Guidelines for Using a Cellphone Abroad</b>
http://tinyurl.com/2pqqfn

<b>
International Phone Cards</b>
http://www.nobelcom.com/

There is a lot of information here to digest, but I hope it helps some.

esm

To get more answers post this on the Europe forum.

My experience is a couple of years old. I bought a 5 Euro card (asked for a good card for US) from a local shop and still had half the value of the card. Called US once a day without any problems.

esm

Sorry, meant to say I bought the card in Italy.

suze

Another suggestion, to report this over on the Europe forum for more replies.

alcook2

A couple of suggestions as options to to a prepaid cell:

1) Buy an international prepaid calling card online before the trip from a company called PinPlan. http://www.pinplan.com
Its sent to you by email. A $10 card has about an hour. The email you get has a toll-free access number that works from Italy. In Rome a month ago it worked fine from our B&amp;B but did not work in on-street phone booths. I refilled it twice online while we were there.

2) Check out &quot;SkypeOut&quot;. http://www.skype.com Internet cafes may have the software and headset you need for cheap calls using Skype.

3} We were only in Rome so I can't speculate on the rest of the country, but the internet cafe in the building across the street to the left as you exit Termini toward the buses had very inexpensive phone booths for international calls. You just pay an attendant. For a 10 minute call to USA it was roughly 2 euros paid in cash after the call.

Bottom line...I was very glad I had the pinplan card. My international roaming with AT&amp;T didn't work....no signal. Just as well since from experience it is very expensive.

dutyfree

In Italy, the phonecard to purchase is called the EUROPA card. You can purchase it from any TABAC shop in 5 or 10 Euro denomination. The 5 euro card is my favorite as you have almost 200-300 minutes to call the US from any hotel, pay phone,etc. in Italy. Its sooooo easy-just follow the directions on the back of the card. If you use from a hotel, you simply dial an outside line and then whats on the back of the phonecard.

I work for the airlines and use this card all of the time to make my dentist appointments,talk to insurance company, family and friends,etc. Everyone thinks that I am at home when I call-its wonderful! Inexpensive and very easy.

MYP

Another alternative is to go to Internet cafes. They usually have a small booth (or a Skype account), that you can use. The rates are much better than what I've found with a calling card. Was in SE Asia 2 summers ago and called Boston a number of times for about $0.10/minute.

smetz

mrs, all you have to do is go to your local costco, wal-mart, whatever, and buy the cheapest calling card you can get. On the back, they'll most likely say something like &quot;international rates may be higher&quot;. Call the customer service number on the card, and they will give you the access codes for dialing from Italy. It has worked very well for me several times, and you can call from the privacy of your hotel room at probably the cheapest rates you're going to get. Instead of the 3 cents per minute or so you'd pay in the US, it'll probably be about 50 cents.

Mambo_

I took an MCI card, purchased at Costco, but I couldn't get it to work when I was in Italy. I'd get funny recordings that the access code wouldn't work. Never did figure it out. Duh.


&gt;-

cherylbenion

Check out a video I found on
Staying Connected in Europe

Watch Now

http://yourdreamvacationtoday.blogsp...in-europe.html