Buying cell and data SIMS in Italy

I'm glad I found this thread as I have been wondering about SIM cards for my new Samsung Galaxy S4. I am technologically inept and I would appreciate you confirming what I understand all the postings have told me. I'm sailing on the Silhouette in September for an 11-night Eastern Med cruise (Italy and Greece, Turkey, and Malta) with two days pre cruise and one day in Venice post cruise. I'm only taking the phone in case of emergencies so I don't expect to have it turned on all the time, especially when we're on the ship because I can use their internet to access my email account. Ok, so here goes:

 

1. I can purchase a SIM card in Rome.

2. That SIM card I purchase in Rome will work in Greece, Turkey and Malta but there will be roaming charges.

 

I just thought of another question (I said I am technologically inept :D) - if I turn the phone on will I be charged for roaming charges or do I have to actually use the phone to be charged?

 

Your help is greatly appreciated!!

Since it's a "new" phone, you will most likely have to beg your carrier to unlock the phone before you can get that new SIM card. What is your carrier? There are a couple US carriers (T-Mo) who have decent international programs where it won't cost more to use it overseas.

As far as the roaming charges if you just have the phone turned on: as far as I know, you must have "activity" on your phone (incoming or outgoing) to be charged. I would put the phone in "airplane" mode when it's on until you actually need to use it, then undo "airplane" mode.

OK I'm hugely confused:confused: sorry!

We have a UK IPad with a sim card in it (on 3 Network) that we are travelling with and wish to read and post to social media (FB/TWIT) on a daily basis

1. We do have a little time at Rome airport before our transfer coach to the port so Im hoping we can buy a data sim there - is that possible?

2. the cruise then goes to French/Spanish ports too - will we have to purchase another or will it still work?

3. will it work at sea?

thanks for your help, its very much appreciated :cool::)

I know it is more expensive to buy a sim in the US before departing for Italy but can someone give me an idea of how much more ?

We have a very tight timeline after landing in Milan and trying to get the 1:00 non transfer train to Civitivecchia and would really like to have service for the train ride

Since it's a "new" phone, you will most likely have to beg your carrier to unlock the phone before you can get that new SIM card. What is your carrier? There are a couple US carriers (T-Mo) who have decent international programs where it won't cost more to use it overseas.

 

As far as the roaming charges if you just have the phone turned on: as far as I know, you must have "activity" on your phone (incoming or outgoing) to be charged. I would put the phone in "airplane" mode when it's on until you actually need to use it, then undo "airplane" mode.

Kind of. What you need to do is set data roaming to off so you can only use it when connected to wifi.

Note I'm in Rome now. Leaving on cruise tomorrow. I bought a TIM card yesterday. The sales person recommended buying separate SIM cards for Greece and Turkey.

Note had to go to two different TIM stores. Nano SIMs for the iPhone5 are in high demand. They can trim a micro SIM card for you, our sales guy did.

I'm with t-mobile and have their unlimited voice and text and .5GB data for $50/mo. to which I add 2GB data for an additional $10/mo. When their worldwide coverage came into being last Fall, it cost me 1 cent to upgrade (49.99 to 50.00 per month). The basic plan comes with .5GB data but you can't tether unless you add at least 2GB more. The point of this is that I took 3 cruises in Apr/May B2B2B for 5+ weeks and my phone worked in every country (Portugal, France, UK, Netherlands, the entire Baltic, and Norway). Once we could see land, I'd take it off of airplane mode and within 1 - 2 mintues I would receive a text welcoming me to whatever the country of the day was. I used it for walking directions which was wonderful when I didn't know which way to head to the hotel. I've used it in Rome to keep a taxi driver honest, too (really pissed him off). :D Because it's my data and not wifi, I can use either my phone or tethered tablet to conduct banking and do things involving passwords.

The only additional charge I had was for some voice mails ($.20 each). Phone calls are $.20 each. So when I got home and got my phone bill covering the trip, it was a whopping $2.40 more than my regular bill. I could handle it. ;)

The first time I used my phone this way was in December for Italy, Spain, etc., with an unlocked Galaxy S3 that I brought over from AT&T. This last trip, I was using an unlocked Nexus 5. If you buy your phone from t-mobile, however, it doesn't have to be unlocked since it's their service.

I used to buy SIM cards on every trip. Now I don't have to. Haven't found an easier, cheaper way to connect. BTW, I came nowhere close to using all my data but if I had, it would be easy enough to go into my t-mo account and upgrade another 2GB for $10. Data speed (usually 3G) was fast enough to do everything I needed including GPS.

Currently on our 11 night cruise. In Kusadasi today. Got a Vodafone sim in Istanbul 2days ago. Worked like a charm and worked most of the way between Istanbul and Kusadasi. Working great today. It's supposed to work in Greece but not sure. Full report at end of cruise.

I'm with t-mobile and have their unlimited voice and text and .5GB data for $50/mo. to which I add 2GB data for an additional $10/mo. When their worldwide coverage came into being last Fall, it cost me 1 cent to upgrade (49.99 to 50.00 per month). The basic plan comes with .5GB data but you can't tether unless you add at least 2GB more. The point of this is that I took 3 cruises in Apr/May B2B2B for 5+ weeks and my phone worked in every country (Portugal, France, UK, Netherlands, the entire Baltic, and Norway). Once we could see land, I'd take it off of airplane mode and within 1 - 2 mintues I would receive a text welcoming me to whatever the country of the day was. I used it for walking directions which was wonderful when I didn't know which way to head to the hotel. I've used it in Rome to keep a taxi driver honest, too (really pissed him off). :D Because it's my data and not wifi, I can use either my phone or tethered tablet to conduct banking and do things involving passwords.

 

The only additional charge I had was for some voice mails ($.20 each). Phone calls are $.20 each. So when I got home and got my phone bill covering the trip, it was a whopping $2.40 more than my regular bill. I could handle it. ;)

 

The first time I used my phone this way was in December for Italy, Spain, etc., with an unlocked Galaxy S3 that I brought over from AT&T. This last trip, I was using an unlocked Nexus 5. If you buy your phone from t-mobile, however, it doesn't have to be unlocked since it's their service.

 

I used to buy SIM cards on every trip. Now I don't have to. Haven't found an easier, cheaper way to connect. BTW, I came nowhere close to using all my data but if I had, it would be easy enough to go into my t-mo account and upgrade another 2GB for $10. Data speed (usually 3G) was fast enough to do everything I needed including GPS.

I'm thinking of just doing this too and keep my Tmobile as my carrier when I go to Europe this October. My question do they work on cruise ship specifically in Celebrity cruise ships? So I have the Unlimited everything, do I need to do anything before I get to Europe? Do I have to call Tmobile and let them know? Please advise. Thanks.

with my iPhone if i buy a Sim in Italy, will my contacts, emails and apps still be there or are they stored on my US SIM?

with my iPhone if i buy a Sim in Italy, will my contacts, emails and apps still be there or are they stored on my US SIM?

On my iPhone 4, when I change SIM card , everything was there

I had a Tim card

Thanks so much

ok so a different scenario.

I am upgrading to the iPhone 6 in the next week or so.

I will be keeping my 5 for the time being.

Can I bring the turned off deactivated 5, get a SIM on arrival in Italy and use all the apps and features of the iPhone?

Will the apps work?

I have a LG G3 which I got in July and use Verizon.

We will be in Rome for 6 days and then on a transatlantic cruise with ports in Florence, Toulon, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Tenerife.

What do you experts recommend? I would like to be able to text back home, call locally where/if necessary and access the internet when lost/needed and perhaps check email.

Thanks!

ok so a different scenario.

 

 

 

I am upgrading to the iPhone 6 in the next week or so.

 

 

 

I will be keeping my 5 for the time being.

 

 

 

Can I bring the turned off deactivated 5, get a SIM on arrival in Italy and use all the apps and features of the iPhone?

 

 

 

Will the apps work?

It should be fine. The SIM card only controls your cellular. I have an iPad Mini. I did the start up and used it the first month in the

US wifi only. I went to Italy, bought a SIM from TIM and used the cellular there (wifi at the hotels was horrendous). I came home and bought a SIM from ATT to get cellular. Everything in my iPad was accessible when I bounced between these.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Also, try your 5 at home with the SIM popped out - see if you can do wifi and access your stuff...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

ok so i think i am finally figuring this all out.

One last question.

We will be predominantly in Italy but with 2 days in Turkey and 2 Days in Greece.

I can buy a Sim before I leave and avoid the hassle of buying one there, either once in Italy or once in each country. The pricing is about $130 for 1 gig of data ( I will be mainly using Data).

I know I can get it much cheaper in Italy for Italy but I can not seem to find out how much it will be if I buy a card from TIM for use in Italy as well as Turkey and Greece.

Does anyone have an idea, if it is significant I will buy there if not I will buy here.

Thanks

Do a little web surfing and see if the EU regulations on roaming have changed yet. I haven't kept up, but there was something about this happening either this past summer or next summer which would eliminate or substantially reduce roaming charges within the EU…this may help you decide.

Do a little web surfing and see if the EU regulations on roaming have changed yet. I haven't kept up, but there was something about this happening either this past summer or next summer which would eliminate or substantially reduce roaming charges within the EU…this may help you decide.

Hello again

We will be back in Italy in October for a 16 night TA on Celebrity Reflection. So if you'll indulge me I'd like to resurrect this topic. If you read the previous pages from two years ago you'll see that his was a very helpful thread for our 2014 Italy trip and 11 night med cruise. Folks on here provided me a wealth of information that was spot on.

Unfortunately, please correct me if I'm wrong, the new EU rules restricting roaming tariffs don't go in effect until 2017, so for our 2016 trip we are in a set of limbo/transition rules regarding roaming fees outside Italy. In short there I'd still roaming fees for a SIM card outside of ones home country.

In October, We will be visiting Italy, France and Spain. I'd like to purchase a SIM in Italy for use in all three countries (roaming in France and Spain). Does anyone have any experience with Vodafone Smart Passport? If so could you share your thoughts?

Here is a wiki link I found that leads me to believe this may be a good option for us?

http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/European_Union2

Cheers.

Thanks

Tom

I posted this article in reply to an inquiry in a post on our France board and so since this thread is resurrected, this NY Times article recently published ought to be helpful to some travelers that need to be connected whilst abroad. Italy, is of course included in the countries covered in the article ;)

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/26/technology/personaltech/a-travelers-guide-to-taking-a-smartphone-abroad.html

Just don't use the phones too much - it's ITALY :D

I posted this article in reply to an inquiry in a post on our France board and so since this thread is resurrected, this NY Times article recently published ought to be helpful to some travelers that need to be connected whilst abroad. Italy, is of course included in the countries covered in the article ;)

 

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/26/technology/personaltech/a-travelers-guide-to-taking-a-smartphone-abroad.html

 

 

 

Just don't use the phones too much - it's ITALY :D

Hi thanks. I saw this NY times article also. Very useful. Hopefully it will all be so much easier in 2017!

Hopefully folks with more recent experience will chime in on their roaming experiences in Europe. Cheers!

Host Bonjour

A follow up to yesterday's exchange. I discovered another interesting option worth considering. It is a global sim sticker" that you add to your current SIM card. It sounds cool, if it works. The site is http://www.knowroaming.com.

The $7.99 per day unlimited plan It is not as cheap as a local SIM, but it might be worth the few extra dollars to have the roaming capability without the extra fees.

Does anyone have any travel experience using knowroaming.com?

KnowRoaming SIM sticker

Just returned from our 15 Night TA on Celebrity Reflection. Using the "KnowRoaming" SIM sticker. Our TA cruise included stops in Italy, France and Spain (including the island of Tenerife). We used the KnowRoaming SIM sticker and were very happy with the results. In all of the the ports of call.

The speeds and cell connections were all great. Even though 3G Speeds I was still able to get fast data connections for maps, stream video, periscope and FaceTime video. Very impressed. Easy to set up and use. The smartphone app which must be used in the setup and activation process is good but could be better. Just make sure you follow the steps and directions the present to you. The return home phase could be a little easier, but if you remember this is a separate SIM and you need to switch back to the home sim it makes the process make sense. Also remember you must have an unlocked smartphone to use this sticker.

As much as I like the KnowRoaming SIM it's not great for all travel scenarios. If you are staying in a single country for a week or more, KnowRoaming is not the best option. I recommend getting a local SIM.

However, if you are visiting multiple countries for short stays on your trip, KnowRoaming's unlimited daily data plans make sense. Customer service is great and the YouTube videos are all very helpful to understand the concept of the SIM sticker. I can't wait to use KnowRoaming again. Highly recommended.