<p>Ok I know there have been threads about cell phones in Europe, but my D is there now in Italy and she is having a hard time finding something reasonable. We have verizon which is useless in Europe…we knew that before she left. She is not very techno-knowledgeable so please help (nor an I)! We are looking for some kind of pre-pay plan so she can call within italy and we can call from US…free incoming hopefully. So far we are using im, but she will be leaving the int’l study program at the end of June and won’t have her computer.</p>
<p>Any help would be appreciated…companies, plans, how it works ove there!
Thanks</p>
<p>I don’t know if this will help, but I found this website with info regarding international cell phone use with/without Verizon. Our cell phone plan is with Cingular - now the new AT&T, so I’m in the process of researching whether or not my kids should expect to be able to take and use their cell phones in France. It was explained to me by the AT&T rep, that they would have to buy a local SIM card in France - and to call them about a week ahead of their departure to have the phone unlocked. <a href=“http://www.cellularabroad.com/verizon_intl.html[/url]”>http://www.cellularabroad.com/verizon_intl.html</a></p>
<p>I think most Verizon phones won’t work in Italy since they’re not the GSM standard that most of Europe uses (except for a few special phones they have). T-Mobile and Cingular/AT&T phones will work there. </p>
<p>She should be able to buy a phone there that will work but I don’t know what it’d cost. I haven’t heard of any plans that would allow her to call your phone at no extra cost even if you both had Cingular or T-Mobile.</p>
<p>If you put Skype on your computer, she is likely to be able to call you for free from many Internet cafes (or can place it on her own computer if she has one.) My d. has had a cellphone provided by her college for the past year in Italy, and calls in Italy have been free, but it is much, much cheaper for us to call her than for her to call us. Net2Phone is pretty inexpensive.</p>
<p>ucsd… you are correct her verizon phone won’t work, not GSM standard…we knew that going in, but thought she could easily buy a prepay there. I guess Italy is the problem. My son had no problem in England. We do have Skype but use IM more readily. Still trying to figure out her options now that she is already there. Will check out the website nyumom, thanks!</p>
<p>We also are on Verizon at home. My D studied abroad in Italy this past fall. She bought or rented a phone when she got there. She bought minutes on the phone and when she ran out, she could buy minutes in any increments. She used those mostly for calls within the country. She called us and we called her using a calling card. The calling card was through Zaptel and we could add minutes to that online. When the semester was over, she was able to sell the phone back to where she got it. </p>
<p>My D also spent last summer in France and bought a French phone when working there. Same idea. She lent that phone this spring to a friend studying for the semester in Paris. It so happens that my D unexpectedly will be doing an internship in Paris this summer and when she gets there in a couple of weeks, she will take back the phone she lent to her friend and again buy minutes as needed and the calling card for calls home and from us to her.</p>
<p>Her Verizon phone from home cannot be used or unlocked in France or Italy. Thus at one point, she laughed at the notion that she owned three cell phones, one for home, one for France and one for Italy.</p>
<p>We have an upcoming trip to England and we have purchased a quad-band, unlocked cell phone. Now all I have left to do (I think) is buying the Sim card that will work for England. That is where I am hung up. Can I do that here before I leave, and where should I get it? Are there different suppliers of these cards and do they have different rates? Thanks so much for any help.</p>
<p>We have Cingular phones. We use the same phones here and in Europe (France, Italy,Germany, Bulgaria, Greece so far) AND the same phone numbers. Yes, they cost $1/minute to use in Europe BUT if you keep them turned off and check messages rarely, it’s just not a problem. The last three week trip we took, my husband’s bill (he’s the one maintaining contact with our business) was $22, mine was $3, and my D’s was $4. (We used internet cafes daily and did almost everything by email.)</p>
<p>We bought a phone in Ireland last year for $50 Euro. It came fully charged ready to go, and topped off with a decent amount of minutes. The charger was included, as well. H has since used it in France & Spain. We still have minutes left from the original purchase. It is a Vodafone. In Italy it will be used via the Vodafone Omnitel system. Incoming calls are not charged to the minutes. When I asked our local Verizon service rep to look into GSM (? I believe that’s the term) it was some crazy cost & wait time. Hundreds of $$$ & several weeks.</p>
<p>At any rate, what worked the best for us was just buying the phone at an airport Vodafone shop right next to the rent-a-car shop. When I asked the Vodafone rep why the phones & minutes were so cheap & accessible in Europe he said it’s because the Europeans are “mad” for their wireles service & often have several seperate phones & numbers. If you want to know what brands to look at, just check out the European soccer jerseys.</p>
<p>We took our Cingular cell phones to London last year after having them unlocked. We bought Virgin sim cards through e-bay. They were a great deal - for just a few dollars, we had our phone numbers before we left and had plenty of talk time built into the card with a card to take into just about any shop to top up. Just search for the best looking deal on “UK sim cards”. When we got to London, we just popped in the cards, made a quick call and were ready to go. We had absolutly no problems and out of 5 pounds credit, came home with more than 4 pounds left. We only made short calls to each other and some calls back to the US to check voice mail.</p>
<p>Avoid using cell phones to call the US. In Italy and France, you have special numbers which enable you to call anywhere in the world for as long as you like for the price of a local phone call. Otherwise, for a long trip, it is easier and cheaper to buy a local cell phone to use in the country (unless you go for mp3 + camera included). Choose sim cards with maximum amount of text messages included, as these are Europeans favourite communication mode. Unfortunately only tri-band cell phones are able to send messages to the US.
Skype works great and is 100% free. If your kid has an integrated webcam, you’ll be madly relieved to see they are looking fine. If not, you can buy one for around 25 dollars and believe a mother whose D has been away for 10 months now, it’s more than worth the expenditure!</p>
<p>When DS was in London, the kids used Orange Mobile. The phones came charged and could be charged at any convenience store in the UK. DS used his Orange Mobile phone all over europe and his sister used it in Vienna and Munich the following summer. I wonder if that option is available in Italy? Orange Mobile had a booth at Heathrow airport if I recall correctly.</p>