I'm looking to get a cell phone here so I don't have to worry about getting one in Italy. I found a website for cellular abroad that looks good, but I wondered if anyone had any experience using them in Italy. Thanks

I think they've had mixed reviews (use Find for more details). Personally, I'd just buy one when you get here. If it goes bad you can try to get a replacement from the shop where you bought it.

I bought a SIM card from them before we got here. It arrived safely. But very expensive. As Bill says, wait till you get here.

Thanks for the responses. I am a bit worried about arriving without a phone and having to find one there- if there will be a wait to get one, if I can't find a salesperson who speaks English, if something goes wrong and I have to deal with an Italian company and me not speaking Italian...I was thinking if I could arrive with one, I might feel more secure and could also deal with the company in English if there were any issues. They have a pretty cheap phone starting at $149. Does anyone know how much phones cost over in Italy for just a pretty basic model? It's so different here, getting a free phone when you sign up for the service. I know if I get one through cellular abroad, I can recharge the sim card over in Italy, so that's what I might do if the cost of the phone is comparable to Italy cell phones. Any info on the price of phones is appreciated. Thanks again!

You won't have any wait to get a phone, and you should be able to find a store with someone who can help you. It might not be the first store, but there are stores everywhere, so don't worry. You choice of phones will be much better and the service you will get will be much cheaper. They are almost all pre-paid plans, so you won't be signing up for anything that could get you in trouble. You are best to get it there.

Kristen,
Here's my experience, mostly good. Back in the States, I got a Motorola V3 in a deal with AT&T for free. Fantastic, I said. Then we got this great offer to move to Italy. Fantastic again, I said. So I called up AT&T and asked if I could bring my cell phone. They said, "Well, you'll have to unlock it once you get there, but your shouldn't have any problems otherwise". And they were right: I just had to insert a SIM chip (from Vodaphone), enter the unlock code, enter the SIM code, etc., and voila'! It works. I still can't send my images and videos yet, but I'm working on that part. Otherwise, SMS works fine as does the phone service.

Moral of the story? Call up your provider and ask if your model can be unlocked and brought to Europe/Italy.

Good luck!

Where did you get the unlock code?

In the past, it was very hard to obtain an unlock code for Cingular and ATT, almost impossible. However, now they realize the trend is to liberate consumer's phone and are more willing to give the code if the customer is in good standing. T-Mobile has always been giving code for customers whose account has been established for more than 90 days.

However, they don't give code for phones from other network. If you can't get the code from the service provider, then a company like UnlockCellphone.com can help.

quote:

I just had to insert a SIM chip (from Vodaphone), enter the unlock code, enter the SIM code, etc., and voila'!

I was trying to find out where Jimmerz got the code he refers to in the quote above.