Perche

Thanks, it's a very handy link. The problem with Skype is you have to be at a wifi hotspot. With MiFi you carry the hotspot with you. Also if you are in Italy for a month at a time, 120 MB is nothing. You can call your family for 30 minutes each week on Skype, and that's about it, and have no data left for email, web-surfing. etc.

Or, you can stay off Skype, and just web-surf and email. 120 MB provides about 200 emails and 100 web page visits per month. I get about 200 emails per month that I don't even read, want, or subscribe to. I probably read ten web pages each morning just to keep up with sports, another ten to keep up with national and local news, more to look up restaurants, italian words that I didn't understand, and to keep up with FlyerTalk and other sites.

No way 120 MB lasts more than a few days unless you are on a severe data diet. That's OK if you are on a short vacation, but not if you want to use the internet the way you are accustomed to at home, or need it for work. In that case you need 2,000 times more data (at least 2 GB), minimum, although 5-7 GB per month is more standard, providing you don't plan on streaming movies, music or games.

That's why using an iPhone with a U.S. contract that offers two plans,120 MB or a maximum of 300 MB international roaming data is a non-starter.

If you are going to live and work here and need full internet access for business and pleasure, and you are under an IPhone contract with a U.S., carrier there's a need for a better solution. I hope the Vodafone solution will work.

Perche

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The link you sent is going to be helpful for a lot of people. I'd like to reiterate that I'm not going on a two week vacation, 120 MB is nothing for GPS'ing to find your way, around, getting messages in real time. It's fine to tell the folks back home about how you vacation is going, but to have a functional phone in Italy to work, call and be called, wherever you are, having 100-120 megabytes is noting . One thousand MB is 1 GB. The average person can't get by here with 2 GB, much less 120 MB. 2 GB is the minimum to stay here, watching minutes closely. Seven GB's is actual average use. I have an overnight stay in Rome tomorrow, and will see if the Vodafone dealerships are more forthcoming.

JMN57

+1 - I was in BCN for a few days. For that amount of time, 120MB is workable and easier than the overhead of a local SIM card. Went from their to Italy last month for two weeks. Lived off of AT&T to get from MXP to Barga (we landed @ 5PM so getting to a Vodafone store would have been a waste of time) but first thing I did the day after was go to a Vodafone shop to ricarica my SIM card & buy another for my wife's new (since last time we were in Italy) tablet.

PERCHE - I read your story of trying to get the promo a couple of posts ago. Typically Italian. I do find it is better in the bigger cities but it is hit or miss. Vodafone's web site has a site location page which allows you to find corporate vs. franchise stores - I try to avoid franchisees (I think your "bravo" ragazzo was a franchisee)

Perche

I was in Rome last night and found a Vodafone store. I was able to find the MiFi device and the promo of 2 GB per month for one year for $139E, or 5Gb per month for two months for 39E. Both plans include the device. I found out some pluses and minuses.

I'll be in Italy at least through December. I'm under contract with At&T with my iPhone and didn't want to get into a contract with an italian company and have two services.

The 120 MB/month AT&T plan on a U.S. iPhone, as mentioned, buys about an hour and 20 minutes or so of Skype, less if you send and receive email. It's easy to parse out a few hundred MB's over a week or two of vacation, but you can't live here on that. I need to be connected at all times so that I can make and receive calls, respond to emails, texts, etc, and I was hoping that a portable modem (MiFi) would enable me to stay connected that way through my U.S. iPhone.

I found the MiFi device is very small, the size of a small cell phone. At first I decided to go with 2GB per month for one year at 139E, because even though I'll be leaving Italy at the end of December there will be several more trips back next year.

However, the salesman showed me that if I leave the modem on at all times, to always receive and send data so that I'm connected as if I was in the U.S., I would burn through 2GB within a week or two. The modem will work after that, but very slowly.

He suggested that I get the two month deal for 5GB at 39E. He said I still probably won't make it through the whole month on that. If it runs out before the end of the month I can go to the Vodafone store and buy more GB's, or upgrade the plan and go to 10 GB per month for an extra 5E per month, or 15 GB per month for an extra 10E per month, which should be plenty.

He said italian smartphone contracts are generally three years. I could buy a dumb phone for calls only at 199E and a very small amount per month, I don't remember exactly, maybe 5-10 E, that is cancelable at one year.

I went with the two month 5 GB plan that I will probably have to upgrade to 10 GB per month and continue month to month after that , and will probably also have to buy a cheap phone with a one year contract. No perfect solutions here for long term phone, internet, email use that I know of while under U.S. iPhone contract, and it could mean carrying my iphone, a dumbphone, and a MiFi modem around.

I haven't actually activated the modem and tested it. I'm heading back to the U.S. for 5 days, and return next week, when I'll be able to see how well it works.

JMN57

If you want a dumb phone, buy an unlocked one in the United States. It would be much cheaper than 199€. The prepaid voice plan is pretty cheap.

If you don't mind my asking, why do you need to leave the mifi on all the time?

Perche

Buying an unlocked dumb phone in the U.S sounds like a good idea. Phones are certainly cheaper here. I was hoping to avoid carrying multiple devices, but that doesn't seem possible. My position involves health care, and I will frequently be on call for 24 hours at a time. I'll have to carry a pager and will need to answer it within minutes, no matter what. For that, a dumb phone will do.

There is also just a general need to have internet access for everyday life. I would like to be able to read the morning paper when having a morning coffee at the bar, when stopping for a bite to eat on the way home, use GPS to find my way around, follow sports, stay current on email, check train schedules, buy tickets for the train, symphony, opera, etc. Ordinary living can burn through a lot of MB's very quickly.

On vacation the needs are different (calling the kids, sharing a photo, Skyping every few days, etc.). Data volume has never been a problem in the U.S. but it's a huge problem using AT&T while living in Italy, hence the >>>$400 phone bills.

The 5GB plan for two months seems like a good place to start, as the commitment was fairly minimal. I'd just prefer to not have to carry a pager, a dumb phone to answer it, an iPhone for general web use, and a MiFi device to enable iPhone use for life's general internet necessities when out and about. That's a lot of stuffed pockets.

JMN57

I just bought a new phone that I like very much. Samsung Mega 6.3" screen so it's more a tablet than a phone. It wasn't cheap - I bought an unlocked intl one - but it allowed me to combine my phone and tablet into one device. It's all I need for vacation. You might consider an inexpensive android smartphone for Italy.

Need

Hmmm, for $200 US you could buy the Google Nexus 4 8GB unlocked without any contract. It is sold out now (I got my Dad one and he loves it). But the 16GB for $250 is still available ships in 1-2 days. It is a really good price for an unlocked Android 4.3 smartphone. Or you could wait a few months and the Nexus 5 will be out, but probably will be around $350 to $400. Still not a bad deal for unlocked Android phone.

Perche

I don't think that I could use a near-tablet size phone. This will not be for vacation, so my pants will be filled with keys, wallet, etc, while taking the metro to and from work. I guess I'm going to need to find a very inexpensive phone with a pay as you go plan. I won't be paged or called often, it's just that when I do get paged I have to respond right away, and there also has to be a number where people can phone me at any time, no matter where I am, not just when I'm at an internet point and available by Skype.

Perche

Is the 16GB for $250 for use in the U.S. only, or also in Italy? I just arrived in the U.S. last night but head back early AM Saturday, so availability could be a problem.

JMN57

Nexus 4 is quad band GSM so it will work voice in US and Europe and it has data bands (UMTS/HSPA+) that will work here (on AT&T or TMO) and in Europe on most everyone. http://www.google.com/nexus/4/specs/
The Nexus 4 is sold out on Google Play but there are some other places. TMO will show up but their unlocked price is insane.

If you are going back Saturday, look at places like J&R or Amazon and you might get something shipped quick enough to take back with you. If you have Amazon Prime and order quickly, you could make that work.

For example, there is the Samsung Infuse going on Amazon for $190 - http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Capaci...phone+unlocked

It has a 4.5" screen, it's a little dated but it's a good price for an unlocked smartphone. There are plenty of other options as well.

JMN57

I posted some comments on the Mega in FT's Technology board. If you are coming from a phone, it will seem big. I was traveling with a Nexus 7 and a smartphone so combining the two is much more compact and the Mega is much smaller than the N7 even though the screen is only .7" (7 to 6.3) smaller. It fits comfortably into my pants pocket, breast pocket of jacket, etc. So from my perspective it is quite reasonable but I do understand that it may not be everyone's bicchiere di amaro.

Need

The 16GB is now sold out. When I checked it a few days ago, it was still available. If you are going back to Italy on Saturday, I don't think you would have enough time to get any unlocked from online. You could check craigslist and buy from local. I see a bunch of Nexus 4 in the Los Angeles area. Some of them are even cheaper than buying from Google. To test that the phone is unlocked for all the carriers, make sure you bring your AT&T sim and check it out before you buy. Your iPhone 4 micro SIM is actually the same size as the Nexus 4 and should work right the way as you put it in. If it works with your AT&T sim, it is unlocked and it should work in Italy with any of the carrier you choose.

Perche

For long-term internet mobile access, I arrived in Italy and activated the Vodafone MiFi device that I purchased for 29E that included 7GB of data for two months (then the price goes up a bit). This is a wireless "pocket" modem so you don't have to look for an internet hotspot, you are carrying the hotspot with you.

I think it's better than adding an AT&T international plan for long term use, but the jury is still out for even short term use, in my opinion. The AT&T plan even for 300MB, 80 minutes of talk, 50 texts, is over $100. If you are here on vacation and the people you need to communicate with are with you and you just need to send an occasional message back home, it's probably OK. But if you are working here and your family, friends, etc, are back home it's almost impossible to not go over the limits, and receive huge phone bills. I doubt that any U.S. carrier will work.

For those who would consider the Vodafone MiFi package, here is my opinion after three days of use. It is small, the size of a very small cell phone. However, carrying it with an iPhone in my suit pants pocket makes quite bulge, and is not comfortable. It would work with baggy pants, but not with a form-fitting pair of pants. It would be fine if carried in a briefcase or purse, or even when wearing a pair of jeans when it doesn't matter, but it's not optimal for men's dress pants when coupled with a phone.

On my first day I was glad to be free having to count the limited MB's of the AT&T plan, and was enjoying having GB size limits, taking pictures and texting them, talking to people on Skype while in the street, etc., when all of a sudden online access went dead. The short battery life on an iPhone can be a problem. In this case, my fully charged Vodafone MiFi battery ran out while my iPhone still had 45% of its charge. In other words, you can't just leave it on and receive texts, emails, calls on Skype, so that you are always online and have immediate internet access like in the U.S., because the battery only lasts less than a cell phone battery. You have to leave it off, and then turn it on when you need to use it. This can be a problem if the goal is to carry the "hotspot" with you so as to always be internet accessible.

That said, it's good device for stopping at a bar for a coffee or a glass of wine, turning it on, and browsing the hometown papers, catching up on emails. But, mine stopped working after the first day. I went to the local Vodafone store (they seem to be everywhere), and they said I'd have to call customer service, for this brand new device. I asked where that was, and they said in Rome (I'm in Torino). I asked how I can stop the service if we can't get it to work again, because after the two month special runs out, the monthly service charge is automatically charged to my credit card. They told me that to cancel I need to write a letter to the company. I asked where, and they printed out a form that goes to a P.O. Box somewhere in Italy, requesting cancelation of service.

I insisted that they change the SIM card, to see if a bad SIM card was why it only worked for one day. It did start working again an hour after they changed the SIM, but we will see, as its only been a few hours.

I think a better deal, and someone bought it while I was waiting for 45 minutes to talk to someone at the Vodafone store, is a cheap Samsung phone they sell for 35E, and for 12E you get 4 hours of talk time, 50 text messages, and 1GB of high speed internet. When it's done, you can either throw the phone out, or go to the Vodafone store and pay 12E for another round data/text/talk. Buying the phone, and two or even three rounds of the plan, is way cheaper than adding the AT&T overseas plan to an iPhone.

Need

Are you sure the 35E Samsung phone doesn't require a contract?