ryandelmundo

That's good to know. I had CLARO in Nicaragua and Guatemala and couldn't believe how expensive it was. Everyone had a phone but no one seemed to use it! SMS was $.10 each, USA prices!

As a comparison, here in Indonesia I pay about $.015 per SMS, less if I get a monthly package (Unlimited for say $2). My plan gives me 1GB for $3, which is "unlimited" but after the 1GB is slows down. Ya get what ya pay for tho - it's not rock solid 3G. Calls home are $.02/min ("voip" on the phone by a dialin prefix) which is cheaper than calls locally, crazy.

I'd love to hear more abroad experiences

richarddd

The Vodafone page linked is captioned "Living in Italy" and the plans include "How to subscribe
Visit your local Vodafone Store with a valid ID, a legal Italian domicile and your fiscal code card (obtainable by presenting a valid passport or residence permit to the local authorities)."

What's available for someone just visiting?

richarddd

Is this the tep you mean for Italy?
http://www.tepwireless.com/tep-me/te..._countries.php

beep88

Just take your passport. The stores (especially network owned ones) will generate a fiscal code for you. or you may try to use one generated on line. Google "codice fiscale".

richarddd

The issue is that the web site says they require "a legal Italian domicile." Are you saying they don't actually require that?

wco81

Not to generate a CF online.

But if you go and show them your ID, the stores will put in something, sometimes the address of the store, to complete the registration.

entrada

I've found an interesting option I intend to use for an upcoming extended visit to Western Europe. A sim from www.Blau.de I purchased in advance of my trip from www.germansims.co.uk. The blau sim uses the t-mobile network. The advantage of their program is very low data while in germany (1 GB for 9.90 Euro). But also data in the rest of the EU is priced at 50MB for 5.00 Euro. This seems good for when going through Switzerland for only two days, or for the two days I will be in France on the TGV. They are extremely helpful and provide a lot of assistance and are very responsive.

boerne

Yes that is the one.

chff

Anyone knows about Ukraine? I need 3G, Kyivstar or MTS?

AMRivlin

Thanks guys, I picked up the TEP system for 22 days, picking up and dropping off at T5.

I used the BritishAirways + 10% off for a stellar deal on Europe (Multi Country)
About $3 a day.

THANKS for the tips everyone!

noobflyer

USA with AT&T:

I had a quad-band smartphone, and decided to use AT&T. I didn't know the difference between pre-paid and pay as you go, wich is essential.

I got a Go account with pre-paid - the smallest amount for one month was 25 dollars, which doesn't include data. After a month, I realized I didn't use the phone much while there, so I enquired what was left of the 25 dollars - but with pre-paid, it's all gone.

So for the remainder of my stay (just a few weeks), I had them change my account to pay as you go - something you can also do by logging in to the website. I asked what the smallest amount I could top up for was, and she said (at the AT&T store) that the system would only allow her to top up for 15 dollars or more, but that it was possible to top up for 10 dollars if I found something elsewhere. I looked for cards at Walmart etc, but found nothing. Looks like those top up cards for 10 dollars are hard to find if they even exist anymore. But as I was about to give up, I asked at Dollar General, and they had some kind of different system, where I got a printout with a code to input in the phone - for 10 dollars.

Since my phone was not an AT&T phone, I couldn't use text message to top up, but called the number on the printout, and that worked. As I used the phone, I got messages on the phone (not text messages, they disappeared without a trace as I dismissed them) telling me how much was left of what I had on the phone. Texts were 20 cents and phone calls 10 cents a minute.

I got one MMS - I got the photo to show, even though I had no data profiles on the phone. I was able to use my GPS (Nokia smartphone with offline maps) as long as I looked up addresses I wanted to go to while on Wifi. It kept trying to access data incessantly while I used the GPS, but worked anyway. Irritating, but good to know. I just had to remember to download maps for that particular state ahead of time on Wifi.

US providers don't usually allow you to have a plan without data if you have a smartphone. I was allowed to get this plan without data, but that might have been a fluke.

OverThereTooMuch

What's the British Airways deal? I couldn't find any reference to it in this thread or online. I did get a 15% offer for first time customers when I went to the TEP website.

Normal charge for 22 days would be $123.50, -10% would still put you at over $5 per day (with a 1.5GB limit). -15% would be $4.77 per day. So that BA deal must be pretty awesome.

jla956

Need suggestions on a pre-paid sim card that will work in my unlocked iPhone 3GS while I am in Vienna (if it would also work across the river in Bratislava, Slovakia that would be nice too) next week. I would like something that would do voice, text, and data. Thanks in advance for your help!

I just found out I can get a Drei pre-paid sim card that will provide me with a 1,000 minutes of talk, a 1000 text messages, and 2GB of date for only 10 euros. For 5 euros more I can double all of that and for another 5 euros I can triple it. This sounds almost too good to be true but a friend said he got it this summer while he was there. Is anyone familiar with Drei and their coverage, or perhaps even this offering?

Graciecatt

What are some options for a locked AT&T iPhone 4? I am not at the end of my contract and despite having the same account since 2003 I do not think they will unlock my phone. We will be in France and Germany for 10 days.

IPhoneTrip will only sell me a 100MB data card with a locked phone - no voice, no "unlimited" options.

Mike Jacoubowsky

100 mb/day may go farther than you think, unless you plan to upload/download photos. Even extensive use of google maps isn't nearly as bad as I expected. If you tether to a laptop, sure, you might have to watch things, and you certainly aren't going to be downloading youtube videos. But for email, checking travel-related websites, updating work projects... 100 mb/day has gone a lot farther than I would have thought.

I purchased the "unlimited" plan for both trips to China and France, but ultimately didn't need to, when I looked at what was actually used.

If you remain concerned, for $50 you can have a hardware unlock done of you iPhone (assuming AT&T won't for free) via applenberry.