A traveler to Italy should be careful when choosing the cell service to use, so as not to end up paying higher rates. In some cases, you as a traveler can stay connected for a fraction of what you might need to pay for conventional cell phones rented or roaming with your home country provider. Like most countries in the world, Italy uses the GSM standard, which offers quality digital services that offer excellent phone reception and clear sound quality.

With the exception of tri-band GSM phones, it will be difficult to use your current cell phone and you may need to make special arrangements with your current cell phone provider. They will provide you with a phone with a SIM (Subscriber Information Module) chip inserted into the phone that contains information such as cell phone number, voice mail, and call logs. However, setting it up this way with your current service provider will allow you to keep your original phone number and receive and make calls anywhere in the world. In this case, there is usually a monthly fee for being able to use the service internationally plus higher roaming fees (call rates) and other applicable charges, such as phone rental and delivery.

Another alternative is to rent a cell phone. You can rent a mobile phone for Italy at any international airport, either before you leave or upon arrival, or in many other ways, such as the yellow pages. Rates typically average $25-$50 per week for phone rental plus per minute charges for making and receiving calls. There are usually minimal usage fees per day or per week, regardless of whether you have used the service or not.

The least expensive alternative is to use the same service Italians use: a local Italian cellular solution. With this approach, you’ll pay local rates that are cheap, plus you’ll be able to receive unlimited free incoming calls from anywhere in the world, including the US or Canada. Calls are not routed through many foreign switches and therefore the chance of dropped calls is almost zero. Plus, the calls are prepaid, so you never get a bill or need to sign a contract or commit to long terms of cell service.

Calls to the US are cheap, costing only about $0.40 per minute, but whenever possible to save even more, you can ask people to call you back on your cell phone number. Your entry is free and you can afford to receive long calls. While the caller will pay for an international call, the rates to Italy can be very reasonable, especially if the caller chooses the right provider or uses a calling card.

To take advantage of paying local telephone rates, you must ensure that your GSM cell phone is compatible with the Italian system at a frequency of 900 GSM and is unlocked. GSM phones come from the manufacturer unlocked – it’s the carrier that locks them to ensure that even if you have an international cell phone from a US or Canadian retailer that works in Italy, it won’t work with anything other than the operator’s SIM card.

Use of mobile phones abroad.

In 99% of the world, the local cellular service standard is called GSM. We use this in the states as well. When combined with a SIM CARD (which usually goes under the phone’s battery), the phone can communicate and the SIM CARD also contains the phone number and memory for prepaid credit. Fees can be extremely low using this system.

For example, on 99% of all SIM CARDS, incoming calls are free and calls to states may cost a little. For example, from the UK to the US 7 cents per minute, from Israel 22 cents, from Australia 27 cents. Yes, US cents! There are even prepaid service providers in the US today that offer rates of 10 cents per minute to call anywhere in the US on any type of phone. No contracts, no credit card checks, no bills. Prepaid always means no minimums, no contracts, no obligations. You only pay for calls made. You will need an UNLOCKED tri-band or quad-band GSM unlocked phone.