I have a UK cellphone, but the provider wants 20 pounds to sell me the unlocking fee, then I'd have to buy an Italian SIM card.
How much do you think the cheapest Italian pay as you go cellphone would cost, and where in Rome would be the best place to buy one?
I'm thinking it would be cheaper to do it this way; as when I go to the UK again, I'd have to then convert the phone back to UK mode; and I'm just not that technical!!!!
As I go to both places, it would make sense to have phones for both; and I don't need voice-mail, camera capability, etc, etc; just the most basic phone.
Thanks!
I'm leaving next week for Italy.
I have never taken a phone with me before, but I will be on my own this time, and want one for safety.

The lowest I've seen is 30 Euros on offer at the supermarket.

That sounds like a fair price to me, Nick!
Did you mean a specific supermarket?; or just one of the bigger ones?
Where in Rome would you recommend buying a phone?
Would one bought in a supermarket have a salesperson there to help me get it activated?
As I said, I'm technically challenged, I need this all as simple as possible when I buy the phone!
Thanks.

You know how supermarkets are. One week it'll be one shop with something on sale. The next week it's competition. But even without the sale they aren't much more then that. I'd expect no more then 50 Euros max.

The shops around here all have phone[electronic] departments that sell all the brands. One is even pushing there own phone service now.

I've no idea the best place in Rome but low end phones are very common.

But surely you don't need to get the provider to unlock it for you? Here in London there is a kiosk on virtually every other street corner offering to unlock phones much cheaper than that - £5 usually. (I have paid £10 but only for a very complicated phone. Is your phone very sophisticated?)

Maybe the situation is the same in Rome. If the phone is good and you can get it unlocked in Rome cheaply then you can just swap out the SIM card wherever you are and you avoid the problem of having to dispose of an otherwise perfectly serviceable phone.

It's from Vodaphone UK, and when I emailed them, they wanted 20 pounds to give me the unlock code!
I live in Canada, so perhaps I'll bring it with me to Italy and try to get it unlocked there.
The thing is the phone number has been retired, as I haven't used it for a year; and also I thought having an Italian-bought phone would be easier with the charger from Italy, in Italy; instead of bringing the UK one with me.
Maybe I'll just get a phone card instead!!!

http://www.tim.it/consumer/c365/i3368/ricercaprodotti.d...729=1731&13389=13390

That's TIM. Three or so phones at 39 Euros. But you need to spend at least 45 to find one in stock But it comes with a 5 Euro credit and therefore a SIM.

Any TIM shop with stock should be able to set you up.

SJ - just one added consideration - I purchased a Motorola phone for about 50E in Rome in 2005 when the used "unlocked" phone I'd purchased on EBay proved NOT to be unlocked (but that's another story). I've since used it simply by changing out the SIM cards on two trips to Italy, one to France and two to the UK...

BUT - the instruction manual is in Italian - and all the built in voice prompts were also in Italian. If you purchase a phone from someplace like a TIM store (which is where I got mine), ask if they can work their magic and change the voice prompts to English. I do understand Italian, but couldn't understand the Italian prompts, which were spoken at a very fast clip!

Judy

I think the Italian Sim card would automatically give you a new phone number so that is not a concern. From what you say if your existing phone is in good condition it would be cheaper to get it unlocked.

If you do not use a cell phone in Canada, then maybe the phone card is the better option.

When we went to Italy last year my wife took her cell phone which was on the Australian network and she used it to SMS. I bought an Italian prepaid SIM card for my phone which worked fine as I only used it to call numbers. The screen of course was in Italian but for my use did not matter.

Here's an update!
I emailed Vodaphone again, and now they have given me an unlock code for free.
They say, go to Italy, buy an Italian SIM card,wait till the screen says invalid card,(or somesuch), then use the unlock codes.
Does that sound right, in the right order?
I also paid an online company: UnlockTeam; $10 to get the code; and no response back after 4 days, so beware them!!
I'll post if I do hear back before I leave.
3 more sleeps!!

I'm no expert but if I were you, I'd google the brand name of your phone (not Vodaphone) and then "Unlock Code" and see what comes up. There may be a number of unlocking solutions and it will give you an idea of how fiddly it's going to be.

Success! (I think!)
Vodafone sent me the free unlocking code.
What you do to unlock it is: take out the existing card, put in another one from another phone, I just used my Canadian card; the phone then goes through a series of steps, and it's unlocked seconds after you enter the unlock code!!!
Now I can just buy a SIM card in Rome, and hopefully I'm off to the races!!
Which would be one more day.... not that I'm counting or anything.
By the way; UnlockTeam did get back to me and they said they couldn't unlock the phone.
However, because they took payment, they offered me a free card in the UK for next time I'm there, so that's good customer service!!!