So, I've finally managed to talk with a human being in my cellphone provider's home office, after several days of talking to a voice synthesizer that answers my questions, sort of. I was so focused on being able to have my cellphone unlocked, and changing the SIM card so I could use it in Italy, it never entered my mind that there would be a huge fee for this. When I bought this Nokia phone, I chose it because it is a GSM phone and I could use it when I travel.
Here's the thing...the company charges $250 to unlock my phone! Not going to happen...
Basically, I wanted my cellphone with me so I can stay in touch with my son and also with some friends who will be in Florence at the same time I am. I could use a payphone, and that's an option right now, but the convenience of having a cell phone with me is also extremely nice.
So, my second choice would be...what? Rent? The apartment that I'm staying in has no phone, and I didn't think I'd need one because I'd been sooo forward-thinking as to buy a GSM phone...
I've emailed the owner, and asked him if he provides a cell phone for rental. If that is not an option, what then?
"The bathtub was invented in 1850 and the telephone in 1875. In other words, if you had been living in 1850, you could have sat in the bathtub for 25 years without having to answer the phone." ~ Bill DeWitt Brenda
Either buy a phone when you are there (you must have planned to buy a SIM card when you were there) or buy one before you leave from Cellular Abroad or Telestial. www.cellularabroad.com - you get a discount if you tell them code SLOWTRAV Telestial
Both these companies also rent phones.
Also, see if you can take your current phone and have it for emergencies only - ask them the per minute rate for calling and receiving calls in Europe.
Brenda, In Florence you can rent a cell phone for 10 euro a month from the internet train near the Central Market. you only pay then for your calls, don't pay to recieve and they can also sell you a special card for discount rates!
And what about renting a phone at the Rome airport. I don't live in the States so getting one there is not an option. I have read most of the posts concerning cell phones but I haven't seen anything about FCO. Where and how much?
George
Posts: 2 | Location: Spain | Registered: 25 February 2005
I can't say anything specific about European cell phones, but on Fodors someone reported a nightmare rental scenario where the company charged 800 Euros erroneously (or purposely), refused to take it off, and the credit card issuer couldn't intervene for some reason - possibly because the vendor was in Europe. This was in France, but the idea of an open-ended rental makes me nervous.
If you only need a cellphone so that your som can be in touch with you, just buy a very cheap one in one of the hundreds shops which are a bit everywhere in any city.
Or even in a large supermarket, such as Carrefour. You can get a cellphone with 50 euros of calls for less than 100 euros.
Good Morning: I am new to Slow Trav, but there is a cheap fix for unlocking phones. If you go to www.travelinsider.com, and look around, you will find they offer a service for unlocking most GSM phones for about $30.00. Then you have to get the SIM from a company like telestial or wait until you travel abroad.
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This message has been edited. Last edited by: Pauline,
Posts: 14 | Location: CT | Registered: 26 March 2005
One inexpensive way is to buy a used one on Ebay. If you buy the phone in advance without the SIM card you will not know your telephone number in advance. From time to time you will see phones advertised that have been used in Italy and come with the SIM. I bought a Motorola with a TIM card for less than $20 and it worked fine.
Do a search on the internet and you will find dozens of web sites relating to unlocking your phone.
Another option would be to ask someone to do it for you. Or offer an employee at a store some money to do it for you. I know when Danijela bought me a a phone in croatia she asked the tech guy at the store and he did it for her for free.
Originally posted by BGE: When I bought this Nokia phone, I chose it because it is a GSM phone and I could use it when I travel.
Brenda, I travel with a GSM phone from Rogers, with my original number, same number I use here.
Since the intent is to have this phone "when needed", I don't really care much what will be the charges per minute.
If you have a Rogers contract, your GSM phone will work in Italy. The only thing you need to do is to call Rogers in advance to make sure they activated it for use abroad. Then Michael will be able to call you by simply dialing your usual cell phone number. I think cell phones from Fido or Bell would work much in the same way.
If you need a lot of local calls in Florence, you could buy a telephone card for 5/10/20/etc. Euro and use it for these local calls. In a card for 10 Euro you get a huge amount of local minutes.
Originally posted by Doru: If you need a lot of local calls in Florence, you could buy a telephone card for 5/10/20/etc. Euro and use it for these local calls. In a card for 10 Euro you get a huge amount of local minutes.
But, she cannot use these phone cards from her cell phone but from a phone booth, right? Using her cell phone, even to dial the long distance access number for the long distance card, would result in high per minute charges. Am I right on this?
Thanks for the unlocking info - I will update my page on cell phones.
Brenda, if the unlocking procedures above don't work for you, you can send your phone to me and I can get it unlocked very cheaply here in London (£5 -£10 usually).
"Unlocking shops" exist in London on virtually every street corner so maybe the same will be true in Rome - I'm guessing that's not the case in Florence or someone would already have posted.
Beebee
Posts: 1966 | Location: London, UK | Registered: 09 September 2002
Originally posted by Pauline: But, she cannot use these phone cards from her cell phone but from a phone booth, right? Using her cell phone, even to dial the long distance access number for the long distance card, would result in high per minute charges. Am I right on this?
Yes, these cards can be used from public phones-refer to the simultaneous discussion on public phones in Italy. Yes, the GSM per minute charges are high, but buying another one, or renting another one or unlocking the one she already has, will also cost some money, maybe the equivalent of 10-20 minutes of GSM phone use. Maybe more.
But, my point was that Brenda can save herself some complications by having her GSM phone with her for emergency situations and using a card for routine calls. This will save unlocking, which-I was told, I am not an expert-can cause problems to the phone in some instances, as well as shipping, renting, buying another one, etc. Makes life simpler and it does not necessarily cost more, since Brenda already has the GSM phone.
Originally posted by mahlon hale: Good Morning: I am new to Slow Trav, but there is a cheap fix for unlocking phones. If you go to www.travelinsider.com, and look around, you will find they offer a service for unlocking most GSM phones for about $30.00.
The link you posted does not go to a working site. I think you meant www.thetravelinsider.info ? Here is the LINK to their unlocking service.
This is what I did (I'm leaving for Sicily on Friday, April 1.) I searched the internet for places that unlock phones. Nokias are relatively easy to unlock; search "Nokia Unlock" etc. and you'll find places that tell you how to do it. But I ended up paying $25 through aplac eon e-bay. It's reputable meaning that more than a 1,000 other peopel have used it and they gave good reviews. Pay the price, ($25) download some software (Iknow, I know! It sounds scary!) and take the plunge. Your phone is unlocked. Then go to Italy and buy a SIM card; you can do it without proving your residency, etc. Then you're all set.
I forgot when your trip is exactly but I may have an alternate suggestion. I have a GSM phone with a TIM SIM with some Euros (also have a Virgin SIM with pounds) on it. If you could get it back to me by Sept. 1st with a few euros on it (meaning recharge it with a few euros before you return), I'd be happy to let you use it. That way I get to extend the life of the SIM and you get to use it--win, win. (A request for a postcard would be the "price" of the rental, as well as the return postage for the phone) I need it back by Sept. as I have a friend that is going to use while he is here in the US--the joy of multiple SIM's........glendaluj@yahoo.com
I would definitely not advise renting a cell phone. You can buy a phone from Mobal for $49.00. It comes with a SIM card, although the calls with that card are very expensive (abour $1.25 / min), so it's mainly for emergency or occasional use.
However, I understand that the phone is unlocked, so you can replace the original card with a prepaid SIM card for whatever country you will be in. Here is a recent thread from Fodors with more information.
We have a Mobal phone, which we got for a recent trip, and were very pleased with the service. We didn't make enough calls for it to be worthwhile to buy another card, but it was good to know we do have that option if we should ever want it. Read more about the Mobal phone here.
Solution city! You are amazing... I wasn't expecting more than one or two replies, and maybe one or two solutions, if I was lucky...and here we are with many, many of them... !
I have a phone ...one of the Slowtrav members e-mailed me privately and has sent her phone to me by express mail today...is that not the most generous thing?
Glenda, thank you for your also-generous offer, and I'd have taken it in a heartbeat, except for the fact that I already have one on the way to me, in the mail... BTW, a postcard can be had, in appreciation of your offer...I'll email you for your address!
I've learned so much here...considering that on Saturday, I was pretty crabby with Rogers Cantel for the $250 unlocking fee...mostly because the reason I chose this Nokia was simply because it is a GSM phone, and I knew I'd be travelling with it.
Judy, I'll look for that Internet Train by the market, when I arrive...I'll need it for checking my e-mail and posting on my blog...(wave to me, as I go by, if you're cookin'!)
mahlon hale, welcome to Slowtrav! That's an interesting site...where did you find it?
beebee...thanks for the offer, I'm thinking with the snail mail I'm likely too late for your help ...see you in Florence!
See, I'm not very forward thinking like johneel, Tony, Stefanacio, Don...I didn't think to search the internet...thanks for the reminder!
Thanks for the heads-up, WillTravel...sounds like a scam to me! That's a whopper of a phone bill
Pauline, Doru, Gloria, Michael, Roz et al...wow! What a team...is there anything that the members on this wonderful site don't know? That's one of the reasons why I love Slowtrav...y'all have saved my bacon a few times in the last few months..molte grazie !
Anyone have information for George, looking to rent a phone in Rome?
Seen on a car being towed by a large motor home: "I go where I'm towed to." Brenda
Here's my two cents. I have a plan with T-Mobile. I was told after having their plan for 3 months I could get my phone unlocked. After three months called and explained I want to be able to use this phone with a sim card from Italy. They sent me an e-mail with directions on how to unlock the phone. There was not charge for this service.
George, if you have a Spanish cellphone it will work in Italy too. Check with your companies which are the reates for roaming calls, or get a SIM over here in Italy.
I broke down and bought a TIM SIM card for my quad band Motorola V400 yesterday. I bought it from Telestial as they were significantly cheaper than CellularAbroad. Telestial wants $49 for a card with 12 Euro of credit and Cellular wanted $69 for one with 5 Euro of credit. Both will register the card and provide detailed dialing and setup instructions. Refills are done the same in country.
Rates for the Telestial card are .50 Euro cents per minute for calls from Italy to home as read from the Telestial web site, but they are only .40 Euro as read from the CellularAbroad web site, which is quite odd as they are in effect the same carrier. Calls to landlines (Taxi’s!!!) are .12 Euro for Telestial and .10 Euro for CellularAbroad. Same card, different rates again.
Most important to us is being able to give our kids and my business partners our contact number (along with a dual time zone printout of the best times to have us actually answer the phone)
A few items I can pass on from my conversation with the folks at Telestial that may be of use to others. First, to determine if your phone is unlocked you can put the TIM SIM card, or another carriers card in the phone. If after power up the phone is “searching for network”, which of course it will never find, your phone is unlocked. If there is any type of SIM card message on power up, the phone is locked. The folks at TheTravelInsider are now unlocking phones. A trusted source for $25. By buying the card this early I can ensure the new phone is indeed unlocked, and if not have it done.
Another suggestion was to insure that English is the menu choice in your service setup. If it is set on your phone to auto, your phone will communicate in Italian upon power up upon landing.
I also saw Motorola trying to sell me an Italian Phrase book software download for my cell phone for just $4.99. I suppose if I had it on my phone, I could stand on the street corner of Rome or Florence, scroll through my cell phone for the correct word and look like I’m really hip rather than hold that yellow Fodors phrase book and look like the clueless tourist I am.
Topic Closed
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...one of the Slowtrav members e-mailed me privately and has sent her phone to me by express mail today...is that not the most generous thing? 
...see you in Florence!
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