Just wanted to be sure I've read all the info on this site correctly. I'll be in Italy for 12 days (on this trip I'm leading a group of students). I have an unlocked tri-band phone. I will be using the phone mostly to call back to the states, receive calls from the states and possibly for brief local calls. So, I can buy a Wind SIM card at the airport (flying into Rome), pop it in and I'm good to go? Will my phone be charged for incoming calls (especially from the states)? I know that's not the cheapest way for folks to reach me there but I'm sure the students' parents will be calling! Also, what's the cheapest way for me to call the states? Thanks!

You can pickup calling cards around italy but rumor has it that that some companys have seen the numbers and blocked them from being accessed also make sure if you get one it has a local access number it makes it much cheaper then to call a premium access number you might be better off since the parents will be calling maybe using a low cost voip service such as stanaphone and get a whole ton of credit so they would only have to call new york instead of italy

My opinion.....

You will or may have a SLIGHT logistical problem. I don't think you can ask all the parents to do some of these things -- like setting up callbackworld accounts. SURELY, if they will work, they can buy their kids calling cards.

1. Not sure the Italians allow cell phones to call TOLL FREE ITALIAN #s. Our Italian friends would need to answer that.

2. ATT and MCI, among other providers, have set up toll free #s in just about every country in the world. Using and ATT or MCI calling card, you can thus call from just about anywhere to anywhere else. If the hotels where you stay allow FREE outbound toll free calls, the cards should work.

3. If that does not work, I know for a fact that ENJOYPREPAID [ww.enjoyprepaid.comm] and various calling cards [www.cloncom.com] [connect rechargable] have set up LOCAL #s in some countries, including Italy. The rates are farily reasonable. NOTE: you will be charged for the long distance call ITALY to US as well as any time on the cell phone for the cell call to the local Italian #. It is also possible to dial this say from a payphone (note payphone surcharges) and any landline phone (note, the hotel may charge you for the local call. Toll FREE rates are HIGHER than local rates.

4. IF you have access to a fixed land line and a PC, an account with callbackworld might be possible. Rates Italy to US are 9 cents per minute.

5. There should be ITALIAN calling cards available. Again, our Italian friends should be of more help than me.

Have a great trip!

Stan

I forgot to mention....

Both the parents AND kids can use the "calling card". They will of course be asked to ENTER the PIN. Parents just need to write down the PIN and access #s and remember them.

Stan

Sorry guys, but your posts seem extremely complicated to me. :o

My understanding is that the question was much much simpler: ncbelle is coming with 30 or so teenagers and just wanted to know if he/she can stay connected to the outside world on the school trip. The answer is yes.

You should have 5 euros on your card when you buy it. Incoming calls will not be charged while you are in Italy, and while it's true that phone calls to mobile numbers in Italy are more expensive than calls to fixed numbers (even calling from the states), I think I understand taht this should not be a problem for you: the parents calling you can then call directly their children at the hotel, right?

I am not sure you can buy the sim card at the Rome airport, though. Another problem you might have is to buy the sim card without the "Codice Fiscale" which is supposed to be required. In the worst case scenario, I know for sure that the Vodafone shop in central rome (via del corso) will sell you a sim without Codice Fiscale (they just insert a fiscal code that they obtain through a software).

Otherwise, you could seek the help of Andrea and Effendi

Thanks for the help so far. The parents will likely call their children at the hotel or the kids will use phone cards but I need the kids to be able to reach me during the day - thus the need for a cell phone. It's more of an emergency type thing and peace of mind for the parents.

Right, you get the cell phone. The kids get cards that go in Italian pay phones so they can call you. If I recall, just like in the USA, pay phones are not as common in Italy as they used to be (a side effect of all these cell phones). But they are still more common than in the US.

There are still quite a lot of public phones by Telecom Italia (and a few by Wind, if they still exist), so it shouldn't be a problem to find one. Rates to mobiles are quite high, but just for emergency it's not a problem.

If Ncbelle needs a Wind card in advance and with no problems just see the thread linked by Sec.