Traveling to Italy from Canada with iPhones
 

My wife and I are heading over to Italy this Fall and would like to be able to use our (not jailbroken) iPhone 3G handsets there if possible. We'd mainly be needing the phones for local calls to each other and local text messages. Data would be handy if there was an affordable option available, but we'd be fine just using wifi spots for data. (Receiving calls from Canada could be handy, but could also be avoided if it would be too expensive.) Looking at our Canadian provider's "Traveling Abroad" info, it looks like their fees would be prohibitively high.

However, since iPhones are GSM phones with SIM cards, could an Italian TIM/WIND (or other company) SIM card be purchased and used in our phones instead of the Fido SIMs? (Or are iPhones somehow otherwise locked to not work outside their home countries?) And if we did use a local Italian SIM, would data usage be something we should watch out for/avoid, since we'd technically not be "roaming" there.

And is there anything else we should know or consider about this set up?

Thanks in advance!

Unless you unlock your iphone it won't accept SIM cards from other operators. Note that jailbreaking does not remove the SIMlock, but only removes restrictions of the internal file system, which hinder you from installing third-party apps etc.

So, are "jailbreaking" and "unlocking" two different things on an iPhone? I've heard about them but they are discussed so interchangeably that it's not totally clear.

You need to jailbreak to unlock, but jailbreaking does not involve unlocking. It just permits it, among other things.

As you alluded to, it will cost a whole lot to use your fido sim in Italy. My suggestion would be to just buy two basic phones when you get there. Or you can just buy them on ebay. Put your Italy sims in them and you are on your way.

On the original iPhone, you could insert a special SIM card holder that had some spoofing technology that would make your phone think that it still had an approved SIM in it, when it didn't. I'm not sure that there is a 3G version.