Cell Phones

Cell phones are ubiquitous in Italy and have been for many years.  For those who need or want to have a cell phone for the trip, you have a few options.

The two most common are to use your current phone and pay international roaming rates through your current carrier and plan, or to rent a cell phone.

In order for a cell phone to work in Europe, it must use the correct frequency, or GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) band.   Many U.S. based phones are compatible, but not all.  For example, my AT&T phone works in Europe, but my cousin's Verizon phone does not.

You can contact your plan provider to determine if your phone will work, and what their fees are for international roaming.  Links for the major providers are:

AT&T

Verizon

Sprint

T-Mobile

Another option is to rent a cell phone just for the trip.  I have done this in the past, before I had a compatible phone.  They mailed me a phone that arrived just before I left on the trip.  Along with the phone came a prepaid mailer that I could use to send it back after I returned.  There are lots of companies that offer this service, if you google "rent european cell phone" you'll come up plenty.  I used Planetfone in the past, but I haven't looked into this or compared costs in several years, so I don't know what the going rates are today.