Phones

PHONES

Getting a local "Pay As You Go" Italian phone is a great and inexpensive way to be reachable while abroad.

You can get an inexpensive flip phone just for talking and texting, or a SIM card that will go into your personal phone providing you with a local number and data plan. Make sure that your personal phone is unlocked otherwise the Italian SIM card won't work.

WHERE TO GET A PHONE

When you go to get a phone you will need your passport with you.

Italian Phone Company rates vary all the time but are definitely cheaper than U.S. mobile companies. You can get a plan with data (1GB), phone calls (500minutes) and 500 texts for less than 15 Euros a month. Often times there is an activation fee.

Many companies offer free calls between people with the same plan, so you may want to join a company that your friends are on so that you can call one another at a discounted rate.

here are several companies in Italy, I suggest you to check the web sites of the three main ones before going to the store:

VODAFONE

Vodafone Store: Via degli Aranci 66/68, Sorrento.

TIM

Tim Store: Corso Italia 32, Sorrento. The staff at TIM store speaks English :)

WIND

RE-FILLING YOUR ACCOUNT

If you burn through your allotted minutes, you'll need to put more money on your phone. This can be done online, at the company's stores or more easily - at any supermarket, convenience store or TABACCHI store! Give them 20€ and your phone number and wait for a few seconds and you'll get a text telling you that 20€ has been added to your account.

CALLING INTERNATIONALLY

You'll find that calling internationally can be very expensive. We recommend putting some money on a skype account which you can then use to call landlines and cell phones in the states. Google Talk also has similar plans. Textem.net is a great website for sending oneway text messages too. For free texting and calling, download Whatsapp or Viber on your smartphone.

ROAMING

As of 6/15/2017, the European Union has established a new law called "Roam like at Home" meaning if you have an Italian or other existing European contract, you will have the same charges that you have in other European nations. This goes for calls, SMS, and data use. Learn more here.

NOT ON A DATA PLAN?

Many students decide to forgo having a data plan while they are here and rely on wifi to connect to the internet. While wifi in Italy is often not as fast as in other countries, there are more places every year offering free wifi services. Try local coffee shops, restaurants and cafes to connect when you need to.

Did you know that you can also download maps before you leave the house and make them available offline?

TRICKS FOR SAVING MONEY

You'll find that just making a call will take money from your credit, but there are ways to get around tricky payments:

• Hang up before the voice mail picks up, and you won't be charged for the call.
• Similarly, use "missed calls" by calling someone and letting it ring twice and then hang up. Between friends this can be used as a code, such as "I'll send you a missed call when I get to the metro stop." Your phone rings twice to let you know they are there, but it won't charge either of your phones if no one has picked up.
• Receiving calls is ALWAYS free, so let people call you. Your parents can call your Italian cell phone from the States and it is free for you, but will charge them their international calling rates. Calling from skype to a cell phone in Italy is about 3 cents a minute.
• Only download things or upload photos when you're on wifi. Your phone will use up any data plan you have by trying to find signal when you're walking around, so turn off the data signal when you don't need it.
• Don't use your phone when traveling outside of Italy, unless on wifi. You can download maps to be available offline, and whenever you are at your hotel or a café you can use skype to call friends or use the wifi to upload your latest photos. Most phone companies will charge you 3 Euros a day for phone usage outside of Italy (in the EU).

WHY GET AN ITALIAN PHONE NUMBER?

1. Itʼs cheaper. Many Italian phones are pay as you go. Calling other Italian phones will be inexpensive and all incoming calls are free.

2. Itʼs less of a hassle. You donʼt have to go through the trouble of unlocking your smartphone or trying to contact your provider back home

3. Easy to reload. You can preload money onto your phone. You can add money online, in the store or in most grocery stores, tobacconists and newspaper stands!

4. Less of a threat of being stolen. You donʼt have to carry your smartphone on you all the time.

5. Itʼs easy to contact friends, host families, and staff.

6. It's makes things easier to make local friends.

7. If you decide to go without a data plan you'll learn to step away some your social media for awhile and enjoy whatʼs around you! You'll also learn to navigate on your own!