Sim Card Purchase in Venice

I am trying to find someone who has actually purchased a GSM Sim card
in Venice. Where and how much for said number of euro's credit
information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Rick

Garner wrote:

I am trying to find someone who has actually purchased a GSM Sim card
in Venice. Where and how much for said number of euro's credit
information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Rick


I will be interested in responses to your request. My kids are in
Lida/Venice with a GSM WorldPhone, and they do not have a signal on
their telephone. Either their phone is not working or they are not near
a tower. Bummer.

mcp6453 wrote:
I will be interested in responses to your request. My kids are in
Lida/Venice with a GSM WorldPhone, and they do not have a signal on
their telephone. Either their phone is not working or they are not
near a tower. Bummer.

I am quite sure that there is GSM-Coverage in Lido.
What kind of sim card do they have? Which phone?

lg Gernot

Garner wrote:
I am trying to find someone who has actually purchased a GSM Sim card
in Venice. Where and how much for said number of euro's credit
information would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/italia.html

--
Miernik _________________________
___________________/__ tel: +48888299997 __/
http://www.miernik.ctnet.pl/

"mcp6453" wrote in message
s.com...
Garner wrote:
I will be interested in responses to your request. My kids are in
Lida/Venice with a GSM WorldPhone, and they do not have a signal on
their telephone. Either their phone is not working or they are not near
a tower. Bummer.

Do they have T-Mobile US? Someone posted on the
alt.cellular.gsm.carriers.voicestream (a.k.a T-Mobile) group that he had
trouble roaming on any net in Italy. This is why you always want to have
your GSM phone *unlocked*; to be able to buy and use a local prepaid SIM.
Check out www.prepaidgsm.net

BTW. I am 100% sure that coverage in Venice is solid with all three Italian
GSM carriers. I'll guarantee they won't let Venice go uncovered. There's too
much roaming revenue there.

--
Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

I had an unlocked gsm with me in Feb., is T-mobile in the states but I
got an italy sim before i went via telestial.com...(it came with the
phone on a special promotion). my phone worked everywhere in italy.
Usually I plugged it in at night and left it on then, in case family
wanted to call me (9 hr time dirfference from home). 99c/min
outgoing, free incoming. (Much less than using t-mobile's int'l plan
at something like $1.99/min both ways). When I got back to the states
I just put my US sim chip back in the phone.

On Tue, 8 Jun 2004 21:23:55 -0500, "Donald Newcomb"
wrote:

Do they have T-Mobile US? Someone posted on the
alt.cellular.gsm.carriers.voicestream (a.k.a T-Mobile) group that he had
trouble roaming on any net in Italy. This is why you always want to have
your GSM phone *unlocked*; to be able to buy and use a local prepaid SIM.
Check out www.prepaidgsm.net

BTW. I am 100% sure that coverage in Venice is solid with all three Italian
GSM carriers. I'll guarantee they won't let Venice go uncovered. There's too
much roaming revenue there.

--
Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

"Carole Allen" wrote in message
...
I had an unlocked gsm with me in Feb., is T-mobile in the states but I
got an italy sim before i went via telestial.com...(it came with the
phone on a special promotion). my phone worked everywhere in italy.
Usually I plugged it in at night and left it on then, in case family
wanted to call me (9 hr time dirfference from home). 99c/min
outgoing, free incoming. (Much less than using t-mobile's int'l plan
at something like $1.99/min both ways). When I got back to the states
I just put my US sim chip back in the phone.

Companies like Telestial and Cellular Abroad provide a valuable service for
people who can not wait until they arrive to obtain a prepaid SIM. I won't
knock them. I recently sent a colleague to Cellular Abroad to get a SIM she
needed in hand when she arrived. HOWEVER, you do pay a huge premium for
their service. A SIM that costs about $20 in-country may cost $50 from these
companies. In most cases, there is no reason to pay this premium, since
getting the SIM in-country will be quick and easy.

Also, had you known how to use a callback service you could have reduced the
price of those calls home from 99c/min to about 35c/min. BTW, T-Mobile's
WorldClass rates in Italy are 99c/min. Incoming calls with foreign prepaids
are not "free". Someone does pay. In that case the cost is shifted to the
person who calls you. You will find that US long distance companies now add
a surcharge of 10c to 25c per min for calls to foreign cellular phones.

--
Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

I agree buying the sim here is generally more, but i was replacing my
old outdated phone and the italy sim was part of the deal (trust me,
I checked prices and other carriers extensively beforepurchasing), and
I was going to italy a few months hence, so essentially i got the sim
for free. I actually only made one call home, just to test out the
connection. yes, those who called me did pay from the US end. (They
only called twice to confirm i was still alive, LOL.) But I was gone
for a whole month, without reservations except for the first several
nights, traveling alone and pretty free-form via train and bus, and
family had no way to reach me in an emergency except when I hit an
internet cafe to send a message home advising where I was. so it was
handy to be able to leave the number with family before I left. And
of course I use the phone here at home now.


On Tue, 8 Jun 2004 22:49:03 -0500, "Donald Newcomb"
wrote:


"Carole Allen" wrote in message
...
I had an unlocked gsm with me in Feb., is T-mobile in the states but I
got an italy sim before i went via telestial.com...(it came with the
phone on a special promotion). my phone worked everywhere in italy.
Usually I plugged it in at night and left it on then, in case family
wanted to call me (9 hr time dirfference from home). 99c/min
outgoing, free incoming. (Much less than using t-mobile's int'l plan
at something like $1.99/min both ways). When I got back to the states
I just put my US sim chip back in the phone.

Companies like Telestial and Cellular Abroad provide a valuable service for
people who can not wait until they arrive to obtain a prepaid SIM. I won't
knock them. I recently sent a colleague to Cellular Abroad to get a SIM she
needed in hand when she arrived. HOWEVER, you do pay a huge premium for
their service. A SIM that costs about $20 in-country may cost $50 from these
companies. In most cases, there is no reason to pay this premium, since
getting the SIM in-country will be quick and easy.

Also, had you known how to use a callback service you could have reduced the
price of those calls home from 99c/min to about 35c/min. BTW, T-Mobile's
WorldClass rates in Italy are 99c/min. Incoming calls with foreign prepaids
are not "free". Someone does pay. In that case the cost is shifted to the
person who calls you. You will find that US long distance companies now add
a surcharge of 10c to 25c per min for calls to foreign cellular phones.

--
Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

"Donald Newcomb" wandered out of a yurt
and mumbled:

BTW. I am 100% sure that coverage in Venice is solid with all three Italian
GSM carriers. I'll guarantee they won't let Venice go uncovered. There's too
much roaming revenue there.

I was in Venice last week and can report that T-Mobile roaming
coverage is fine there. By the way it's 99 cents per minute, not
$1.99.


--
"Music is, after all, a highly complex form of mathmatical
encryption. It's so powerful that in modulates human
emotion on soundwaves." Mike Spence

Donald Newcomb wrote:

"Carole Allen" wrote in message
...
I had an unlocked gsm with me in Feb., is T-mobile in the states but I
got an italy sim before i went via telestial.com...(it came with the
phone on a special promotion). my phone worked everywhere in italy.
Usually I plugged it in at night and left it on then, in case family
wanted to call me (9 hr time dirfference from home). 99c/min
outgoing, free incoming. (Much less than using t-mobile's int'l plan
at something like $1.99/min both ways). When I got back to the states
I just put my US sim chip back in the phone.

Companies like Telestial and Cellular Abroad provide a valuable service for
people who can not wait until they arrive to obtain a prepaid SIM. I won't
knock them. I recently sent a colleague to Cellular Abroad to get a SIM she
needed in hand when she arrived. HOWEVER, you do pay a huge premium for
their service. A SIM that costs about $20 in-country may cost $50 from these
companies. In most cases, there is no reason to pay this premium, since
getting the SIM in-country will be quick and easy.

Also, had you known how to use a callback service you could have reduced the
price of those calls home from 99c/min to about 35c/min. BTW, T-Mobile's
WorldClass rates in Italy are 99c/min. Incoming calls with foreign prepaids
are not "free". Someone does pay. In that case the cost is shifted to the
person who calls you. You will find that US long distance companies now add
a surcharge of 10c to 25c per min for calls to foreign cellular phones.

My kids have a Motorola world phone that has worked before in the UK and
France. The problem is that they do not have a signal. We are positive
that this phone works on the European frequencies. There must be
something wrong with the phone.

What is the probability of locating a cheap phone in Lido to purchase
that the store can try our SIM card to see if it works? How much should
we expect to pay?