Cell Phone Service in Florence, Italy & Other Parts of Europe

Whenever I travel to Europe, I try to obtain local phone service, including Internet access for my smart phone. The costs are generally significantly less than roaming with a U.S. carrier.

Internet service on one's phone is now less important since most hotels in Italy offer WiFi service. However, smart phone Internet service away from one's hotel is still very useful for using Google maps for telephone GPS navigation, googling for restaurants, etc. (While smart phone GPS does not require an Internet connection, Google maps does. The off-line downloadable versions of Google maps only cover small areas. From my experience, free Android off-line GPS navigation apps are not yet as good as the on-line versions.)

In order to obtain local phone service, you need a world phone that has the European GSM frequencies. On my recent trip to Italy, I used my U.S. Samsung Galaxy S II.

The service I obtained in Florence, Italy was incredibly cheap. I found a prepaid deal with Wind, one of the main Italy cell-phone providers. For something like €20, I got an Italian sim card with an Italian phone number, and one month of service that included 150 minutes of local calls, 1 Gig of Internet service, and 150 local text messages. (The actual introductory monthly cost of the service is €9, but there was a cost for the Sim card and stores could not make a sale for less than €10.)

I purchased the Sim card and part of the service one day for €10 at the Music Center S.A.S. di Poggi e Pomerani store at Via Martelli 33R, one block north of the Duomo in Florence. I then had to wait overnight and activate the Internet part of the service the next day. I did that at the Porta Rossa Telefonia store at Via dei Tavolini 3/R. (I could have returned to the Music Center store to do that, but the other one was more convenient.)

The service worked beautifully for the 15 days I was in Italy - from Venice in the north to Amalfi in the south.

Additional minutes can be added to the service by purchasing additional time at phone stores, tobacco kiosks, etc.

The Music Center store I used to purchase the service also sells cell-phone service for Tim, another major Italian cell-phone service. There is another Music Center store across from the Duomo, but it does not sell cell-phone service.

The Wind service  I purchased is called "All Inclusive" (The name is in English). You can find an Italian-Language description of this service at http://www.wind.it/it/opzioni/pagina181.phtml
Clerks at the store may not speak English, but you could print out the web page at the URL above and show it to a clerk.

The Italian word for cell phone is telefonino.