Visiting Italy, France, Spain and going on a cruise
 

Hello,
I have a question. I will be visiting Italy (8/14 days of the trip) and going to be in Spain for 3, France for 1, and cruising at sea for 1. I have an unlocked US Verizon Wireless Blackberry 8830 smartphone that I will NOT have Verizon service on.

What is my best option? I mainly want to be able to make a limited number of calls to Italian phone numbers, but wouldn't mind also being able to call my parents in the US a few times. I don't necessarily need to use the phone at all when I am in Spain, France, or cruising at sea, but it wouldn't hurt.

I am leaving the US on Sunday morning, so a (few) quick responses would be appreciated very much. THANKS!!!

Sunday!? Good luck. Probably your best bet would be to get a prepaid SIM when you first reach Europe (Italy?) The EU has capped intra-EU roaming rates, so it won't be too bad roaming. If your BB has WiFi you might consider getting a Boingo Mobile account. It allows WiFi roaming in many places in Europe for a fairly low fee. You can cancel it when you get home. Not sure if you can use VOIP (e.g. Fring) with a BB but you don't have much time to figure it out.

Agreed, way too late to order any card on the internet.
Take any EU SIM card as DRNewcomb recommended.
Tariffs are capped within the EU, see some info in this other thread: http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/euro...le-tariff.html

I did a very quick check. The BB 8830 seems to be quad-band GSM but does not mention WiFi. In any event, it is not supported by Boingo Mobile. So forget what I said about Boingo Mobile, unless you also have a WiFi device. If you call today you might be able to get a Tru or Telna SIM by Saturday but I wouldn't count on it. If you are arriving into Fiumicino, there are agents for TIM, Vodafone and "3" at the airport. Read through the Italian section to figure out which will work best for you overall. Since "3" requires UMTS-2100, I suggest you avoid them. Pay careful attention to the costs of roaming on cruise ships. You may want to learn how to disable your voicemail as calls that roll-through to voicemail may still cost quite a bit.