International Cellular Devices

I am a techy girl! I LOVE my gadgets! So a cell phone was one of the first things I did when I got here.

Before we left NY I inquired about an iphone and all this nonsense. Well since Verizon's iphone works on the wrong network it wasn't worth the switch. So I got the global plan on my blackberry. I love my blackberry when it wants to work. I knew the bill would be rather high. I didn't mind, since I need a local number for my family.

When I got here I inquired about getting a european Iphone 4. It was like 55 Euro a month ($91) for 30 months and that was everything I needed/wanted. Well turns out how they actually work it, is for the 30 months you are paying for the phone itself. Almost $1000. OMG!

My blackberry was free. I am not a pay-for-this-phone kind of girl.

Over here most all phones are prepaid. The iphone is a contract because of how much it costs.

There are 3 services here that I know of. WIND, VODAPHONE, and TIM. Most everyone here has wind. So we went with wind. That way all the calling between them was free.

You also don't pay by month, you pay by week. You can put 25 Euro on your account and they'll just pull the weekly fee off. It's 1 euro a week for 1000 texts, 2 euro for 250 minutes a week. and 9 euro a month for unlimited internet.

Phones start off at 29 Euro (which reminds me of my first cell phone ever) and go up from there.

I went with a 79 euro phone ($112.45). It looks alot like a blackberry curve. I get it all started up. And it has email, internet, twitter and facebook on it. I love it! It's not the cheapest of the cheap but its not over the top.

Plus who am i going to call anyway? At first I didn't know anyone. And everyone from the 'brigade' here at hell-tel all got wind too, so I'm pretty much set. So for 21 euro a month (LESS THEN $30) I get my unlimited internet and all the calling I need.

Cell phones are much cheaper here then the states. Now to call the states from your cell is possibly. I have! For about 5 minutes of talk, its 3 euro. Pretty much $1 a minute. ALL incoming calls to your cell are free. You can be out of euro and still get calls.

Also when you get a home phone, you can call the states UNLIMITED for 10euro a month, but it costs to call within Italy. So use your cell for country calls and your home phone for state calling and you'll be in the clear and all for less then 40euro a month.