Note: Mobile plan prices and carrier offerings change frequently. Verify current plans before committing to anything.
One of the most pleasant surprises of moving to Italy is your cellulare (cell phone) bill. Americans are used to paying upwards of $80–$100 per month per line. Italian mobile plans are typically (in 2026) €5 to €15 per month. That includes data, calls, and texts.
Get Two SIMs, and Make Sure They Don’t Share Towers
I use Iliad and Vodafone (#NotSponsored). My husband uses Iliad and Ho, which is Vodafone’s lower-cost brand. We each have two carriers for the coverage. In rural Italy, and especially where we live in rural Sardinia, no single carrier covers everything. There are valleys, hillsides, and stretches of road where one carrier has signal and another doesn’t. Sometimes there is no signal on any of our lines for kilometers!
We also live in a land of frequent infrastructure blips. As I write this, Iliad has been on and off for days. And I mean off… not a few minutes. Entire days. Two SIMs (physical or eSIMs) from carriers that use different tower infrastructure means you almost always have signal from at least one of them.
Before you choose your two carriers, ask locals in your specific area which ones actually work there. Don’t just go by the coverage maps on carrier websites. Ask neighbors, your doctor, the grocery store worker, etc.
The Major Italian Carriers
The main players are TIM (Telecom Italia), Vodafone, WindTre, and Iliad. Poste Italiane also offers PosteMobile, which runs on WindTre’s network. They are all generally decent and reliable, and they are constantly competing aggressively. My mobile phone lines cost me less today with more GB of data than they cost me when I first moved here in 2018.
Getting a SIM is easy but you’ll need your codice fiscale and a valid ID. That means you might need to wait some months before you can get a phone line. This is where eSIMs might help, and I’ll talk more about those later in this article. Physical SIM cards are available in carrier stores, electronics stores like Unieuro, and even some supermarkets. eSIMs are available from carrier websites. Contracts are generally prepaid; I pay on the 20th of each month for the next month of service.
EU Roaming Is Free
This freaking rocks! Your Italian plan works in France, Germany, Spain, Greece, and everywhere else in the EU at no extra charge. When I arrive in an EU country, both of my carriers send a welcome SMS explaining what I’m charged for and what’s included in my plan. I always have enough included data, and don’t need to upgrade my plan or supplement with a temporary eSIM data plan.
For trips outside the EU, like when I used to visit the US or I’m speaking at a conference outside of Europe, my plan might offer me something, often as an upcharge. So I usually buy a temporary eSIM for the trip, often from Airalo (#NotSponsored) but any good one will work. Those normally don’t give you a phone number, but I don’t need one. I just need data.
What About Your American Phone Number?
Americans have a complicated relationship with their phone numbers. We hate to give them up! And while communications rely on SMS, we don’t want to lose our number. Many people then continue paying heaps of money monthly to AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile to have their American number in Europe.
Wacky story: in 2026, I was the only person to show up to the team conference call (of Americans). The leader started a group SMS about the call because she needed to cancel the call. She added my Italian mobile number. I never got the text. I can get texts from individuals, but evidently I can’t be part of a group text. Moving to the EU means we need to train our friends and clients a bit!
VoIP Apps for the Win
I started early. Before I left, I set up a free Google Voice (#NotSponsored) number in America. I told people to text or call me there. Replace my phone number now in your phone’s saved numbers! I worked to move my bank and other records to the Google Voice number. Another option is Burner App (#NotSponsored), which I also use.
You can port your US mobile number to Google Voice before or after you move. You’d then use your old number from Google’s app, without losing it. I did that for years, and gleefully stopped paying AT&T during the pandemic. Some apps can’t receive one-time passwords for logins, so try them out before you port your number!
In 2025, I nerded out, and had Claude build me a private, just-for-me Android app for my old US phone number, which I then ported to Twilio (#NotSponsored). I love having a toggle to turn off all calls! No more spam. And if I’m expecting a call on my old number, I can turn calls on with a toggle in my app.
Communication around Italy happens nearly 100% in WhatsApp, unfortunately, if you’re not a WhatsApp fan… or really in love with texting. There’s really no getting away from it. But at least you can use it anywhere you have data. Italians don’t text each other. They WhatsApp, even with businesses.
Start Planning Early!
Telecommunications and utilities are part of your pre- and post-move planning. Don’t forget to start looking at what kind of services you’ll need based on where you plan to move.
Contact me if I can help at all. The first call is free. Ci vediamo!