Moving to Italy for 12m - best mobile options for young person?

vgranata

My daughter is moving in 2 weeks to Italy for 1 year to be an au pair. She current has a voda blackberry on contract which I pay for that is just up for renewal. Assume the obvious thing to do would be to get a new sim/deal in Italy but I am concerned ( she is just 18) that lack of any credit history or banks accounts will make this very difficult/impossible. Italian pay as you go? Is this possible for a blackberry? I want her to retain phone and ability to stay in touch via email from blackberry but this must be at a reasonable costs similiar to here I would hope ( will skype via pc for regular calls). Does anyone have any guidance/thoughts on good options to explore. Ideally I would continue to pay/underwrite but assume this would need to be some form of UK issued sim. Any thoughts welcome.

gyromain

For the last five I have owned a holiday home* in Italy. (* Actually it is a caravan - no mortgage and a lot cheaper.)

One of the best sites on explaining Italian mobiles is
www. prepaidgsm. net/en/italy.html

It is difficult/expensive to buy an Italian SIM outside Italy. With the Italian love of bureaucracy, I have needed my passport and my 'Codice Fiscale' to buy a SIM in Italy. Details of how to obtain a 'Codice Fiscale' are on the above website. The Vodafone website is available in English.

Sign up to Vodafone passport before you go to Italy, so the UK SIM can be used cheaper. Also unlock the phone to use an Italian SIM.

I have managed to keep a WIND PAYG SIM operational for 5 years just topping up by 10 Euros per year.

Gyromain