Buying a mobile phone SIM card in Italy

Purchasing a prepaid SIM card in Italy is relatively easy. Although there is no facility for doing this for arriving passengers at Fiumicino Airport you can find TIM outlets all over the city and they offer a good deal on prepaid SIM cards. If you take a train into the city you can also find a TIM outlet on the upper level of Rome's Termini Station. The Italian government requires proof of identity when you buy a SIM card there and your passport will do the job.

Your prepaid SIM card will not work in France, you'll need to buy another card when you get there.

Simply slip your new SIM card into the slot in your iPhone and you're away. A paperclip is all you need to pop out your current SIM card since you've probably lost the drawer-release tool that comes with your iPhone, mine went years ago. Staff in the store will usually do this for you.

You will have a new number and your contacts are stored on your phone rather than on your current SIM, so they will be available when you switch to another SIM card. Same goes for messages, apps and any other information you have on your phone.

You can also install a new SIM card for your iPad, but it might be simpler to tether your iPad to your iPhone with the new SIM card installed. Go to Settings on your iPhone, find "Cellular", tap "Personal Hotspot" and you will get a code to link your two devices, which allows you to use your iPad to access the internet via your iPhone, exactly as if it had a SIM card installed. You could carry out this tethering process before you depart, the link is permanent until disengaged.