...again I don't remember if this were done or tried...

It's a nokia phone, right.

On the menu go to phone settings and find the network selection key...change automatic to manual...you will find several different networks listed...chose WIND or choose TIM....that might be a simple solution to the problem.

I'll have them try a differant operator. I had used the phone in the US before leaving, just to have them check it out. They were able to dial fine, and got the call back in seconds. So, one, I think they can try the differant dialing solutions, and two, I don't think the phone SIM card got an update that killed it. Unless, it got an update in Europe

The 8890 is 900 & 1900. Might that have anything to do with it? Certainly 900 is very common in IT, no?

Probably not...when roaming the phone seeks out a carrier it can register on and it will seek out and find a carrier that is operating on 900 where the person is. I think in most areas of Italy there is at least one carrier using 900.....

minimum 2, often 3 :D

Tim and Vodafone have a complete 900Mhz coverage and Wind has 900Mhz almost everywhere (but only E-GSM in 12 biggest cities).

Tivoboy if you can't solve this issue in Italy we have a lot of SonyEricsson or Siemens (really good with UM) under 50?

Isn't E-GSM 900 MHz but just a bit extended off the original 900 MHz band? I thought that almost all 900 MHz phones made in the last 10 years covered the E-GSM band.

I don't think so. I remember long discussions about that on newsgroup and forums with a lot of handsets without EGSM capability :unsure: