She will definitely not get charged if you call her from a US calling card (as long as she is in Italy). Though I am unfamiliar with specific good value US calling cards, you could also consider calling her via VoIP. There are a number of operators who do Italy Mobile for fairly decent rates. Voipcheap.com do it for around $0.15 per minute as far as I remember. You could download the software and top up a minimal amount onto an account. The whole thing only takes a few minutes to set up.

As for text messaging, it is strange that that is not working. It could be that the messaging centre number is not setup properly (though I doubt this). Is she including the full number including the area code? If she is writing the message and then selecting the recipient from the address book, for consistent results she should program her contacts with the full international code and preferably with the + sign at the front. (e.g. +1212....etc. for US numbers or +39347....etc. for her Italian friends... in that case on Vodafone/Omnitel)



Edit: apologies... crossed message with some duplicate info!

I suppose there will be some dialthrough operator with a landline number which she could access for 9c/min and pay a few more cents per minute more to call the USA. Dialnow comes to mind, but they have no Italian access numbers. I am sure someone else here will be able to suggest one though.

As for me calling her, I think I may pick up a international phone card and call her from my Tmobile cell phone. We no longer have a land-line at our home. She called me at five am this morning to tell me she got an internship and was excited. That call alone probably cost me 20.00 dollars USD. Ouch.

Sorry correcton. I just got off the phone with Tmobile and I get charged 34 cents USD per minute when I call her. That is not so bad. :)

One additional question. If my daughter can locate a WIND dialogua international card does she alternate this with her WIND9 card or is it a calling card that she uses while using her cell with the WIND9 sim in it? Sorry for so many questions but the next time I talk to her I want to provide her with as much info as I can. Thanks.

Dialoga International is a calling card you can use with any phone in Italy. From landline and Wind numbers it's cheaper. She could eventually find it at the train station (BTW where in Italy is she?)

You must have an international calling package on your account then. You need to make sure that that rate is to a mobile though and not a landline. If it's to mobiles, then it's okay. Check union telecard for calling cards. I specifically use Mega Clean and Purple to call internationally.

http://www.uniontelecard.com/

Dialing
 

She is in Milan and going to take classes at Bocconi. :) I told her how to message. I'll let you know if she has any further questions. Thanks again guys!:)

Ok, so tell her first to go to PIAZZA CORDUSIO number 2 (it's in the centre) at the main official Wind dealer and ask for the Wind Dialoga International cards there; I hope they should have them, but if they don't, tell her to go to the Stazione Centrale (central railway station) at the big newsstands and see there.

Dialing
 

Thanks Effendi! I will do just that! :) Just to be clear...does she alternate this with the Wind9 sim she is currently using or would she be replacing it with this.

Does that mean she has to tell everybody a new phone number. Sorry for so many questions but with all these different products it gets confusing.