We do have these amazing new things in Europe called "credit cards". (Though I would advise her to have some euros in her pocket before she arrives.) You are better off buying in Italy -- just figure out what you codice fiscale is ahead of time. Again, have a look at http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/italy.html

Any problems with sending or receiving SMS from Europe to the US rest with the US operators, who were very late in adding SMS and making it a viable inter-network option. However, I could have sworn my Italian one worked fine sending to the US. (IMO it can be a problem with too many people stateside who don't know how to respond to a text message. As you will soon discover, this is not an issue in Italy...)

LOL. Yeah, I figured she could potentially buy it with a credit card. The first two words she spoke as a baby were "charge it" but I was more worried about her finding a store to buy the right card in right at the airport. Now I just enabled international calling on her cell so in an emergency she can use that til she picks up a TIM or similar Italian sim card. I think I have all bases covered. Thanks for all your advice people!

Wind
 

Where might she find a place to buy the WIND or TIM card. She arrives at Malpensa and then is taking a train to her study abroad center.

Prepaid International Sim
 

Ok. I talked to my daughter about the various sim cards available and AdreA's comment that Wind may be the best choice but here is the deal. She wants one Sim card and one phone number. She doesn't like the idea of switching out sim cards when she visits say France or Spain. It looks like Vodafone is the only provider in the Malpensa airport. Does vodafone have a sim card that will allow her to call people when she is visiting France for example without paying astronomical roaming costs? Thanks in advance for your reply.

Well the dreams can't be true travelling a lot :lol:
Anyway she wants a one ITALIAN numberi, is it ok?

Vodafone has "Vodafone PAssport": http://www.190.it/engl/working/passport.html

Tim has an interesting promotion "Tim Senza Confini" (100 min for free for incoming calls in UE) and Wind has just applied the new "EuroTariff". So you know (almost) everything, remember that your daughter will have to pay always for international romaing ;-)

Wants, wants, wants. I used to sing a little ditty to my son when he got that way. You might remember it. It goes, "You don't always get what you want. You don't always get what you want, but if you try some time, you just might find, you get what you need." He hated that song.

There are two ways to work the international phone game: 1) easy 2) cheap. You can get cheap or easy. You don't get both. You want easy get a Mobal roaming SIM but it ain't cheap. The cheap side is what we're all about here. Our goal is to be able to find a way to call from anywhere to anywhere for free. Haven't found it yet but that doesn't stop us from looking.

The problem with cheap is that you have to accept a few complexities. If the user is not willing to accept those complexities, he/she can either do without or spend the money for the easy solution.

I love the Rolling Stones. Honestly, I think I am going to let her know what I found out from all you guys and girls and let her figure it out what to buy when she gets there. Mommy isn't going to be around to help her for the next four months. It's time that she figure out a few things on her own. If she goes prepaid, though, my credit card bill won't get racked up. Yay to that!

Hey, the Stones' "Streets of Love" was in a Vodafone Italia commercial when it came out. Hope this helps.