Phoning Australia from Italy is very easy and cheap.  You buy a phone card that involves phoning a free call number and then punching in a long PIN number and then the number in Australia.  Before you are connected a voice tells you how many minutes you have remaining. The cost comes down to cents per minute.  There are many types of card but we usually ask for an Edicard Global.  You can buy €5.00, €10.00 or higher amounts

Remember for Australian numbers you have to phone 0061 then you drop the zero from the STD code or the mobile number e.g.  To phone 07 2345 6789 you phone 0061 7 2345 6789 and for a mobile number 0443 234 567 you phone 0061 443 234 567.  Of course to phone mobiles you get less minutes than phoning a fixed phone.

If you want to have access to the internet we have a Vodafone prepaid 3G USB modem.  This can give access to the internet for as little as €1.00 per day but it has to be paid in advance and if it is not used for some days it still costs €1.00 per day

Re global roaming. If you have an Australian phone and you phone a number in the country you are in e.g. Italy it does not cost much. Phone your provider (Telstra, Optus etc) and they will give you the rates.  They are usually about 50% higher than using you phone in Aostralia and for booking restaurants hotels etc it is nothing.  However if you phone Australia it is very expensive.  Also if you receive a phone, call the person phoning pays from their phone to Brisbane and you pay from Brisbane to Italy even to receive.  What we usually do is change the voicemail message on our phone to say we are away for x weeks and we can only be contacted by SMS or email.  Then if our phone rings we do not answer it and the caller received the message.

When you enter the country you have to change network and log on to one in that country.  Usually your phone will not do it automatically.  Your provider in Australia can give you a list of the best ones to use.  We are with Telstra and if we select Vodafone Italia as our network in Italy our SMSes never get through.  However with iWind or TIM there are no problems.  International SMSes cost a little more than in Australia but not much.