banking and phone ?'s from student studying in ROME for 4 months

Get out phonebook and call a few Atlanta banks/credit unions and ask. Switch your business if necessary. From what others have said, I think the big banks have fees, so check the more local ones: Dekalb County Teachers Credit Union (if there is such a thing), for example. Neither of the ATM cards we carry charges anything. What will be true for Italy will be true for other countries.

On the phone, I'd wait and see what the other kids have, especially those who have been there a little longer. There are phone stores all over the place, just like here.

Check with Capital One Bank. I use their credit card when overseas because they don't charge a foreign transaction fee. As far as the phone, I would purchase a prepaid phone once over there, because any phone calls and texts on a U.S. based phone will be charged international roaming, plus international long distance (for all incoming and outgoing calls and text messages), plus the data charges for a smart phone will be astronomical. It will be EXTREMELY expensive to use a U.S. based phone for that period of time, potentially thousands of dollars. I have used my iPhone for calls, and data over there (with international roaming and data plans) and usually have a $700 bill waiting for me when I get back for just 3 weeks of very modest use.

Our son spent a semester in Madrid so my comments are based on that experience. As pointed out earlier credit unions do not normally add a currency conversion fee to debit card withdraw. I am almost positive that his university will have a credit union. HOWEVER, make sure your name is on that account so you can discuss it with an account representative should a problem develop. About a month after our son arrived in Spain his ATM went dead for minor,technical problem. When we tried to resolve the problem the credit union would not speak with us because we were not authorized on the account. Finally after much begging and pleading we got the response, "I really shouldn't do this, but ..."

We also had his access codes and passwords to his credit/debit cards so we could watch for unusual activity -- never had a problem. Kept his debit card account balance less than $2000. When the balance dipped below about $700 we would transfer another 1000 in. The idea was if that debit card was compromised there would be a min amount of cash available to steal. But, again, no problems. That was probably overkill on our part.

As for the phone, he purchased something locally. With a local LD calling card it was fairly economical for him to call home. However, we found that ATT had a long distance calling package for Spain that was even cheaper. So check your local phone company. We set up a pattern for calling. He was out of class most afternoons from 3 PM on so we would try to call in that time period. Second, if he needed to reach us he would call but then we would immediately return his call after we answered and realize the call was from him. It was always cheaper for us to call him.

linda,
See http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Credit/Debit/ATM_Cards_and_Foreign_Exchange

Steve, there are no foreign ATMs charges to refund. I thought you would have known that from you extensive travel experience.

Steve, I know you like to cover your responses by always hedging your answers. But the common advice has always to avoid anything other than a standard ATM associated with a bank. I am sure you can find a private, standalone ATMs somewhere that charges all kinds of extra fees. The bank associated ATMs in Europe do not charge the user fee which is common in the US. I am curious, does Schwab refund the US user fee?

"More and more ATMs are appearing in Europe that are not connected to banks"

Is this like "More and more ATMs are appearing in American convenience stores that are not connected to banks"?

I'm in europe so much I'm pushing Schengen most of the time and have only seen a couple of things that might be one of those. There are three bank ATMs on every corner and one in the middle of most blocks. You can tell they're bank ATMs on account of the fact that they're built into the wall of a BANK and say something like Credit Suisse, Credit Lyonnais, HSBC, or something.

I can only guess that these strange ATMs are in pool halls or something. Therefore I shall pass on a Schwab super-card.

Ed -- I'm jealous.

Linda -- If you are eligible for a USAA Visa card they have lots of other perks for Americans overseas (the USAA organization takes care of us when we end up in tight spots - like when I lost my wallet on a domestic trip - I had registered all my bank cards with USAA, and they called my other issuers for me, and arranged for me to pick up cash at a local bank to finish my trip). To get one you need to be a veteran or a child of a veteran, or other connection, but worth exploring as I had heard they were opening up membership to non-veterans for certain services.

I did have a bizarro ATM experience -- Prague train station in 2003. Learned of it upon my return to the US and reviewing my credit card statement. I had been charged a "Tourism Fee" by the ATM of about $20. USAA refunded it. I don't recall anything unusual about the ATM -- it was not in the wall of a bank, it was a free-standing ATM in the train station (Holjecovice station).

linda,

"Bringing a Blackberry to use for BBM'ing - but need best way to talk to someone! Thanks!"

You might want to check with your cell network provider regarding using the for "BBM'ing" in Europe. If that function accesses the net, the roaming charges could be horrendous! Using that function with WiFi is the best option (but of course that limits you to using it only when in the vicinity of a WiFi network). It would be a good idea to disable the data portion of your Blackberry while you're in Rome.

Most economical way to communicate with other students while in Rome for 4 months....

You might consider getting your Blackberry unlocked and buy an inexpensive PAYG SIM card when you arrive in Rome. If you choose this method, be sure to check your Blackberry to ensure that it's a quad-band model (which cell network are you with?).

Also, check the Charger for your phone to determine whether it's designed for operation on 220 VAC electrical systems (a Plug Adaptor will be needed regardless).

Cheers!

I agree with Steve - we got our daughter the Schwab card to take with her for her 1 year in Europe. I use it to travel ANYwhere - including the states as there are no ATM charges by Schwab and they will refund the charges that are made by the other banks. No, I have never had a European bank charge me for withdrawl, but Schwab will refund the charges from the bank in the U.S. airport, down the street, etc. Each month I get somewhere between $6 and $10 back from Schwab to cover my withdrawls at other banks.

They also do not charge a foreign transaction fee, the account is free to open, free checks, etc.

And my daughter purchased a European cellphone (unlocked GSM) with a french sim card for approx. $100 when she landed. She used this to make very brief outgoing calls - as I understand it only the person making the call is charged minutes, not the person receiving. She refilled it a few times during the year she was there. It was easy and pretty cheap. But even the other students used Skype to talk to each other when they were not actually on the go.