First off there is no reason the customer cannot have a plan that covers anywhere. i have a plan that covers US, Canada, Mexico. There is no reason they couldn't have a plan available that doesn't cover more countries. The rate plans you see on the website are usually a fraction of the rate plans available through an agent or in a store. Take a look at the AT&T world rates online --- http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/affordable-world-packages.jsp and remember when you call you might have a few other options.

Remember of course that there are interconnect rates and so forth so even though Verizon/AT&T does or doesn't charge you for a certain call that the foreign phone company (Orange, Vodafone, ePlus) still doesn't charge Verizon. I'd bet that VZW/ATT gives very good rates to the government given the number of phones they will purchase.

But even so, if she had the $10/month plan for text messages you could have received the message within the 50 allotted texts available. It would be only the $10 charge.

But there are other options for keeping your bill down to prevent "bill shock". First, data is expensive (800MB = $200) so turn that off for roaming --- its a feature of most phones. WIFI is becoming pretty ubiquitous and its a great alternative. Maybe not free all over like in the US but there is enough free or inexpensive WIFI in Europe that it will save in the long run. If you have WIFI you probably then have access to Skype or Vonage or any number of other VOIP apps for your phone. This can save you mucho bux... not to mention access to web and email.

Second, it may be possible to purchase a pre-paid card for Europe. Phones like AT&T phones run on a similar network technology (GSM) so that I can take out my SIM, put in my SIM for Orange in the UK and have a different phone number for when i am traveling in Europe. People have to know i am in Europe and to call a different phone number but the rates against calling internationally are much less expensive. Remember that if my parents call my local +1-609 number it would get routed to me whereever I am in the world and I will be paying the bill for that.