Right the very cheapest way to send texts to your friend overseas is to provide her with an British O2 SIM.  Because it's a British SIM, she'd be classed as Roaming when using it in Italy but it's free to receive texts whilst Roaming and also free to receive photos. You text her from your UK O2 SIM to her UK O2 SIM and it will cost you the same as if she was using that British SIM on British soil.  She must NEVER use her O2 SIM to send you a text though, that will cost more than using her Italian SIM. It's making & receiving calls that cost a lot whilst Roaming!  Also, if you got her to send you a Italian SIM from the network she uses (3 well-known Italian networks are TIM, WIND & Vodafone Italy), then she can text you as cheaply as she would if you lived in the same country.  Just remember NEVER to call her on her British SIM and she must NEVER call you on your Italian SIM. Don't use the SIM for the other country for anything other than reciving texts and MMS picture messages if you want to do that. It would possibly be more convenient to also have a  handset to go with each of these SIMs - especially if you are going to use picture messaging but like our other correspondent (dean1978) suggested, maybe pictures are better transmitted by e-mail!  A phone, even when unlocked, needs the picture messaging settings for the network of the SIM it contains - this could prove fiddly if you've only got one handset each. If you just stick to texting, then you can both slip the SIM from the overseas network into your phone from time to time to check for messages from each other. O2 often give away free SIMs on the Internet. Ensure your mobile phone are both unlocked to take SIMs from other networks and the SIMs you send each other are set up for Roaming.