I received my Telestial (A55) last week and while I couldn't make any calls, I was able to set the time and put numbers that I may need (bank, credit card, home, ...) in the contact list.

I'm thinking of the $49 Telestial or Mobal.
I plan to use it in Italy next month after France ,Germany and Switzerland next June.
Do these have chargers for the US and an adaptor for EU electrical outlets?

On my AT&T (formerly Cingular) phone, I've found that I can receive/send text messages with no extra charges in Europe. So, if there's an emergency, my family sends me a text message and then I call them back using a phone card.

We used our Cingular phones this summer in France. It was free to receive texts, but cost .50 to send one from over there. We added the international plan to our lines for the time we were there, and had no trouble using our phones. The only things we did were make dinner reservations, and then text home to let family know we arrived ok.

FYI thought you might like to know that for the past 2 years, my daughter and I have taken our cell phones to Germany for Christmas. We were both able to text my older daughter in the States without any extra charges!! We couldn't believe it and probably wouldn't have tried it, but my older daughter texted us and we got it!! We are planning to take them with us again and text some more.

Yes the telestial phone comes with the charger and plug adaptor ....

annebarber, what carrier do you use? Last month, my boys spent about $400 in a week of texting on T-Mobile (35¢ outgoing, free incoming).