What does "international" mean to you?

Since Emily's boyfriend and many of her friends live in Colorado, I made a point of buying her a cell phone that included unlimited international text messaging. I even stipulated with the salesperson that it had to include the United States. (Some providers don't consider the States to be "international," but don't include it under domestic texting either. I guess it's kind of limbo.)

You can imagine my surprise when Emily's account was frozen because she had rung up a bill of $133.00! That's $33 over her spending cap, and about $100 more than I was expecting to pay for a month's service, and she's only had the phone for less than a week.

After a couple of hours on the phone with customer service and at the sales counter at the mall, I still got conflicting answers about whether or not the plan included texts to the United States. I was told to wait until I got the first bill and then bring it to the store to resolve the issue. (Apparently, even customer service can't see a detailed bill until it is automagically generated.)

So, until we get that all-important bill, Emily is text-deprived, which makes her so-o-o-o happy. And I'm not even sure it'll be resolved then, because the provider's own customer service reps can't seem to agree on what is or is not considered "international."

Grrr.