International Calling Catastrophe

So today I tried to call my sister via her Italian cellular phone. First of all let me just get out there that Italian phone numbers, or international phone numbers in general, are completely obnoxious. They are like, 15 digits long and take forever to connect.
(Side note to the public: If you are listening to music and singing out loud when calling a foreign land, my advice to you is don't. Because you never know when the phone is going to be answered, ever.)
Anyway, once I finally get a ring, and or beeping as it appears to sometimes be, all of the sudden I hear the Italian version of that annoying Verizon lady talking 60 miles per minute. Yes, I know what you're thinking- "Liza you take Italian, so you must have gotten the basic idea." Well, turns out you are very wrong. I think I understood maybe three words of that whole schpiel. And after that whirlwind of words hit me there was about 5 minutes of silence. I decided I'd stay on the line just incase my sister's voice would grace the speaker at any moment. Instead a British woman attacked the phone line next. Apparently she was explaining what the Italian VZW woman spit out at me mere minutes before hand. Once she finished and I realized the phone call was no longer relevant, I hung up and decided to just instant message my sister. Atleast the internet won't fail me unlike the phone system.