While on our travels we have been without phone service. To make calls we could have purchased a cell phone and the country chip, however, each country chip is 5o Euros and the phone prices start at 75 Euros. Then we would have had to purchase some time: 30 minutes for 30 Euros.
Instead we were introduced to SKYPE. For those of you who have heard of it: Why didn't you tell us about it earlier? SKYPE is wonderful! For 15 Euros we have spoken to everyone around the world we know at .02 cents a minute!
Check out SKYPE.com
We love it!