My first phone bill at school was over $200. At this rate they were gonna repossess my phone by the end of the year, but by using the Internet to talk to people, my next bill was about 3 dollars. You also may have the opportunity to check in on someone you might not usually talk to. Its like e-mail, but much quicker! There's a variety of services out there but I will cover the main ones

Your choice of device is up to you. For more information contact me with your questions or surf around the companies' pages for more info. They should provide downloading and installation instructions.