You can probably pick up a phone on eBay Germany or UK for $30. A prepaid PIN will be 10 Euro, and have 10 Euro value. Get this on eBay too.

In Europe, incoming calls are free, on almost all providers.

Another great service is www.jajah.com
They CONNECT the call via the internet, but then you dont need the internet anymore. Landline from Europe to any number in USA is about 3 cents per minute. Superb quality, much better than Skype.

Movil phone Europe to any number in USA is about 20 cents per minute, but still not nearly as bad as direct from movil to USA....

You can even have someone else connect the call for you, or set them up in advance, so that it automatically connect you to the person you want at a specific time...

Anyway, just a thought...