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Obvious free ones are:

Skype
Viber
Whatsapp
Signal
Telegram

These pretty much work on any device.   The most annoying one currently is Viber which has real difficulty understanding you might have more than one phone in more than one country.   Another annoyance is interoperability - Skype doesn't communicate to Viber and vice-versa (not to my knowledge anyway).  It's like the days of mobile phone systems without cross connect to other networks.  One upside is strong encryption unlike mobile phones (including GSM). Encryption on those was broken long ago.

Others people might include: Facebook Messenger and Facetime (Apple).  Neither of these I use so cannot comment other than some people swear by them.

Skype our son in the US but only perhaps once or twice a month.
I used to have a magicjack that my sister sent me, paid it up for a year as a gift but I never kept it up.
I actually thought it was great but the computer with a hard drive I was using died and I got a laptop that isn't as handy.
It was great because she put her US number in as a contact number so I could call everyone in the US for free online on either their landline or cell phone for just the annual fee for the magicjack.
I may look into that again at some point.
I actually do not like talking much on the phone for long, weird since I write long messages.
Like I said , "Old school" here. Only used the phone for a solid 10 to 15 mins growing up before my mom would just hang it up on us. 3 daughters in the house with just one phone... She had to have time limit rules. Never really broke that habit of short talks on the phone.
I do use e-mail to stay in touch, my family is busy most times and with the 6 to 9 hour time difference we would catch each other coming or going out. My good friend lives in Hawaii, 12 hours difference. One of us is either waking up or going to sleep.

Personally, e-mail and an is enough for me.

I have never really taken to mobile phones so I am very slow to adopt new technology. I have now (with a little help) got WhatsApp but my place in Croatia has very unreliable phone signals, so I mostly can't use it there. I also find the battery life on smart phones is very poor and half the time I forget to charge the damn thing.

I mostly use Facebook for those who are on it and email for everyone else. I have very few family members left and my brother pretty much lost interest in his own family when he got married, so I rarely hear from him. He told me he had some post to forward to me...that was about 2 years ago and I'm still waiting!

Yes, paying for a cell phone with international rates wouldn't be worth it for me either.
My younger bro never and I mean never writes anyone let alone makes a call. Not sure why is is so introverted, guess having 4 loud mouth sisters put him off of talking.
My close family is mostly gone too but I have found allot of cousins around lately.
E-mail only for now. Just got a letter from a second cousin in Poland I never knew of before, her mom is a first cousin of mine who also lives in Poland.
I may need to drive over and see them in person in the springtime.
My son writes
They do say no news is good news but he has his own odd code, can barely understand what he is trying to say in his 2 lines of communication.
All good, when my husband left HUngary in the early 70's it was letter and cards only, no phone calls to his mom in Hungary.
Later in the 90's I made him call her once a month.
I also had to remind him to write her before that and to send holiday cards to her.
Some people just are not into staying in contact even if they are thinking of you.
They do say no news is good news.

BTW, those with more than one EU phone can use their "home" plans in any other EU country now. From the hype, it seems like it's really brought call charges down.  However, the rules seem overly complex but then again I haven't really checked into it too hard.    Data is far more important to me than voice calls.

One thing that folks might like is being able to use an Internet connected phone  which operates like a normal handset.  Then it's just like a normal phone and you can have a "home country" phone number as well. It makes it much cheaper to call internationally as in most countries - basically the caller pays as they normally do (local/in-country call to them). And you are not charged for incoming calls.  Outgoing is slightly higher rate than one would expect.

The above is not Skype-IN but VoIP - see here   or .  Others exist. Downside is that you need an address in the country but it's not a serious barrier.

To use a real handset - e.g. a normal phone (like a wireless or cabled one) - you need an ATA - Analogue Telephone Adaptor.  This is basically a network device that you plug into your router on one side and the phone on the other.

That's what a magic jack device is , plugged into the computer and then was about to dial up any phone number in the US for just the one time annual fee to magic jack.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

That's what a magic jack device is , plugged into the computer and then was about to dial up any phone number in the US for just the one time annual fee to magic jack.

Oh right, never heard of that specific item but looks the same kind of thing.

There are lots of these things around. Vonage is one I think which better known in the USA.   

These things I am talking about - ATAs - plug into your Internet router. 

They work without the computer being attached.  Typical device:

I don't know Magic Jack specifically but many VoIP services gives you a local number in the USA.  Then if people call you, they don't know  where you are at all (apart from guessing/looking up the area code etc).  So you could choose a relevant local number in say Las Vegas or NYC. 

Interesting use would be to have two set ups - one in say Hungary with a US number and one in the US with a Hungarian number.  Then either party could call each other for the price of a local call.

I am now taking advantage of being able to use my uk mobile phone pay as you go contract for free in Hungary and I tend to do that when contacting other EEC  mobile numbers.
I have  a UPC contract in Hungary and I mainly use that for internet access and the web access when I am not in Budapest via my mobile phone. Like the majority of people I keep in touch via e mail, facebook and messenger and some of the other internet free contact services such as viber.
Because communications with friends and family is so good sometimes I feel very near to the uk and other family in other places. Even when I am at my country cottage in the forest I seem to have quite good internet contact via my mobile phone. So usually anyone can get me anytime. No such thing as getting away from it all anymore.

We usually talk like face to face through wechat videoing , thanks to high tech communication media. we would also send messages through other channel like email, QQ, wechat etc. It is really convenient and we don't have to worry about too much the fees because we can do it when there is wifi.

I mainly use whatsApp and facebook. They are convenient. The timing is a factor so i have to plan well.

whatsApp and facebook and google are blocked in Mainland China (i can only access them in my office). So although we registered an account in facebook we could not use them as convenient as you do. so we use local live chat software.

chenxinguo wrote:

whatsApp and facebook and google are blocked in Mainland China (i can only access them in my office). So although we registered an account in facebook we could not use them as convenient as you do. so we use local live chat software.

A private VPN might be possible from China to Hungary.