[Berliner Baer]

And if you don't have a computer around for Skype, you can still make international calls with those local prepaid-SIMs at the price of calling a local landline with services like rebtel.com (or similar), if you travel to countries covered by them.

Rebtel basically runs local call-in numbers in a bunch of countries and then connects people for free (how-to: the called party has to hang up and call right back at the local number shown. The caller has to hold the line until the call is connected again).

Another advantage might be for you: If your cellphone number changes in another country to a different prepaid-SIM, you simply change that number in your rebtel-account and your buddies abroad will still reach you under the same local Rebtel-number you gave them.

Yeah, it might sound confusing at first, but it's not. And this callback-system is free anyhow, so worth a try perhaps.

I used this until a few months ago extensively and it worked great. Saved us a ton of money, as my GF had no computer-access and intl. cellphone-to-cellphone sadly costs a fortune between Germany and Switzerland.