It's to my Knowledge that Skype and any type instant chat programs have been prohibited from military servers on all bases including Iraq or other AOR's.. and for cell phones the only one's I know of that work are the satalite linked and those are fairly expensive?

When I was deployed I used AT&T SamsClub calling cards and recharged my minutes with the 1-800 number on back of card and credit card over the phone.. In Kuwait it was a usage of about 10 minutes to 1 minute talk time charge. IE: 600 min card gave me 60 minutes talk time... soldiers are also given 1- 10 minute moral call a week (possibly more now) but those were free minutes and used DSN back home to local base to connect through to home?
As far as Laptop, Gateway's have always been my route for price and durability..

Hog