What phone network are you on?
You should get your phone opened up so any sim card will work. There are many cheap call sim cards out there. If you are on a phone contract then the phone is your phone as soon as you start a contract not at the end of the contract, you can open up your phone now.
I am on O2, if you text Philippines5 to the number 80282 you will get 35 minutes of call time for £5, you can also text Philippines 10 for £10 for more minutes, this is available on O2, the £5 will be added to your bill. I used to use this but sometimes the reception is not great.
If you both have smart phones then there are many apps that let you call and text. At the moment i use "Whatsapp" this is available on Apple and Android. You can both text all day and night for free if you both have this app on your phone. If does not matter if one of you is using Apple and the other Android, as long as you have the app.
Another app is "Viber" you can call and text on this as well, all for free. Skype and Yahoo work in the same way.
What i did was get WiFi fitted in the apartment for my wife at a cost of 1,300 peso a month, about £20 and you can use any apps with no other cost.
A notebook would solve all the problems with Wifi but i cheaper version is a second hand smart phone.
£100 a month is what i started out paying, now is it just the £20 wifi bill.
