One important caveat folks: you are dealing with a techno impaired person here, so please be patient and explain in the very simplest terms possible.

It looks like I will be needing to be in frequent contact from the US with a friend in Italy. But it would be very important if a third party (maybe even 4th), also here but in a different part of the US, could be part of the conversation.

What/how could we use to do simultaneous 3 or more party communication (or whatever it would be called) that wouldn't cost a fortune for all parties involved.

thanks

The cheapest option is probably Skype, assuming you all have access to computers and reasonably fast connections. Here is the Skype page that tells you how to get started. The section on conference calls is what you want for 3 or more people on one conversatiion.

- Roz