Depends what you mean by "good value", doesn't it - "good value" for one person could be "a right pain" for someone else.
"Good value" for me, which is what I'll be doing when I visit Italy in a couple of weeks, is to use my mobile. Absolutely zero hassle, just take it out of my pocket and press the same buttons I do when I'm back home. Cost? - not enough to worry about, therefore not a problem (I really won't notice a couple of pounds on the phone bill given the overall cost of a weekend in Italy).
If you have a different cost/hassle ration coming into your definition of "good value" you might end up with a desktop computer at each end wired into a broadband connection and then use some form of VOIP. Hassle factor enormous, if you're visting rather than living there, but the marginal cost of each call is then zero.