Calls to Eretz Yisroel on a special plan with AT&T (long distance, not wireless) = $2.50 (I think) for the first minute, $0.75 for each additional minute, and that was a bargain over the regular rates.
I remember reading in a Shmues'n Mit Kinder article about telephones how, nowadays, telephone technology is so advanced that for just $12 you can talk to Eretz Yisroel, and they let you talk for 4 minutes! (mind you, this is in 60s dollars...)