Electronic communications in Tibet & Nepal

I'm soon off to Tibet (Lhasa and trips out) and Nepal (Kathmandu and trekking) for 6 weeks, and would like to phone family in UK from time to time. I have a quad-band cellphone which should work, but my provider (O2) is going to charge £1.20/min to make any calls, local or to UK, and not much less to receive them. I can send texts free up to my allowance (at a 4 to 1 ratio), but I'm not great at texting. Can anyone advise:-
- What mobile coverage is like in Lhasa, KTM, and usual tourist spots

- If there are calling cards available (which? from where?) that would greatly reduce cost of calling home?

All advice gratefully received
Penpen

China Mobile is the more reliable than China Unicom in Tibet, having said that, both companies (two only available in Tibet) didn't have a very good coverage outside Lhasa except in the major towns (far apart) along the highway. It wouldn't be a very nice idea to buy the sim card in Tibet because of the complicated roaming charge (there are intra- and inter- provincial roaming), and also you will have to pay Y1000 to activate the international dialing service. You can use the Y1000 inside the card, but the first thing you do is to deposit this sum of money to your sim card if you want to dial any international calls.

i'm from Hong Kong and usually I just SMSed my family in Hong Kong and ask them to call me back.

Rates calling to China is very cheap. If you buy a SIM card in Lhasa, there're some plans that allow you to receive call for free, outside the Lhasa District (e.g. Shigatse), you'll have to pay the "intra-provincial roaming charge", with some promotional plan you can receive any calls for Y0.4 - Y0.6 /minute.

In Lhasa city, if your not on a digital leash, forget about getting a SIM card and just phone home from any IDD places all over the streets or just logon to an internet cafe and communicate using Skype. Besides, with the time zone difference, I doubt you'll be ringing home often enough. And outside Lhasa, forget about receiving mobile signals.

But if you must, I agree with Pazu's #2 post. Get the local card with free incoming and let them call you. If they can't find a good calling card, Skype Out rates are .021/minute USD.

Enjoy Tibet.