Hello Dennis,
I am certainly not technically minded but have done the Camino a few times - not the Camino de la Plata but the much more common Camino de Franchese where keeping in touch with the family is not an issue at all. There are internet cafes in most of the places, even in smallish villages. I would think that your basic mobile phone will do, mine is an old Nokia on pay as you go and I use it everywhere. It's cheaper for you to take incoming calls than phoning to UK yourself. I wouldn't carry any extra gadgets for keeping in touch, you should be able to find an internet cafe at least a couple of times a week and perhaps it's a good idea to take headphones with you for skype calls? Then again as I said I have not done the Camino de la Plata which is more remote... Good luck and enjoy!

I'm hoping to walk the Via de la Plata, the Spanish Camino de Santiago de Compestelo, early next year and I wonder if any technically minded member can advise me what would be the best piece of equipment to take to enable me to keep in touch with family at home. The route, about 1,000km, is in quite remote parts of western Spain. north from Seville to Astorga and then west to Santiago, and I wonder if my basic mobile phone would be OK or would I need something more sophisticated. I will be backpacking, using refuges when available, so weight is important and re-charging could be a problem.
Any ideas please? Thanks.