2 Things Mr B, don't buy crap. Like all things you will get exactly what you pay for. For less that £30 you can get a Logitech unit which will serve him well and deliver decent quality. The resolution on the cheap ones is poor.
Get a couple of Skype phones while you're at it. This will allow him to call home as often as he wants for free. Seriously there is zero cost. I have a hour's conversation to Peru the other day and the quality was better than my land line. There is a bit of free software to install from here
http://www.skype.com but again simple stuff.
So basically, it's going to cost around £50 a computer to fit it with decent quality comms. Funny enough one of the many things these lads lack in aStan but then it was ever so. Crap kit is not new as you know Mr B.. ladies and gentlemen, I give you..................... the DMS boot.