computer and iphone calendars...

Just got an iphone. I use ical on my mac to keep my calendar and want that and my iphone one to always be updated with each other without me having to do anything (sync manual, etc).

Whats the best way to do this for free?

Should I switch to google calendar? Is there a way to set it up so ical will update my iphone calendar and vice versa?

And the reason you don't want to use iCloud (which does exactly this) is ...