Blow your mind time ..... using a wifi capable phone with no network card the various phone geeks have tweeked Google Voice, Google Dialer and Hangouts to allow the off-plan card-less phone to make and get totally free wifi only phone calls and texts.
Internet access for this is through an app based browser. Nothing works unless you have pretty good wifi at the location of course and are willing to go through some hoops to do it. Trick also works with modern Android tablets with a microphone and speaker .....
Trick also works with Tapatalk ($7) and Skype (?)--
and it also works on mike/speaker equipped Android tablets too.
Obviously the major carriers hate that the idea even exists and are trying hard to make it go away. The hackers are building an app to "do it all" integrated to the app, but you'd have to get the app off a torrent and sideload it as Google jest refuses to stick their finger in that light socket and they do still continue to refuse to touch their tongue to the school flag pole on any very very cold days.
(not being totally stupid you know)
Republic Wireless will let you do it though with full built in messaging and voicemail backup, for only $5 a month, which is cheaper than Tapatalk or Skype will let you use one of their numbers. Republic will even let you bring your own old phone number over for $40-$50 fee.
Yep, full voice & voicemail, text, and unlimited data (wifi only on all of these) for $5 a month -- legally. But only on their phones ..... which they sell at cost, BTW.
.... and as this change wave rolls along look to see even more options to go wireless on your phone.I am telling family members it is actually better than having a land-line phone and a message machine, which some of them still deal with. As you program in the wifi addys for all the places you go with the fixed passwords these places tend to use, then you have more and more instant service locations when making a call or getting a voicemail message.
S179 for a Moto G and swapping between $5-$10 a month for the plan, yeah I can deal with that.
How much do you spend a month for your cell phone?