[pacemkr]

The ridiculous state of wireless data (tethering, sms) has finally driven me to get rid of my smartphone. Well done AT&T/Verizon.

I am:

* Porting my number to Google Voice.

* Getting a voip "landline."

* Getting a new number with the cheapest possible wireless plan + dumbphone. Sprint still not evil?

* Routing my calls using Google Voice to the landline/dumbphone, depending on where I am.

Frankly, I'm sick of paying $120/mo and getting fucked around every corner. I dont NEED this you know; the non-phone part of this phone is a convenience, not a necessity.

I'll let the market/regulators figure this out. In the meantime, I'll be fine not checking my email every five minutes and staring at yet another screen when I'm not in the house/office.

If anybody has recommendations re: my plan of action, I'm all ears.

[runjake]

I don't have any recommendations for you, but here's my plan of action.

I have been monitoring my usage for the past year. I have an iPhone. I've slowly been weaning myself from my emotional attachment to it. Much exposure to WP7 and decent Android phones has helped tremendously. I use an average of 150 voice minutes a month, 20 texts, and ~170mb of data (although most of it is me diddling around, checking Google Reader, FB & Twitter, my device checking and downloading emails and notifications when I'm not near wifi). I'm always within wifi at work and home.

I'm going to start by getting a T-Mobile Pay As You Go SIM. If I can port my # to the SIM, great. If not, I'll port it to my Google Voice account. If I actually need data on the go, in a pinch, I can grab a Web Day Pass for $1.50. But for 11/12's of a day, I'm around wi-fi and so I'll get all my blessed Twitter/FB/G+/GTalk notifications.

I figure 2000 to 2500 prepaid minutes, costing me $200-$250 over the course of a year, should cover my voice and texting for a year. In actuality, I'm lazy at work and often don't use my desk phone, so I expect my wireless minutes usage to plummet. I should see savings of at least $650 a year from what I pay on AT&T.

If this all fails, I will probably look towards the $30 or $50 Monthly4G prepaid plans on T-Mobile (http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans) and go from there. Even if I went the $50 route, I'd still save $300 yearly.

The straw that broke the camel's back happened before today's txt plan news, but it's just becoming harder and harder to participate as the victim in this swindle.

[runjake]

To update my comment:

1.) You can port a number into a T-Mobile To Go prepaid account. However, if you go to a brick and mortar store, they'll likely tell you that it's not possible. I've had two stores tell me this. I called the T-Mobile toll-free number and requested a port to T-Mo2Go and it was not a problem in the least.

2.) You can utilize the Wi-fi Calling feature on supported BB and Android phones (any current phone). It will use your minutes. It's now automatic, if you connect to wi-fi. You can shut this off. It's much more robust on Android than it was a year ago.

[cooperadymas]

You'll find contract free plans are the way to go, especially if you're not interested in the latest smartphone. Virgin Mobile's plan is $35 for 300 minutes a month and unlimited text/data. (Looks like they just raised this from $25). You will be hard pressed to find a contract plan for that cheap, even without data. Virgin Mobile runs on Sprint's network, so you'll have the same coverage you would have with Sprint, with the exception of no roaming.

It's also becoming more and more difficult to find non-smartphones with the big contract companies.

[pacemkr]

Thanks for mentioning that it's Sprint. This answers my question further down the page.

Virgin might be it for me. I was looking at them before, but was traveling a bit at the time. Verizon was really the only option.

[18pfsmt]

I am considering moving to Virgin because of the data option, but I have done exactly what you describe you want to do 3 years ago. I currently use Straight Talk, which is sold by Wal-Mart, run by Carlos Slim's telco (he's _the_ telco player in Mexico), which uses Verizon's towers. I pay $33 including tax for 1000min/ 1000sms (200MB of data, but it's ~useless CDMA 1.x).

edit: I don't know if you want VOIP opinions (there so many options), but I use flowroute and am quite happy with their performance/ pricing.

[pacemkr]

I use Skype a lot, so that would probably be my goto voip provider. Assuming that they offer something like a landline.

[bokonist]

$120 a month???

I pay $25 a month from Virgin Mobile for unlimited text, unlimited data, and 300 minutes of call time, with a pretty good android smartphone. (It would be $32 a month if you amortize the price of the smart phone, which I had to buy up front). I use easytether to hook up my laptop, no problem.

[pacemkr]

300 minutes wouldn't be enough for me, but:

  $60 for 900 min
  $30 for unl. data (lucky me)
  $10 for 500 texts
  $17 in taxes (NYC)

Verizon. Pretty much the same plan was slightly more expensive on AT&T.

Tether might still work, for now: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/08/verizon-blocking...

[georgemcbay]

300 minutes is the voice call limit. The data portion is "unlimited", so if you have Google Voice or are willing to move over to it, you can skip over a lot of would-be voice minutes by using GrooveIP (or some other SIP gateway solution) and serve most of your talky needs via voip without burning talk minutes.

Granted for most people it is probably easier just to bump up to one of the higher level Virgin plans which are also pretty cheap relative to industry averages.

[bokonist]

Yeah, for 1200 minutes + unlimited data + unlimited texts, Virgin Mobile is now $45 http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-talk-...

[cooperadymas]

I look at it a different way. I'm saving $35 per month over Sprint with my Virgin Mobile plan. The phone cost me about $140, so I essentially pay it off in 4 months savings on this plan. I could upgrade my phone every 4-6 months if I wanted to, at no extra cost from where I was with Sprint. Compare that to the 1-2 year upgrade cycle on a contract, assuming you're able to get a free phone with the contract renewal. If I did upgrade every 6 months, the old phone would still be new enough to fetch $50 on Craigslist, making it even more economical.

Just a different perspective. I'm not actually one to be particular about having the latest and greatest phone, and at most I will upgrade once every 18 months. Switching to Virgin Mobile was one of the steps I took while unemployed to cut down on bills. It's actually been the easiest and most effective way to reduce my monthly living expenses without much sacrifice.

[dsr_]

The VM compatible Motorola Triumph is a pretty nice Android phone, too. Noticeably quicker than my original Droid.