smart phone with no "plan", can be use on wifi ?

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kwan2
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smart phone with no "plan", can be use on wifi ?

Post by kwan2 »

in BH fashion, I have a dumb phone from work , a google voice number and obihai, and don't get bunch of calls, but would like to use certain app's like google authenticator.

I have an unlocked GSM samsung galaxy mini S with a net10 SIM card now.

net10 is only 2G , and customer service is a swamp, i prefer not to explore. so, want to either switch to no data/WIFI only or better no plan at all, but use on my home / sbux WIFI


can someone tell if this is likely to work, must I have a SIM card in the phone to operate it etc ? thanks
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jasc15
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Re: smart phone with no "plan", can be use on wifi ?

Post by jasc15 »

The phone will work on wifi with the full functionality of a data plan (and likely faster) without a SIM card. There are a number of apps that will allow you to use your google voice number for wifi calling, and it will be a fully featured phone. I did exactly this on a recent trip to mexico; I downloaded this app and was able to call home for no charge. Here is another app for the same purpose. The call quality left something to be desired, but there are other options for wifi calling.

You could probably get a voice only SIM card, and your smartphone will make calls like a dumbphone, but will not have access to mobile data (you will still be able to use any wifi hotspot).
dependapotamus
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Re: smart phone with no "plan", can be use on wifi ?

Post by dependapotamus »

I just switched my iPhone 4 on AT&T from a Mobile Share plan to a pay as you go plan yesterday. I went from paying $150 a month for two iPhones and an iPad sharing a 4GB data pool to $81 for a pay as you go plan. My wife and I pay $25.50 per month for 250 minutes and unlimited texting, and $30 a month for the iPad with 3GB of data. I can assure you that wifi still works, and part of putting an iPhone on the pay as you go plan with AT&T is that data services are turned off entirely unless I buy a supplement package. So unless I sign up for data use, there is no way I can accidentally turn on a GPS enabled app or otherwise run up data charges.
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jeffyscott
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Re: smart phone with no "plan", can be use on wifi ?

Post by jeffyscott »

jasc15 wrote:You could probably get a voice only SIM card, and your smartphone will make calls like a dumbphone, but will not have access to mobile data (you will still be able to use any wifi hotspot).
Yes, we have a semi-smart windows phone, an unlocked touch pro 2 that was once a sprint phone, but is now used with T-mobile prepaid, no data plan. Had to fix a few settings to get it to work. (for us the benefits are that it should work in Europe if we buy a local SIM card and we found a free satellite navigation program that we can use over there as well. Based on your comments I should look into whether we might make calls via wifi.)
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kwan2
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Re: smart phone with no "plan", can be use on wifi ?

Post by kwan2 »

well what happens with the 2 SIM cards, that I bought at radioshack, 1 was for ATT/net10, the other for Tmobile, if I just let net10 expire, and don't pay at the end of the month, can I still reuse the SIM card ?

or how would i use these SIM cards with a pay as you go plan ? or can I ? use ATTs pay as you go plan ? if so which one thanks
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ieee488
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Re: smart phone with no "plan", can be use on wifi ?

Post by ieee488 »

kwan2 wrote:if I just let net10 expire, and don't pay at the end of the month, can I still reuse the SIM card ?
SIM cards for pay-as-you-go plans usually "expire" after a certain amount of time. After that period of time, you cannot add money to it even if you want to.
For my T-mobile Monthly 4G, it is either 3 or 6 months.
kwan2 wrote:or how would i use these SIM cards with a pay as you go plan ? or can I ? use ATTs pay as you go plan ? if so which one thanks
Net10 is already a pay-as-you-go plan.

AT&T has both pre-paid and post-paid (aka pay-as-you-go) plans. Depends on what you had before.

As to which one is best, only you can determine that depending on your requirements. Their websites has information that you can use to make your decision.
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kwan2
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Re: smart phone with no "plan", can be use on wifi ?

Post by kwan2 »

i'm trying to run android, with no gmail account, only a google voice account.

it just took the cell number, and brought it from google account 1 to google account 2 (the extra pristine one, i don't use often). emailing me that google account 1 (g voice) will no longer ring the cell phone number...

so there is no way to use google voice, w/o an actual cell phone number it seems to me ? or maybe it will, but apparently it auto removes the physical cell phone number to whatever account is using gvoice on the phone

if you follow
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alanwbaker
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Re: smart phone with no "plan", can be use on wifi ?

Post by alanwbaker »

I use Airvoice Wireless's $10 a month plan https://www.airvoicewireless.com/plans-2/10-plan/. It's not quite free but it's in Boglehead range and you get an AT&T phone number, voice minutes, text, and data.

Alan
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Re: smart phone with no "plan", can be use on wifi ?

Post by 4nursebee »

I have a phone I bought at ATT for $79. $100 for 1000 minutes or so, I did not use that much last year and actually have more. It is my piece of mind phone after having a flat on an interstate, the first 3 payphones I walked to no longer worked. Once on the road with my spare I could not find a working payphone to call ahead to tire places or to have help at home shop online. I ended up with 4 new tires as a walkin customer for a lot of money. The wifi stuff works great both at home and at work. Google voice can auto forward text and calls, which can eat up the minutes so I do not do that.

This replaced a apple ipod I was using as a wifi device. WHile the transaction was eventually retracted, I had sold it for >100!
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kwan2
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Re: smart phone with no "plan", can be use on wifi ?

Post by kwan2 »

jasc15 wrote:The phone will work on wifi with the full functionality of a data plan (and likely faster) without a SIM card. There are a number of apps that will allow you to use your google voice number for wifi calling, and it will be a fully featured phone. I did exactly this on a recent trip to mexico; I downloaded this app and was able to call home for no charge. Here is another app for the same purpose. The call quality left something to be desired, but there are other options for wifi calling.

You could probably get a voice only SIM card, and your smartphone will make calls like a dumbphone, but will not have access to mobile data (you will still be able to use any wifi hotspot).
.......so, how do you get around the fact, that GV requires one to ALWAYS have a physical phone number? eg can JUST use the GV number ; can I use a skype number maybe ? to use Groove IP, i am able to use obi /GV ; but just on wifi i don't think one can use GV if they ditch all their physical phones
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magellan
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Re: smart phone with no "plan", can be use on wifi ?

Post by magellan »

kwan2 wrote:it just took the cell number, and brought it from google account 1 to google account 2 (the extra pristine one, i don't use often). emailing me that google account 1 (g voice) will no longer ring the cell phone number...

so there is no way to use google voice, w/o an actual cell phone number it seems to me ? or maybe it will, but apparently it auto removes the physical cell phone number to whatever account is using gvoice on the phone
Unless something has changed, when you sign up for a new google voice account, you get an option to choose a phone number. AFAIK, there's no need to tie the GV number to a physical device. My GV phone number was free and was assigned by Google. It isn't tied to any cell or landline.


Jim
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magellan
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Re: smart phone with no "plan", can be use on wifi ?

Post by magellan »

kwan2 wrote:
jasc15 wrote:The phone will work on wifi with the full functionality of a data plan (and likely faster) without a SIM card. There are a number of apps that will allow you to use your google voice number for wifi calling, and it will be a fully featured phone. I did exactly this on a recent trip to mexico; I downloaded this app and was able to call home for no charge. Here is another app for the same purpose. The call quality left something to be desired, but there are other options for wifi calling.

You could probably get a voice only SIM card, and your smartphone will make calls like a dumbphone, but will not have access to mobile data (you will still be able to use any wifi hotspot).
.......so, how do you get around the fact, that GV requires one to ALWAYS have a physical phone number? eg can JUST use the GV number ; can I use a skype number maybe ? to use Groove IP, i am able to use obi /GV ; but just on wifi i don't think one can use GV if they ditch all their physical phones
I've used this exact setup (Goove IP, Google Voice, no cell number). I rarely use it because most wifi hotspots are too congested to deliver reasonable call quality. When I tested the setup at my house with fast Internet and wifi, the Groove IP/Google Voice call quality was flawless every time I tried it.

Jim
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kwan2
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Re: smart phone with no "plan", can be use on wifi ?

Post by kwan2 »

how long ago was that, cause GV is insisting on a physical (non VOIP) number ; maybe the policy has changed
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kwan2
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Re: smart phone with no "plan", can be use on wifi ?

Post by kwan2 »

try to port net10 to google voice, but net10 lacks actual account data, so no number can be ported FROM net10 to anywhere it seems.

in process what i seemed to have learned, is GV wants a physical phone, for the purpose, of confirming, you are in the US, so now i'm looking at buying a dumb / cheap phone for just the reason of getting a 2nd GV number that i want to use as a clean google account, i don't like google wanting to link my 2 worlds of mobile and desktop

though, if i like the obihai app open, possibly if i am in wifi it might ring through from GV ; working on that
“The history of Paris teaches us that beauty is a by-product of danger, that liberty is at best a consequence of neglect, that wisdom is entwined with decay."
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