Google is my New Cellular Carrier
Yep, I finally made the switch to using Google Voice as my primary number. My cell phone number hasn't changed though, I've simply paid google the 20$ carrier transfer fee and ported my number over to Google Voice. No more bills from Sprint. No more automatic charges. No monthly bill. Ever again. I expect to save 95% of the cost of my cell phone over the next year and lose absolutely none of the functionality.
How is this possible?
It's really quite simple. There's a terrific Android application called GrooveIP that connects to Google voice and lets you make cell phone calls and txts over WiFi. This lets me txt and make calls wherever there is WiFi signal (my house and work, and coffee shops). How significant is this?
Very. If you look back over your cell phone bill for the past year, how many phone calls were made at home? What about txt messages? How many were made at work, and how many at home, and how many anywhere else? This can be a difficult thing to gauge and may require a bit of detective work depending on your bill. Still, for me it amounted to the vast majority of my phone calls and txts.
As for the other 5% of the time that I need to make calls or send txts while I'm out and about, I simply purchase pre-paid minutes and txt messaging rates at the lowest possible price that month. Fatwallet is your friend here. With Google Voice's ability to auto-forward calls and txts to any number transparently, you can swap burner phones as easily as a few clicks on your computer or even directly from your smart phone. Winning!
January 12th, 2012 - 03:42
I did the same thing 6 months ago when I heard verizon was about to cancel unlimited data, except I got an iPhone instead, and got the minimum monthly minutes plan plus the $30 unlimited data option. Only one electronic thing to carry, and I never have to hunt for wifi again, with free unlimited texting and calling forever through the google voice app. It also has the bizarre effect of me not knowing the real number of my own cell phone, having only ever typed it once into GV when I got it.
A few questions though since you’re opting to not pay for 3G data, 1) what do you now realistically spend per month in phone bills? 2) does your burner phone provider charge for received texts? 3) does the battery life on your android improve now that you’re only using the wifi antenna, and even then not constantly?
January 12th, 2012 - 03:51
Hey Scott,
1. Good question. I figure this is month 1, I picked up a 5$ burner at Best Buy in the clearance rack, and I’ll probably put 10$ worth of minutes/txt/data on it. I’ll let you know how long that lasts.
2. Good question. I’ll check into it.
3. Probably not but it’s hard for me to tell. I tend to leave the android (kyocera echo dual screen) plugged in at work and it’s kind of a battery hog anyway. Such a cool device though!
January 12th, 2012 - 06:13
Hey Scott,
FYI Looks like Tracfone has free incoming texts on the v170.
January 12th, 2012 - 03:42
Do you get data with your prepaid cards? GPS and Navigation are my two largest non-home data consumers.
January 12th, 2012 - 03:48
Hey Travis,
For GPS there are a lot of non-data using apps like navigon and igo. I have yet to feel the need for data outside the home besides txts.