Cheapest way to have a phone number?

[gardenhead]

I was wondering if anyone could advise me on what is the absolute cheapest way to have a phone number. I don't need texting or any of that, but voicemail or some sort of message service is important. I have an ipod that allows me to get online over wifi, so I'm open to suggestions for internet phone as well. Skype seems to be very reasonable, if you pay for an "online number" you get voicemail and can receive calls when online. According to the skype website, it's $18 for three months or $60 for a year. All suggestions are welcome, and I'm interested in people's experience with Skype in particular.
Thanks in advance.

 

[blars]

I think google voice is about the cheapest.&nbsp; Note that I have not used it, so I can't realy recomend it.<br><br><br>

 

[waddison]

<p style="margin: 0px;">Look into Magic Jack. I have had it on my computer for years. At $ 20 per year very good value. I have bought several to give to friends. There is&nbsp; a new model Magic Jack Plus that works without a computer after set up. I haven't seen this one. The old one is totally portable and can be plugged into any computer on high speed internet. It works with either the computers mic/speakers or a phone is plugged into the MJ device .</p><p style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;</p>

 

[simply lesa]

GOOGLE VOICE!<div><br></div><div>I have been using google voice since before google bought the company --- 5 or 6 years at least. &nbsp;This was created for ALL people to use and the creators especially wanted to be able to include users who did not have a legal street address (read homeless) in order to help them maintain some sort of communication link for everyday stuff..... they give you a FREE USA phone number - it is fairly simple to learn to use and you can set it up so that you use it within your Gmail pages..... you can even call US phones and other computers for FREE from within or without the USA - its great for traveling internationally (you have to keep your account settings on English however for this to work)</div><div><br></div><div>Sign up TODAY and enjoy!</div><div><br></div><div>I've been using a Magic Jack while visiting the states and it does work, the prob is that you have to have it connected to a computer and the computer has to be ON... I just wish there was another way - the MJ company was marketing a compterless version called Magic Jack Plus and just this past week they had to revise the ads to say that they are not able to offer it in the form they were hoping so they are instead preparing an iPod//iPad/iPhone app.</div><div><br></div><div>Enjoy and please strive to K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple silly - or sexy - or you get the idea)</div>

 

[gardenhead]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'd heard of google voice but wasn't too sure how it worked, guess I'll look into it a little more. I've also been considering getting a tracfone just for the convenience.

Thanks again

 

[Jim]

+1 for Google Voice.<div><br></div><div>I use Cricket. Talk with no text is $1 a day or&nbsp;unlimited&nbsp;talk and text for $35 a month.&nbsp;Definitely&nbsp;the worst phone company I have ever used. I recommend staying away from Cricket.</div>

 

[Guest]

I'm an ATT Go Phone user. I pay $2 per day for unlimited calls/ texts only on the days I send an outgoing text or phone call. No contract and phones can be gotten pretty cheap at Walmart - minute cards are available everywhere, or you can add time online or directly from the phone.<br>

 

[phaedrus]

Take a look at SIPGATE &nbsp;www.sipgate.com<div><br></div><div>This is a cool service that I have been using. &nbsp;It is a new company. &nbsp;Free incoming calls outgoing is .02 per min. &nbsp;No monthly fees or contract.</div><div><br></div><div>Works on your laptop or tablet or even a Apple Ipod Touch/IPad</div><div><br></div><div>You can demo it for free. &nbsp;Since there are not alot of numbers to choose from and you cannot port numbers at this point I have my SIPGATE linked through Google Voice. &nbsp;This way when you call my GV number I can get the call here.</div><div><br></div><div>GV is not a stand alone phone solution. &nbsp;Its one number that can route calls to numerous phones. &nbsp;So in my case if you call my GV number my SIPGATE rings, and my cell phone rings.</div><div><br></div><div>When calling out on SIPGATE you can setup the caller id to match your cell phone, GV number or any other number. &nbsp;So people think you are calling from xxx-xxxx when really its your sipgate account.</div><div><br></div><div>Very cool service that I am very happy with. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Hope this is helpful.</div><div><br></div><div>FYI you can send SMS with SIPGATE as well as Google Voice.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div>

 

[Seraphim]

<P>We text more than we talk.&nbsp; Pity you can't get just an unlimited text package. </P>

 

[Big]

I had AT$T for years, then I found a better alternative, I dropped my AT$T plan which was the OLD unlimited everything plan which cost me $127.00 a month plus taxes and fees total cost $138.00 a month and I had an iPhone, I now have UNLIMITED TALK TEXT AND DATA (internet) I can also tether my new phone to my lap top for internet where ever I have phone service, which is almost everywhere, I have a "smart phone" my cost for this service including TAXES is $48.47 a MONTH, now for who provides this service, it is STRAIGHT TALK from WalMart, or you can go online and just search Straight Talk, they will ask for the zip code of the area you are going to use the phone the most, they do this because they use a variety of cell towers, AT$T Verizon and Sprint in most places.<div>The phone I have is a Nokia E71, it looks like a Blackberry style phone, Straight Talk also has an Android, (Sprint towers) and other types of so called Smart Phones.&nbsp;</div><div>NOW FOR THE DETRACTORS on here and I know there will be one or two, NO I have never had any trouble what so ever with my phone or service with it. I have had it for over a year, there is no roaming fees, overages or poor customer service, and you can PORT your current number to&nbsp;Straight&nbsp;Talk.</div><div>I choose the Nokia E71 because it has an UNBRANDED SIM card, which I can switch between the Nokia E71 and my iPhone,(the E71 uses AT$T's 3G system and towers) &nbsp;the iPhone has a better map system for traveling than the E71 but the E71 has a better camera and VIDEO recorder and I can MMS with it, I did not jailbreak my iPhone so it does not MMS and the camera is not that good anyway.</div>

 

[Big]

ALSO the type of Phone you choose will be a deciding factor in who's cell towers you are transmitting on.....<img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"><img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"><img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">

 

[Les H]

So far , I have not been impressed with straight talk, walmart and trackphones collaboration. It may work well in populated areas, but here in the mountains, it stinks. I had all kinds of difficulty settinig it up which required 4-5 calls to the service center, and from what I can tell, thief mobile Internet is severely censored. Years ago, I had a trackphone, and it worked great because it grabbed whatever tower was closest for a signal, but found it was pricey if you liked to talk at all.
There is a program that gives you a free phone and 250 min a month if you Recieve ssi/ssd, Medicare/caid , foodstamps, ect. I see it advertised at Dollar general stores, but I do not know the specifics.
Les

 

[Seraphim]

Just got notified by Sprint they put a 3gb cap on my $45 month unlimited plan. I called and spoke to a very pleasant customer service rep. She advised Sprint would let me out of the contract, with no penalty, nor would I be charged [further]&nbsp;for the Overdrive Pro mobile device: a $300 dollar device I got for $50 with the contract. I spoke to her supervisor, equally pleasant and undterstanding that I was upset, and offered a 6 gb account for $4 more.<br><br>I had expected such a cap, as Sprint was the only company who still had an all you can eat plan. I was hoping to be grandfathered in, as ATT did, but not so. I don't use that much bandwidth a month, so I've agreed to the deal.<br><br>Still worth it for a compact, completely mobile wifi setup.<br>

 

[Big]

Les H, I set my Straight Talk phone up online and never had to make a single call to customer service, ported my number it all went through within 3 hours of doing the set up. I have traveled all over the eastern U.S. and into Texas all the way to Galveston, I have seldom had any problems with the service, unless it is somewhere, that AT$T does not have good coverag. As I said it depends on where you are, what phone you get and who provides the best coverage in your area, where I am it is a toss up between AT$T and Verizon, to the north of me in a big metro area it seems Sprint is better for Straight Talk.<div>Seraphim, I wholly expected AT$T to force Straight Talk to put a cap on their $45.00 plan, because AT$T is losing customers to it in this area, but thankfully they have not YET. The reason I did not pick up a Droid from Straight Talk is because they run on Sprint towers, I have a friend in FL who has the Straight Talk Droid, and loves it, sprint works well all over FL....</div>

 

[ice_maiden]

<span id="post_message_1271326385">

There is a program that gives you a free phone and 250 min a month if you Recieve ssi/ssd, Medicare/caid , foodstamps, ect. I see it advertised at Dollar general stores, but I do not know the specifics.

<br><br>several of the phone companies have these plans&nbsp;&nbsp; here are a couple of link to the program..... if you google lifeline phones you can get more information<br><br></span><span id="taw" style="margin-right: 0pt;"><cite><a target="_blank" href="http://www.safelinkwireless.com">www.safelinkwireless.com<br></a><br></cite></span><a target="_blank" href="http://www.assurancewireless.com"><span id="taw" style="margin-right: 0pt;"><cite>www.assurancewireless.com</cite></span></a><br>

 

[Mikelgiles]

I have been doing some testing using googlle voice on a iphone and ipad. Both work very well on my wifi at home but not very well when out and about using 3g. I get a lot of dead areas and choppy sound using it. The VOIP just seems to need more bandwidth speed than I am getting on 3g.. However, I expect that different people may be getting better results.. I am hoping that some others are getting better results as that would reallr be a good solution for me

 

[JohnDoeIII]

I'm going to have to agree with everyone else and say Google Voice.&nbsp; And as long as your PC has a mic built in (or you have an external mic) then you can make phone calls free domestically through GMail.&nbsp; Once you sign up, they give you a phone number and you can even send and receive text messages through this number.

 

[Pikachu711]

I'll echo what others have mentioned about "Google voice." I've had a google voice telephone number for a few years now. It's free to set the number up and it will store any numbers that have called it when you access the page on the internet.

 

[peacetara]

Many homeless shelters will give you a 'voicemail' box, aka a phone number that takes voicemail for you, that you can check whenever you want (from any phone).<br /><br />It's totally free, it may not be the best solution, but if you *JUST* need a phone number (that can't reach you directly), then it will work.&nbsp; You can even check it from Skype or google voice, or any internet VoIP provider.<br /><br />With Love,<br />Tara

 

[FloridaGuy]

Text Free (Pinger) is an iPhone/iPod touch app that give you a free phone number, you just have to make one call a month to keep the number active. &nbsp;You can earn points to make free calls by watching 30 minute ads texts are free. &nbsp;You can use it with Wifi. &nbsp;For Android there is a similar app. &nbsp;One great feature is that you can text free from your computer so you can easily type out long message using a keyboard.&nbsp;<br><br>For home you can't beat Magic Jack. &nbsp;It also has an app that you can use from your cell phone of mobile device.&nbsp;