Phone service disconnected.... What are my options?

[Leesa_Taylor]

Hi.... I recently had my phone service disconnected (MetroPCS) due to some financial problems that hopefully will be taken care of sooner than later...

What I would like to know is what type of options I have that will at least keep me "connected" via voice and text. (APP WISE)

Note.... I do have an active Wifi connection while at home and at various hotspot areas. My phone also has Wifi Calling as an option however I don't know if that's applicable since I am disconnected.

Here are my questions.

Are there any APPS that will enable you to call (free) to regular cell phone numbers? I know there are some where you can call other people who also have the same app but are there any where you can actually call their cell.

If not.... any where you can get incomming calls at no cost?

Again... I have Wifi and my phone has this Wifi Calling feature. I'm just wondering if someone could suggest some options for me to fill the void until I get back on track.

Thanks in advance
LEESA

 

[Hadron]

I assume that your "WiFi calling" is linked to your cellular contract, so isn't an option while your account is suspended.

As you say, there are many apps that will allow free WiFi calls between people using the same app, both outgoing and incoming. Some allow calling to regular phone numbers, but I doubt it will be free - there will be interconnection costs when it connects to a landline or cellular network, which they'll want to pass on. The prices might be quite low though, so it may be worth looking at that anyway: I use Skype for calling home when abroad and find the costs minimal (I put £10 credit on about 18 months ago and still have 2/3 of it, despite being a fairly frequent international traveller).

Trickier will be incoming calls other than via an app - you don't have a phone number, after all, so what should they call? I don't know whether Google Voice can help because it doesn't exist in my country.

Likewise, ordinary text (SMS) is a cellular network function, so without a cellular account you are cut off from that. For there I see no alternative to using other message apps.

 

[svim]

If you are a U.S. resident, there a number of VOIP (Voice Over IP) services that are available. As your Metro PCS account is on hold, note that some VOIP services, such as Viber, use the user's phone number as the user I.D. so what you might want to look into is getting a Google Voice phone number (free) and then you can use Google Hangouts to make VOIP calls. Keep in mind all your friends and family that have you in their own contact lists identified by your Metro PCS phone number will be seeing your Google Voice number in their caller I.D.
Set up info:
https://support.google.com/hangouts/answer/6079064?co=GENIE.Platform=Android&hl=en
Worth reading through for what you can and can't do using a Google Voice phone number:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Voice

 

[James L]

Hangouts.

 

[Leesa_Taylor]

Thanks for the replies. I can and recieve TEXT messages as there is a workaround for this using email as the gateway to various cell phone services as long as you know the correct URL... That can be easily found in several places.

I guess Wifi calling doesn't really come into play here as I do not have a active cellular phone at the moment.

I appreciate the suggestions and will look into those along with possibly checking out some others such as What's App, imo, and Skype to name a few.

Thanks again

LEESA