Skype Wifi Droid with no carier.

[ChicagoBob]

I have a question.
I am on year 2 of a 2 year Verizon contract and had a wild thought.

If I have WiFi and Skype can I dump my carier and use Skype via the WiFi in my phone?

I can still make the phone work without a carier if I can hook up via wifi
right as long as I am near a hub that I can push data through.

The price of cell phone plans are just outrageous and since I really dont use it in the car (who knows it may be outlawed soon) I started thinking maybe I dont need to have a cell phone in the traditional sense.
I still want to recieve text messages and still want to take personal calls on my phone so I had this whacky thought.

There seems to be lots of places you can pick up wifi for free ideas??

 

[lennyjew]

From what I've read, all you need to run Android is your Gmail account. No carrier needed for the non 3G or regular network side of things.

So honestly you could install Skype and use WiFi only for all your calls and texts (though I personally think that having to be around WiFi to get texts defeats the purpose, it's pretty much e-mail at that point)

You'd still have to pay for Skype credits to call non-skype lines, so depending how much call time you use it may get pricey, but it can be done as far as I know.

 

[Szadzik]

Sell the phone and use phone booths, same efficiency and cheaper.

 

[airjordan223]

do they even have phone booths anymore

 

[lennyjew]

I've seen a couple but they're few and far between. They do have phone hubs (3-5 phones mounted to the wall) in most transportation centers (airport, train station, bus station), city centers, and sometimes public parks. But again, that's kind of out of the way for practical use.

 

[Szadzik]

I've seen a couple but they're few and far between. They do have phone hubs (3-5 phones mounted to the wall) in most transportation centers (airport, train station, bus station), city centers, and sometimes public parks. But again, that's kind of out of the way for practical use.

Exactly the same as with trying to use WiFi only for calls. You will sometimes have WiFi and sometimes not, the same as phone booths.

Getting a mobile phone to not use mobile carrier is as practical as using phone booths.

 

[MongoGrubb]

Szadzik, with all the respect I can possibly muster, where do you live that phone booths are found easier than wifi? I can find open wifi connections litterally 30 times easier than a phone booth, in fact I have only been able to find one phone booth within a 10 mile radius of me, and have found at least 30 open wifi connections.