Cell Phone...Don't Call Anyone

[Stmfuller]

I'm going to try and break this up as well as I can for the people who don't want to read the whole story and just want to look at the questions :)

***The BackStory***
I have had a cellphone in my possession in one form or another since 1998 when my mom bought be one as I traveled the countryside between school, college classes, and piano lessons.
In 2000 my wife (then girlfriend) and I each got phones. As we've gotten married and put our plans together and such we've upgraded and upgraded...
Right now we both have blackberrys, I a storm and her a Pink Pearl. I like mine for the overall awesomeness of the phone and she likes hers because she can update facebook and check her Email.
But today, I came to a crazy conclusion. I don't call anyone!!!!!! Well more specifically other than calling my wife for 5 minutes at lunch time I don't use the phone feature of my blackberry.
In fact, I went to billshrink.com to check out if I could find a better deal on cell plans recently (the answer, no) I found that the three calls we make the most are 1. to the home phone 2. to my mother in law. 3...that's about it (we call my mother on the house phone).

***The Problem***
We are paying roughly $150/month for cell phones (when I think about it I faint...it's far too much). My wife is home most of the time only working part time, and I work full time. She has full access to broadband internet and a home phone. When I'm at work, I'm on the phone at work and mostly just play with web browsing, twittering and IMing on my phone. I spend far more with the data than the voice part. My goal is to cut into the cell bill, and I'm not opposed to just dropping the whole darn thing altogether in favor of something that would work better.

***The Question***
Anyone see something that I could just do internet browsing/twittering/iming on the go/fly?
I am looking for something like that right now and would appreciate the help

thanks...

[Sandman]

Only thing I can think of is something like a small netbook with one of those laptop cards. Only problem with that is you'll be carrying something bigger around with you.

Do you always have a wireless network you can access around you? If so then something like an iPod Touch might suit your needs.

[Adam Blue]

This might sound simple, so I might have missed something...but why not just get a data plan only?

[Sandman]

This might sound simple, so I might have missed something...but why not just get a data plan only?

Do cell phone companies do that for their cell phones?

[Stmfuller]

Do cell phone companies do that for their cell phones?

Verizon has a data only plan that's about $50/month and is .25/minute if you need the voice.
It falls in line with what I'm looking at, and is really an option.

I've also looked at the Peak based on Miah's recommendation. The problem with that is there's no internet access. Just Email/Text. Although the monthly charge is MUCH less.

Something else I've seen is Verizon's Mifi which would allow me to have a wireless card and a wifi connection. It's pretty boss, but the monthly plan is $50/$60 a month.

I think the biggest problem right now is cost. I want a data-only plan, but the rub is that home internet is $50/month and comcast has like a 250G cap whereas any wireless card/data only plan will only have a 5G cap for the same cost. It just doesn't seem fair I guess.

[Ravenlock]

I had a Peek for a month, and then cancelled the service. It really wasn't for me. As a push tool, it's quite useful - you can certainly send and receive emails from it, and updating Twitter, Facebook, etc works fine. As an information gathering tool, though, it was far less useful. There are services to email you Twitter and Facebook updates, but they're all kind of clunky, and there aren't too many good interfaces for Google searching via email or otherwise collecting data. If I have the internet in my pocket, I want it to do things like get me the local movie times, or look up reviews for the book I'm holding in the bookstore. The Peek wasn't very good for that. (Also, even though it had built-in SMS, you couldn't use Google SMS, which was a huge downside, as that service mitigates a lot of my complaints.)

That said, if my problems with it don't sound like they'd be problems for you and you still want to try one out, I'll happily sell it to you real cheap. ;)

[Voodoo]

T-Mobile's unlimited internet-only plan is $40. Couple that with a G1 Android and you are pretty set.

[biosc1]

I found that the three calls we make the most are 1. to the home phone 2. to my mother in law. 3...that's about it (we call my mother on the house phone)

I'm in a similar boat, but I long ago stopped using a land line. Absolutely zero purpose for me to have a land line and a cell phone. I get free incoming calls and free calls after 6 (when I get home). So there is a cost you may consider cutting, unless you use your land line a lot.

Personally, I maybe use my cell phone for about 50 minutes a month. Most of my calls have been replaced by texts. Really only when my boss phones, my mom phones, or my girl friend phones.

[Stmfuller]

I'm in a similar boat, but I long ago stopped using a land line. Absolutely zero purpose for me to have a land line and a cell phone. I get free incoming calls and free calls after 6 (when I get home). So there is a cost you may consider cutting, unless you use your land line a lot.

Personally, I maybe use my cell phone for about 50 minutes a month. Most of my calls have been replaced by texts. Really only when my boss phones, my mom phones, or my girl friend phones.

That's a good option and for the longest time we didn't have a house phone. However our apartment is below ground and we get almost zero cell signal.
Right now, the home phone is almost required.

[Sandman]

There is one reason to have a land line...always. In case of an extended power outage it may become the only phone that is working for you.

[Jackel]

There is one reason to have a land line...always. In case of an extended power outage it may become the only phone that is working for you.

Gotta make sure if that's the reason you're doing it, that you have a corded phone. Cordless ones require power.

[Sandman]

Gotta make sure if that's the reason you're doing it, that you have a corded phone. Cordless ones require power.

Well, I think that's a given.

[Stmfuller]

Well, I think that's a given.

Well, to be truthful my landline is a vonage phone :o
So if the power goes out for an extended period of time, I'm sol.

[Jackel]

Well, I think that's a given.

You'd be surprised how many people overlook that fact when they look for the convenience of a portable phone.

[Stmfuller]

So here's what I"m considering:
The Blackberry data/email plan (http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=planFirst&action=viewPlanList&sortOption=priceSort&typeId=15&subTypeId=40&catId=326) and killing my wife's Blackberry and replacing is with this. (http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=planFirst&action=viewPlanDisplay&planId=27333&typeId=1&orderKey=)
That kills $50 off my bill. I still have voice IF I need it, but mostly just the dataplan which I really like.
And we also have a regular cell phone should the need arise.

Edit: I just set that up although I didn't change the other blackberry to a regular phone yet.
I dropped our bill by $20 just by doing that.

[Erratic]

I should mention as a heads up (since i work for a contracted company for VZW) that all unlimited aircards (Mifi included, as well as all other cell companies) have a limit. The cap is 5 GB sent/received. Very easy to go over (especially with Mifi's multiple connections). Someone else probably mentioned this (if not awesome points to me) but since I'm much to lazy to actually read everyones post youre seeing it again :)

[Jackel]

I should mention as a heads up (since i work for a contracted company for VZW) that all unlimited aircards (Mifi included, as well as all other cell companies) have a limit. The cap is 5 GB sent/received. Very easy to go over (especially with Mifi's multiple connections). Someone else probably mentioned this (if not awesome points to me) but since I'm much to lazy to actually read everyones post youre seeing it again :)

Gambit. How is Verizon's coverage in Boise area ? In particular I'm looking around the CoI campus in caldwell. I know ATT is good, but what are my other options?

[Stmfuller]

I should mention as a heads up (since i work for a contracted company for VZW) that all unlimited aircards (Mifi included, as well as all other cell companies) have a limit. The cap is 5 GB sent/received. Very easy to go over (especially with Mifi's multiple connections). Someone else probably mentioned this (if not awesome points to me) but since I'm much to lazy to actually read everyones post youre seeing it again :)
Actually, I did in Post #5 :D
I checked my blackberry usage and it appears that I don't even touch that for usage. Today is the last day of my billing cycle. I've not even hit a Jiggabyte (intentional mis-spelling) yet and I've started messing with things like Pandora and the like.
I could see it being very easy to go over on the mifi and such which is why I just opted to keep my phone the way it is and kill the voice plan (also the cost of canceling my plan plus buying new equipment was a huge factor there as well).
It's nice to have the Blackberry as data only, minus the calls to my wife at lunch, it's exactly what I do with it 99.99999% of the time anyway.

[Scull]

Gambit. How is Verizon's coverage in Boise area ? In particular I'm looking around the CoI campus in caldwell. I know ATT is good, but what are my other options?
I have Verizon in Boise and I've very rarely had issues or dead zones with it. Heading up Highway 55 towards McCall tends to lose reception, but everything urban is pretty decently covered. I can't say for certain about CoI, but Nampa and Caldwell in general work just fine.