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Amen. I'm with Republic and rarely pay more than $20/month. In a normal month I'm on wifi ~80% of the time, and it's flawless. Once, when I was traveling a lot during the month, I paid nearly $28.

I love my phone, use all my apps and services as much as I want, video is snappy, and the expense is barely a blip. Every month it gets harder to fathom why anyone in the USA is still left on the major carriers.

(Anti-disclaimer: I'm not associated with Republic or any other cell service company in any way, except as a current customer of Republic and former customer of Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, Cellular One, and others I've mercifully forgotten about).

Some providers are doing exactly that.

When I check Republic wireless, there is no wifi on the map (but there is an entry in the map key): https://republicwireless.com/t...

So this is just a wifi femtocell for people who live in basements? Sprint provides the cell service.

One thing Google has continuously failed miserably at is customer service. Unless they are going to invest some time/money/energy in improving their track record in this regard their wireless plans had better be dirt cheap/free. You already have Republic Wireless and FreedomPop sitting at that level. And I switched to Ting two years ago despite them being on the Sprint network because they have great rates for all but the most voracious data consumers and the best customer service of any company I have ever done business with. Next month they'll be adding the T-Mobile network to their offerings and they just started offering Internet in a couple of locations. I'll be watching to see if Google gets the customer service aspect down.

As with the existing technological hassles in my life, I would use a smart watch only if it did something significantly new.

In the old days (1980s), my laptop would go weeks without a battery charge. Now, my laptop barely makes it through a day, if I'm not actually using it much during that day. But my new laptop is vastly more capable, with high-DPI IPS display and 802.11ac WiFi and the ability to run a C++ compiler many times in a single hour.

In the less old days, my phone would go a bit over a week without a battery charge. Now, my phone usually makes it through a day, but not if I'm using its GPS or its processor extensively; and it's much bigger. But my new phone has a camera that doesn't entirely suck and a lot of apps, some of them useful, and visual voicemail. Still, I wouldn't have bought it if it didn't have another compelling feature: Really cheap unlimited plans.

That's 2 devices that I have to plug in every day to keep using. A smart watch would be a third. So far, I haven't heard of any compelling features. The current crop has what? The ability to show notifications. Which my phone already does when I leave it on the table next to my mouse, and which I'm already consciously choosing to ignore when I want to maintain focus. And Samsung's watch has its trademark heart rate sensor, which works only if you're not exercising.

I can imagine some uses for a smart watch, in concept, if it could do stuff independently of the phone. A camera that you don't even have to dig out of your pocket (or purse, if you have a Samsung). A communications device that you can carry without pockets. A security/control device (if it doesn't come from Google, Apple, or Microsoft, and runs free software). The concept is interesting. It just needs good execution.

Verizon requires you to have a data plan to even use (e.g.) an iPhone. Even if you never use the data service. If Verizon considers your phone a "Smart Phone", they require you to have and pay for a data plan to use it. My understanding is that the other carriers have the same policy. The people that are buying these phones are paying these monthly fees.

The environment is more complicated since the last time you looked into cell phone plans. I don't blame you, because you have better things to do, but you might be able to save money with a smartphone, now.

There's decent activity in Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO), companies that rent capacity on the carriers' networks. Most of them have conventional plans that work with any phone from that carrier. If your usage falls into particular patterns, those plans can be cheaper than the carriers' own plans. But with a smartphone, a company can offer radically different plans:

Republic Wireless has plans starting at $10, or $5 if you have good WiFi and don't need to do calls away from your home/work/car hotspot, ever. Their cheapest phone is only $149, so it doesn't take long to start saving money compared to a typical carrier. Republic Wireless is what I use.

FreedomPop has plans starting at $0, as long as you don't use more than 200 minutes a month, or $10.99 for unlimited voice and texts. Their cheapest phone is $99. I'm not confident in their service quality, and I don't like their overage-based business model, but it doesn't get any cheaper than free.

C'mon, charging your phone once per day is hardly a pain and for the vast majority is a completely insignificant cost compared to the benefit of the increased functionality that a power hungry smartphone has over an old Nokia dumb phone.

I didn't study technology because I wanted to be satisfied with the status quo. Right now, you cannot eat your cake and still have it, but what if you could?

I upgraded my phone because I wanted greater functionality. (Actually, I upgraded because I wanted the very cheap monthly plans on Republic Wireless.) I now have to plug my phone in every night instead of two to three times a week. The Moto X already has compromised specs to get very good battery life, and I only ran out of battery once after doing a 2-hour Google Hangout with video. I would not mind staying with this amount of power, but increasing battery life even more.

There are options from most of the carriers. I'm doing the Republic Wireless $10 unlimited talk and text, but with no data. Having a 4G phone with no data sucks, but the price is compelling, and I should be able to add a prorated data plan for the times when I expect I do need it. Having WiFi calls when I'm at a place with no cell reception is also nice. However, counting the phone, my bill is higher than if I had been able to keep my dumbphone on somebody's T-mobile family plan.

Ting is a great choice for Sprint, Airvoice is a great choice for AT&T, PagePlus is decent for Verizon.

One interesting option is FreedomPop, but they seem to be in beta. Earlier versions of FreedomPop phones had poor performance and very poor voice quality, but they're supposedly improving. It would be interesting to see if they go anywhere with that.

If I could get reliable cell coverage in my home, I'd pay $200-300 for that.

Switch to Republic, and your voice, SMS and MMS all run over your WiFi, and hand off to Sprint's cell network when out-of-range.

Which gives you reliable coverage in your home, and a deep discount from a typical carrier's monthly rates.

-- Satisfied customer. (Well, moderately satisfied -- Sprint's 4G coverage in Austin was iffy until they got a bunch of tower repairs done; that they let it go for such a long time didn't speak well).

TracFone is advertising their android phones with $7/mo service: http://tracfonewireless.com/

Republic Wireless can give you unlimite WiFi-only (VoIP) service with their smartphone for $5/mo. You can throw-in unlimited cellular talk/text (no data) for another $5: https://republicwireless.com/plans

  This isn't a new thing, either. The old Motorola i1 iDEN based Android phone worked with BoostMobile's dumb phone plan, which also started at $7/mo, if you didn't mind painfully slow data service.

Smartphones *do* provide lots of value that dumbphones do not. Even if you're paying more for the phone service, if it eliminates your need for DSL/Cable internet service at home, it may be a wash... I know my $40/mo smartphone plan compares well to the $30/mo cheapest wired internet service I can get in the area. If I wasn't working in IT, I might consider dropping the wired service.

Similarly, I've saved lots of time, frustration, and fuel, having MapQuest on my phone, routing me around traffic.

$299 you mean.

As the owner of a non-upgradeable Android 2.3 phone (Motorola Defy XT) I find that most apps I care about work fine on the phone... with the exception of all the new Google apps and updates to said apps.

Google Maps
GMail
Google Now
Chrome
all of these apps are either not available, or are only provided in downlevel versions. You have to be running 4.x to get the latest and greatest apps.

Meanwhile, Google produces versions of their apps to run on iOS 6, which is available on every iPhone back to the 3GS from 2009.

While we are at it, can we make cell phones support WiFi for phone calls?

The phones already have the hardware to do this. People could make calls from places where cell reception sucks but they had Wifi internet. It would also reduce the burden on cell towers as people eliminate landlines and use their cell phones at home, where they probably already have WiFi routers. It also would eliminate the need for those stupid microcells: you could just use your regular wi-fi router for calls without needing to pay for their box.

You want Republic Wireless. We have it, and it works great.

Not all data is equal. Some is time sensitive (voice) and some isn't (facebook). It seems reasonable to pay extra for routing priority of time sensitive data.

Perhaps, but paying $30 for 300 minutes/month, and then crazy 25c/minute for anything over that, is ridiculously high.

And besides that, WiFi APs are everywhere these days, and smart phones can connect to them easily enough, and use them for all the data transfers instead of the cellular network... Why isn't voice handled the same way? Going VoIP when on WiFi would save a lot of people a whole lot of money, and would still have the fallback to the cellular network, just like data.

That model is precisely how Republic Wireless gives people unlimited everything for $19/month, as opposed to $55/mo on BoostMobile. http://republicwireless.com/

I often get angry that this isn't SOP for cell phones, particularly when I'm in a building where a cell signal is non-existant, but I've got a high-speed WiFi connection, and yet I miss calls, and don't even get notified that I've missed a call, perhaps hours later as I leave.

Coverage issues would be greatly diminished if smartphones just used WiFi APs as part of their network... I know I'd be happy to install APs all over the place to fill in gaps that bother me, and any of my customers... A high power (Buffalo) AP is only $50 shipped these days, and with DD-WRT, the only infrastructure you need is a modest amount of power (5V can be easily provided by PV solar panels)... because it can easily act as a powerful repeater for a distant, very weak, AP.

Hell, I'd start lobbying the Dept. of Transportation to install a network of WiFi APs, atop power poles or street lights in particular, and in every one of their highway "call boxes", where WiFi would be infinitely more useful.

You can also file a complaint against At&t here here, and here. I heard there are some other places too but I'd suggest one of these guys first.

In the US, MVNO's such as Ting (and Republic Wireless if they ever get out of Beta) who use the "buy your phone, no contracts" model will likely force the "big guys" to offer this model in the end. I think the resulting transparency is attractive to many, though not all, customers.

Innovation in smartphones has been rapid in the past few years and people tend to want newer/faster/shinier more frequently in such an environment. However, as the feature/performance innovation curve flattens out a bit, I think people will be quite annoyed at effectively being "forced" into a new phone (since, once they are out of contract, they usually keep paying the same rate even though the phone subsidy is paid off) and a new contract when they are still quite happy with their existing phone -- especially because they usually still have to pay a substantial amount up front to get a new smartphone. I expect that many of these people will be quite receptive to looking for alternatives that prevent them from being trapped yet again.

If you have time to wait, see Republic Wireless. My Verizon contract has gone month to month and I'm just waiting for these guys to open enrollment again. For $19.99/month you get unlimited data and service, although RW does want you to use VOIP when possible.

I should also throw in Republic Wireless for honorable mention, as the cheapest option at about $20, accomplished by trying to push folks to use wifi as much a possible.

  http://republicwireless.com/

See, there you go again, you have made a fool of yourself.Perhaps you haven't heard about start-up (now only in beta) Republic Wireless

Why would you buy republicwireless when skype exists amongst others?

What about pay as you go phones?

The affordable pay as you go plans tend to be available only for feature phones. For example, Virgin Mobile USA's "payLo" plans starting at $7/mo appear available only for feature phones, and Android phones have to use a $35/mo "Beyond Talk" plan that has as many voice minutes in a month as I'll use in a year.

See, there you go again, you have made a fool of yourself.Perhaps you haven't heard about start-up (now only in beta) Republic Wireless

See http://www.republicwireless.com/