Posted on 05/16/2022 9:54:33 AM PDT by Chickensoup
Cell phone question. I havnoe an unconnected cell phone I want to use text. Is there a way to do normal texting without a cell phone line?
Connect it to your WiFi and use Skype, Telegram, Signal, etc to communicate with people on those same platforms.
You can use iMessage with fellow people on Apple products.
None of these methods allows you true SMS text messaging without getting a phone number, though.
Google Voice, which I believe is free, would let you SMS US phones and get messages back from people’s cell phones, but you also are given a virtual phone number. It does not support multimedia texts, apparently.
Hope this helps.
Speaking of cellphones . . . What is the rock-bottom cheapest option for someone who rarely uses her phone, needing it only for emergencies and a rare drive out of town? I’ve heard Walmart offers “burner” phones very cheap. Can you get one and buy an hour or two of minutes that won’t expire?
You can download TextFree, it creates a phone number for you and you can text through that but you need to have internet wifi
Ask grandchild.
You can get a free Google Voice account and use it for texting. You can connect to it with your old cell phone using WiFi. Your number will be the number assigned to your Google voice account.
“I have an unconnected cell phone I want to use text. Is there a way to do normal texting without a cell phone line?”
You have to have a WiFi connection.
One way is to get a Google Voice number, then you can send and receive texts using that number with the Google Voice app on the phone through WiFi.
You can also make and receive phone calls using the Google Voice app through WiFi
I have two phones because when I travel to my farm, my Verizon phone doesn’t work, so I have a prepaid phone using the local cell phone service. I use my Google Voice number from both phones to send text and make calls, so it appears that I’m always using the same phone and I only have to give out one number.
Wow Chick,,
This makes my Eyes rain.
.
Text now has an app that gives you a number to,use free or you can buy the number cheaply. You can text for free, and make calls for free if you find a wifi you can log into somewhere. I’ve been using it for texting when needed. But you can’t text without connecting to a wifi somewhere. So that limits the app usefulness.
I will try that
I’ve been doing that a lot these days
https://thedroidguy.com/send-receive-text-messages-without-phone-plan-sim-card-1063532
Use Google Voice, it comes with SMS texting. And it is free!
I looked at some web based text messaging services after reading your post.
Think some caution needs to be taken about the service you choose might spam you a lot with advertising or even worse, sell your number.
I never have liked cell phone companies. Was last person in the company I worked for when I finally got one. (have been Ham Op for 45 years, cell phone did not interest me)
I don’t like/trust google, but they own Verizon, my cell phone carrier. I know the local agent very well and he helps me avoid unnecessary stuff.
Best of luck to you.
Unless there is something I’m unaware of, a text is attached to your phone number. It IS your phone number’s text interface. No phone number = no texting. And no phone calls either. This is what happened when my phone quit seeing the SIM card a month ago. I could connect to my wife’s phone via hotspot, but I still could not make or receive calls or texts because my phone, without a sim, was not really a phone. It was just a really small “pad”.
he could email that way but not text. text requires a cell phone plan
Yeah, a burner is a cheap way to go if you don’t use a phone much. I had one years ago. The minutes did not expire. But if you want one check with the vendor to be sure about the minutes.
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