No landline and No cell phone - is it possible?

[Stachey]

Is it possible to live without a landline and a cellphone?

Wifi is pretty well everywhere.  There is Skype.
What are the other programs that allow you to make phone calls with your wifi?  Do they work in Canada?

My cellphone is getting pretty old and I rarely use it so wondering if I can just use my Ipod that has wifi instead.

These are probably remedial questions but I'm not much of an IT person.
Thanks for the help.

[Kaikou]

there was a post awhile back about someone needing a temp. line for coming to U.S. and looking for the lowest cost options. I would start there.

[mxt0133]

There's Google Voice that also has voice mail capabilities.  You can make calls on you PC to a regular number.  You can also send Faxes online for free.  So land lines are obsolete.

[slowsynapse]

I was thinking a solution like Magic Jack could work.  I used to use a cheap Callcentric VOIP plan and that worked pretty well and was cheap.

My original thought when I saw your subject was:  Yes, everyone before the 20th century lived without these things :)

[Daley]

Fongo will probably be your potentially cheapest bet as you can do calling and SMS, but their outbound rates are a little steep for their non-free termination from a VoIP pricing standpoint. However, they do offer E911, so you can at least still make emergency calls if needed. You should be able to port your number.

VOIP.ms would be another good option for PAYGO as they also support SMS with certain phone numbers and offer E911, but you'll need a dedicated app for texting separate from the softphone app you'll need as well. Their rates are quite a bit lower per minute than Fongo, and the SMS is free for the time. You can port your number, but I can't promise you'll be able to text with it. I'm about 80% certain that you have to purchase a DID that supports texting from them for SMS support, but you can check with customer support there and ask.

There's also Line2, but you lose E911 support and it's a flat $10/month for "unlimited" use and you can port your number. You get SMS support, too.

Those are your three best bets for Canadian VoIP service with decent rates and SMS support. Now that I have that out of the way, it's worth pointing out that VoIP doesn't always work the best over WiFi, especially public WiFi which can be overloaded or throttled or have interference or or or.... It is a technology that works best on wired networks. I know that everyone and their dog has a wireless VoIP app/service from Apple's Facetime to Zoiper and everything inbetween... but it's not always going to be reliable. Understand this. Expect this. Tolerate this if you're going to go this route. From a network security standpoint, it's usually not wise to randomly connect promiscuously to every open WiFi hotspot, either. You don't know who or what is there listening, and it's not hard to MITM these sorts of things.

Can it be done? Yeah, kinda. There's services and apps for it. If you need to communicate in a timely fashion? It's not going to be ideal. If you barely use your phone as it is, perhaps you'd be better served switching your carrier to 7-11 SpeakOut Wireless or PetroCanada Mobility if you're on some expensive monthly service plan.

If you want a guide on how to better leverage this technology to save money, give the guide (unabridged) a read.

[LifestyleDeflation]

I've used Google Voice almost exclusively for the past ~3 years. I can make/receive calls to/from US numbers anywhere I have wifi, which is most places. I run a seasonal business, so in the on-season, I activate a shitty TracFone for 90 days. The rest of the year I rely on GV. Yes it can be a little inconvenient but it's nice for me- I spend too much time with technology already, so having a phone that's "off" when I'm driving, etc is a relief.

[Schaefer Light]

I think I'd like my job more if I had no phone service.

[Stachey]

Thank you so much for your help everyone.

Cheers I.P. Daley that's a lot of info to check out.  Thanks for your help!!  I did know about the 7-11 Speakout option and I looked into it a few years ago but everywhere I went they were sold out.  I'll check that out again because you're right the reliability of wifi networks is a concern.

I was just getting so frustrated with my cell phone because there is a cell tower right across the street from where I live and yet my cell phone service regularly drops out because the "signal fades".  Very annoying.

Slowsynapse...I was trying to recall what I did before cell phones and I dimly remember payphones.  They used to be everywhere.  Now I think they are just in libraries and gas stations.