IP, I've been reading your information about phones, net etc.. It is a little too techy for me to wrap my head around.
I have a Verizon smart phone with an expired contract. Can I just downgrade to their smallest monthly text and phone plan and then use the phone via wifi at home and office for calls and web access?
Well, the smallest monthly text and phone plan you're going to get on Verizon's network is basically Page Plus' PAYG plan, which works out to a minimum monthly cost of $2.50+tax, with balance rollover and prices at the cost of 5-10¢/minute, 5¢/text, and 10¢/MB depending on the quantity of credit you spring for. (Alternately, if you're willing to go
Selectel, you can get an effective pool of 2000 minutes and 2000 texts a year for $75/year ($6.25/month). That covers an
average monthly usage of up to 166 minutes and 166 texts. There's no data, but the rates are technically cheaper than Page Plus at a rough price of 1.875¢ per available minute and text
if you use the entire balance, otherwise unused doesn't roll over.)
As for using the phone via WiFi for calls, that requires a VoIP service and a bit of call forwarding to keep things unified. The cheapest, and "easiest" route for most people is to transfer their number to Google Voice, and then use Hangouts for making and receiving free VoIP calls over WiFi (for as long as Google will support that), and having GV forward any calls to your (different) cell number if you're out on the mobile network. It's a solution that gets datamined, it is a solution with call quality that frequently equals what you pay for, but if you're having trouble following the logic flow from
this post, it might just be the easiest route for you to take.
The last part of the whole thing is your smartphone specifically. If it's an LTE device, you may have to wait until October to take it to Page Plus. There has been no official announcement on LTE support by Selectel, however, I suspect that they shouldn't be much behind that. Alternately, if you're good with AT&T and/or T-Mobile GSM coverage in your area, and your smartphone in question happens to be a GSM+LTE+CDMA world phone (like the Verizon iPhone 5 or Galaxy S3 for example), the SIM card slot should already be carrier unlocked, which means you don't just have a Verizon MVNO as your only option. You also have any of the AT&T or T-Mobile MVNO options at your disposal as well, including
Truphone. If it's just a GSM+CDMA (no LTE) world phone and they only carrier unlocked for
global roaming, so long as it has support for the GSM 850+1900 bands, you can still go with Truphone as a GSM MVNO option, but no others.
Any other questions or needed clarity, feel free to ask!