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I am one of the worst kind of tech geeks in that I am an amateur tech geek. Like people who dress up like the Star Trek characters or the contrived-psycho faux mercenaries who play paintball, I don't actually work in any kind of tech industry and instead do it for love. I also probably have some deep-seated insecurity springing mostly from the fact that my wife has been on Facebook approximately one third of the time I have and has over five TIMES the number of Friends that I do. Naturally, I am now dismissive of Facebook. One of the by-product of this studied, quasi nerdiness is that I collect gadgets. Not the really outrageous, fun robotic-cockroach-type ones you can find in discount electronic malls in Shanghai, mostly they are ...well...smart phones. This also means I tend to have too many phone numbers since I am too cheap to pay for the smartphone directly. Instead, I prefer to set up a three year monthly plan to some carrier to get the phone 'free'. Sad, I know. Over the holidays I chatted to one of my teenage son's poor, disadvantaged friends. In this case, 'poor' meant he didn't have a smart phone, he only had one of the old-style, non-app relics that could only be used for calling and texting. I don't get why you would have a phone if all you could do was call and text. He said it was because he 'didn't want to spend more per month'. This shook me up at first. But then, I saw it for what it was, a new challenge for the amateur geek: Could you have most of a real smart phone experience and not pay $80 a month?? Strategy: a barebones, basic Line/an aged smartphone People focus on two aspects that are, in my opinion, misguided: They want a 'free' phone and are willing to pay $50 more a month for 36 months ($1800 total) rather than pay $300 for a decent phone and not be locked into a contract. We have become so leery of per minute charges we'll pay an extra $20 every month for some form of unlimited plan rather than $2 or $5 once in awhile for some per-minute call. Turns out, this was far easier to achieve than I expected. In fact it made me look at my own plans again. You can set up a basic phone service, using either the basic plan or even a pay-as-you-go plan on any of the major carriers. Here is the strategy: 1. Get a two-year-old smartphone Either make one yourself by buying a new phone and waiting two years or find someone like me who needs the newest phone, RIGHT NOW. Buy their old one for a hugely discounted price or check the phones listed under the 'pay as you go' sections of the mobile websites. Check eBay, Kijijii, Amazon or my current favourite, aliexpress.com for a new, no-name Android phones. Actually you can even use the following services/strategies to even turn the iPod Touch (3rd generation or later) into a quasi-phone, meaning you can make and receive calls from the Touch anytime you are in a wifi area. This would also apply to most tablets. 2. Get the best basic plan. Sign up for the most basic, basic plan. You may or may not want access to a data plan. Do not pay anything extra for long distance, free evenings, a pre-set data package, etc. That moves it from the cheapest and it is mostly, for our purposes, unneeded, decadent excess. 3. Secret Step: Use phone apps on free Wifi Whether at home, work, hotel, gym, grocery store, Macdonald's or Wendy's, free Wi-Fi is becoming widely available. With that being the case, it cracks open the door to hours of free talking, essays of free texting and whole galas of free web surfing, movie watching, and game playing. Here are some apps to some true smart-phonin' ...on the cheap! Just turn off your mobile antenna, turn on your wifi and you're ready to roll. Fongo - free calling, cheap texting This app is available for almost any smart phone and offers you a free local phone number you can use on your phone to make and receive unlimited calls plus get free voice mail, call forwarding etc. You can text other Fongo users for free or you can spend $1.99 per month (or $20 a year) to text anyone. TextPlus - free texting, cheap calls This app is also widely available. It assigns you a local number and allows unlimited texting, group chat and free calls to other TextPlus members or very cheap calls (2.3 cents a minute for calls in Canada) to everyone else. As a note, remember that either of these services effectively allow you to have a second number on your single cell phone. If you are self employed or want a private number on a work phone, etc this stops you from having to carry (and pay for) a second phone. Skype/GooglePlus-free video calls Either service works very well with a broad range of phones (assuming your phone has a camera) Both also offer excellent phone number type deals for Americans, but not Canadians. Rogers One Number –phone/text app for Rogers Clients If you are a Roger's customer, then this app can be added to your tablet or desktop and allows you to make and receive calls and texts over just the wifi. The texts/calls still count towards any limits you have but it can still be a handy feature if you have, for example, unlimited texting on your basic plan. Alternatives Closed system app services such as Blackberry Messenger, Apple's Facetime, Facebook Chat all have some of the above services but require all your friends to be on Facebook (which is actually likely) or using a specific brand like iPhone or Blackberry. As an aside, remember that you can set up Facebook to send all updates –both directions- via text only. Sample Strategy: This is just thrown together as a single illustration, I am not guaranteeing any of these prices or features or recommending any specific products, services or companies. Buy a HTC One PreOwned Android from Koodo                                                                   $100.00 Unlock the phone-if needed                                                                                                 $ 30.00 Set up basic plan with a carrier, sample choices: Virgin Mobile Choice 20 (50 min, long distance, unlimited text plus MyPeeps with 5 friends)                                                                                  Monthly        $  20.00 Rogers Socialite 20($.25 a min, unlimited text, 100mg data)                          Monthly        $  21.00 Fido (50 talk min, unlimited texting)                                                                Monthly        $  20.00 Set up a Fongo make unlimited wifi calls, free voicemail                                 Monthly        Free Summary Few people spend a lot of time thinking about their cellphone plans once they set them up and they are certainly confusing with the overwhelming choices available. However, for $130 once and then $20 a month you could have a total package that allows unlimited wifi calls and web browsing, email and chat with unlimited texting any time. So spend some time, do some digging past the main screens of the mobile companies, add in some apps you can use and you should be able to create a plan that will take care of 90% of your needs.

 

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G4 Canada (formerly TechTV Canada) launched in September 2001. G4 is the one and only television station that is plugged into every dimension of games, gear, gadgets and gigabytes. Owned Rogers Media Inc., the channel airs more than 24 original series. G4 is available on digital cable and satellite. For more information, see www.g4tv.ca.