TougeHorseman

Since it's a family plan, it's hard to factor specifically. I share something like 2000 minutes with 3 other phones. I literally use about 5 minutes each month. Those are from the couple times I forget and dial with non-google-voice. We were able to reduce our bill once I started using this method because we were paying exta $ for extra minutes. Verizon only offers a "top ten" option for family plans with a certain amount of minutes paid for.

Milking minutes through a "top ten" or "fave five" (t-mobile's old thing) is really the best way to go.

Verizon has me paying $30/month for unlimited data on my i-phone. They originally had me on a 2GB limit. Then I called and the same exact $30/month was available for an unlimited plan!

I'm a huge fan of google voice. Nothing else lets you text/talk from the LAPTOP as well as the phone. It's nice to have all your contacts stored online, that way you can access them anywhere anytime. If I forget my phone for a day, hell, I have have YOUR phone ring with all my incoming calls. It's also nice if you live in a rural area, because you can have your home phone ring when the google voice calls. Other perks include voicemail transcripts (I NEVER listed to voicemails, I read them when they show up in my email/text history). The google voice app completely eliminates the need to PAY for text message plans. Its a free ap, with a free local phone number.

Need I say more, convert to google voice. They recently began allowing MMS messages, which end up in your email.
[/quote]
Very cool. So txting could appear as an email in my iphones email box and I reply and the other person gets it back as texts?
[/quote]
Basic texting through the google voice ap functions the same as iMessage with access to your own google voice contacts. Your email would contain a duplicate copy of any voicemail transcripts and MMS messages.

Voodoo_S2K

I use Google Voice as well, but primarily for Craigslist transactions. Wish I could call out from my Google number on the phone.

TougeHorseman

You basically can, two different ways:
1. By using the google voice bounce number, which is assigned to each of your contacts once they have texted you.
2. The other way just initiates the call by google voice calling you, then when you answer the phone is already ringing to dial your contact.

Another great feature about google voice is that you can BLOCK unwanted numbers. This is a good reason to use it too!