If you're trying to save money on your phone bill, why not skip the mainstream carriers altogether? TextNow is a Wi-Fi-based phone company that's known for offering free talk and text to users nationwide. Customers just need to buy the SIM card and deal with the occasional ad on the screen (that's how the free service pays for itself). The SIM card only costs $1.99 and there's no contract or credit check to worry about, simply confirm that your phone is compatible with the TextNow device checker and you'll be on your way to free, ad-supported wireless service.
To make its service even more compelling, TextNow recently launched a handful of unlimited data plans for users who need more than just talk and text from their phone company. As with many of the best wireless plans, TextNow's latest offerings emphasize customer personalization. If you only need a tiny bit of data, for instance, you can buy an Hour Pass for $0.99 and enjoy that sweet, sweet data for a straight 60 minutes. There's also a Day Pass for $4.99 and a Month Pass that'll set you back $39.99. No contract and zero hassle involved.
The Hour Pass also comes with 300MB of high-speed data before your speeds drop to 2G, while the Day and Month Pass include 2GB and 10GB of high-speed data, respectively. Buy the Month Pass and you also won't need to deal with those annoying ads.
TextNow's wireless is supplied by T-Mobile so coverage across the United States really shouldn't be an issue, just make sure your Android phone is unlocked and compatible.
It hasn't quite earned its place among our favorite MVNO carriers just yet, but if you need cheap, no-frills wireless service that you can purchase by the hour, TextNow is a pretty interesting choice.
