Text Only Plans

There are a number of situations in which a text only plan can make a lot of sense.

For parents with teenagers who text a great deal, but rarely or never talk. Face it, there are a significant number of people under the age of 30 who text exclusively. Costs can be held down if you don't pay for a service they don't use. Prepaid plans of course give parents even greater assurances that the budget won't be exceeded.

For the deaf and those with a hearing loss. For some individuals, voice calling is pretty much useless, but text messaging offers them the communication they need. Text only plans save them from having to pay for voice services they can't use.

For those who primarily need to text message versus talking due to their business or personal preferences. Some of the text only services below do not offer voice calls at all, but the rest charge a premium per minute fee so voice calling should rarely be used under these plans except in the situation where we noted affordable unlimited voice/text plans that might meet your needs. Businesses may also find text/data only plans useful.

Traditional providers such as AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile do offer data only plans. Of course, a two year contract is generally required. Some of them are available only to those who are deaf or have a hearing loss.

AT&T has their Text Accessibility Plan (TAP) for the iPhone ($40/month) and iPhone 3G ($50/month). Both offer unlimited SMS messaging, e-mail, and internet as well as visual voicemail. If voice calls are made, the charge is 40 cents/minute. It appears that the plan is available primarily to the deaf and those with hearing impairment as their site indicates you have to qualify by completing a disability certification form. They do however offer a business version of the program for $65/month. You can learn more here.

Sprint on the other hand, offers their Relay Data Plan for $29.99. Users get unlimited domestic SMS messaging, instant messaging, e-mail, and internet. If voice calls are made, the charge is 20 cents per minute while incoming calls are blocked. However, in most cases the block can be removed if the user wishes. Sprint offers several phone models for this service; most are currently priced from around $50 to $150. You can find more information about their data only plan here.

Verizon Wireless also has a text only plan. Users get unlimited domestic text, instant, picture & video messaging as well as internet for $34.99/month. Any voice calls would be charged at a 40 cents/minute rate. For those with a Blackberry, smartphone or PDA the price is $54.99/month but voice minutes would drop to 25 cents/minute. They have a variety of discounted phones available and you can view them or more details about the text messaging only plans here.

Currently, T-Mobile's sole data only plan is the one for the Blackberry which provides unlimited web access and messaging for $39.98/month. Historically, they've offered the Sidekick Data Plan, but at this time it's not available. Learn more about it here.

US Celluar has both a standard text only plan and a prepaid version that requires no committment. However, these plans appear to be available only to those who are deaf or have a hearing impairment. Both offer unlimited text messaging for $24.95/month. The standard plan allows voice calls at a rate of 25 cents/minute (within Wide Area) while the rate goes to 50 cents/minute on the prepaid plan. You can see further information here.

There are a few prepaid options for those who only want text messaging. These plans don't require any contractual committment.

One such option is via a company called QWERT. They offer text messaging only ; they have no data or voice services. The cost for 400 messages per month is $9.99 (plus a one time $9.99 activation fee). If you exceed this number of messages, your service is suspended. At that point you can reactivate by going to their site, but you probably will have to pay to reactivate. The other option is their unlimited plan which costs $19.99 per month. You can switch from the basic to the unlimited plan without cost. International text messaging is not provided as a service. QWERT works with any unlocked GSM phone. You can get your own or purchase one from them. The options are generally limited and the cost varies by phone of course.

Virgin Mobile has something called Texters Delight. Users can get unlimited messaging for $19.99/month and any calls are charged at 10 cents/minute. The only other expense should be the no contract phone. You can see more about this here.

Some prepaid providers don't necessarily offer text only plans but they may be economical nonetheless. Prepaid plans now offer affordable monthly rates, without the contract, that allow unlimited messaging as well as unlimited voice calls. If you choose not to use the voice calls, the price is still good. Not all of these plans offer unlimited data however if that's what you want.

One of the most affordable it appears is from MetroPCS. For as little as $30/month you can get unlimited voice and text messaging. You can see the details here. This page will highlight exactly what services are provided for this fee.

There are also smaller prepaid providers that are available in some areas of the US which might also be an option. For instance Page Plus Cellular. I haven't used their plans, but it appears that you could buy minutes for as little as $10, they roll over, so you wouldn't have to buy them frequently. Then purchase one of their power text packages: $10.95 would get you 2,000 messages, and $19.95 would get you unlimited messages. It might be worth checking into if their service is sufficient in your area. Be sure you know how frequently you would need to buy minutes.

Another interesting product that can provide basic text messaging without voice calling is not a cell phone at all. It's a device called the Peek Pronto. This small device looks a bit like a professional calculator with it's full QWERTY keyboard, and 2.5" color QVGA screen. It's main skills are e-mail (up to 5 accounts) and text messaging. Users can veiw JPEG, PDF, and Word documents as well. It's affordable and costs under $20/month for service with no contract or, if you're not afraid of the committment, you can pay just under $300 and get the device and lifetime service with no further cost.