Text Messaging for Free

So, I am fed up with spending $30 a month on a texting plan that has a marginal cost of zero to the cell phone companies. I'm not so much annoyed that their marginal cost is zero, my concern is that it costs me $30. So, I have been quite happy using Google Voice to route all of my text messages...for free (well, free as in beer).

All I had to do was tell those that text me that I have a new cell phone number. That is it. All text messages now come in via google voice. My outbound text messages still cost me per text, unless I send them through google voice, which they are then free.

For the not so faint of heart, it is possible to jailbreak your phone and use SMS GV extension to route all of your text messaging through google voice. This way, no matter what number people text you at and no matter which SMS app you use to reply, the text messages go through google voice and are free.

So, last month my text messaging bill was $30. This month it is $1.10, yet I sent more text messages than last month.