Here are some FREE texting apps. Some of the best include Pinger (iOS and Android; pinger.com), textPlus (iOS, Android, Windows Phone; textplus.com), and WeChat (iOS, Android, Windows Phone; wechat.com). All of these apps function just like regular texting apps, right down to the instant notifications, but they use data instead of texting. So you can nix the texting allotment from your plan and rely solely on data and Wi-Fi to get your 160-character message fix. Pinger even gives you your own texting phone number, so you can text smartphones and non-smartphones alike.
I’m not sure why I would do this. Most carriers offer plans that offer unlimited voice and text. Data is the money-suck.
With a prepaid, no-contract plan from Verizon (the carrier with the bar-none best network coverage in my area) I can buy a mid-range smartphone for around $100-$200 (e.g., Moto X, $189), and pay $50 a month forever, for unlimited voice, unlimited text and 1 gig of data. If I really need to access email or the Web and am worried about going over 1 gig, I can pull into Starbucks/Panera/McDonalds/whoever and use my laptop on their free WiFi.
SOFIBlog.com ... 352-324-6042 Florida 
I’m not sure why I would do this. Most carriers offer plans that offer unlimited voice and text. Data is the money-suck.
With a prepaid, no-contract plan from Verizon (the carrier with the bar-none best network coverage in my area) I can buy a mid-range smartphone for around $100-$200 (e.g., Moto X, $189), and pay $50 a month forever, for unlimited voice, unlimited text and 1 gig of data. If I really need to access email or the Web and am worried about going over 1 gig, I can pull into Starbucks/Panera/McDonalds/whoever and use my laptop on their free WiFi.