Dropping my cell phone service for google voice?

[AC Question]

I'm considering dropping my cell phone service, simply because I think I can get by with just using google voice as my primary phone features..
However, I do have a few questions.

So, my plan is to get a 5gb tablet data plan from tmobile ($10/month promo) and using that in combination with comcast wifi hotspots + my home wifi to get connectivity. Then porting my phone number over to google voice and using google voice to make/receive calls.

Which brings a couple of questions..

1. Since I'll be receiving/making phone calls using google voice, do I still need a voice enabled tablet? or can I get by with a wifi only tablet?

2. Is there any difference in functionality while I'm on wifi as opposed to when I get my LTE data as far as google voice is concerned?


Also, if you have some experience with similar usage model, what kind of data usage can I expect using google voice for calling/texting?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Crashdamage]

You can use just about any tablet with a microphone. WiFi only works.

There's no functional difference between WiFi and LTE mobile data.

Data usage is light for phone calls and SMS text messages. Heavier for MMS photo messages.

You do not make WiFi or LTE calls through Google Voice. Calls made through Google Voice or using a Google Voice number normally use regular cellphone service. Google Voice is kind of a phone switching service, but a really terrific, flexible and free service.

What you want to do is make VOIP calls over a WiFi connection or LTE mobile data. You can do it, I did it for a while recently as an experiment to see if I could eliminate cellphone service and use my phone on data-only service. Turns out I could and did go VOIP calling only for a month, but it's just a bit clumsy.

You will need to get a Google Voice number or port your cell number to Google Voice.

https://support.google.com/voice/answer/150640?hl=en

Then install Hangouts (probably already installed) and the Hangouts Dialer.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...le.android.apps.hangoutsdialer&token=7bt_-wl1

Here's some more information about how all this works:

http://m.androidcentral.com/what-you-need-know-about-new-google-hangouts-and-google-voice

Android user since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.