I just signed up for my first data plan. I just spoke with a verizon rep and they said that that doesn't mean unlimited text and I would have to pay separately? is this true?
If you sign up for google voice you can use data for your texts.
This is just my opinion, but in my experience Google Voice texting was not very reliable.
Kstufff: not sure if you qualify for any student or corporate discounts, but that can help quite a bit.