How to Get Free Phone Service on Android
Sick and tired of paying huge cell phone service bills? Ready to reduce your dependence on major cell phone providers like AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, or Boost Mobile? Even prepaid minutes plans through companies like Cricket Wireless can add up to big bucks for cellphone users. We will show you how to get free phone service on Android.
Now you can try a few new methods to get free service on your Android phone. That means you can take calls, receive calls, have a voicemail, and even have some messaging features added in – all for free. These are all free apps from the Google Play Store that are very simple to install and set up. Some of them even give you new phone numbers for free.
How does these apps provide free phone service? Instead of using cell phone towers to ‘bounce’ the signal around, they use your internet connection, specifically your Wi Fi. So, you will need to be connected to the internet and a Wi-Fi signal in order to use them. As long as you have a Wi-Fi router at home, that’s a simple and straightforward investment that ends up being far less expensive in the long run to have phone service.
Below are the four most popular free phone-calling apps: WhatsApp, Google Hangouts, Google Voice, and TextNow.
WhatsApp is the most popular of the app phone calling and messaging apps. Like the other apps, it uses the internet to make phone calls, not your cellphone service provider, so that helps to save money. But unlike the other two free service apps listed below, WhatsApp does use your regular phone number. You don’t get a new number, but you do get a WhatsApp voicemail. You keep your contacts within the app and you can call them for free.
To place a voice call, just open WhatsApp and then open up the chat with the person you want to voice call. Tap ‘Voice Call’ which is the phone icon. When receiving a voice call, you’ll see a message pop up on the screen saying: ‘WhatsApp Voice Call.’ You can either accept the call, decline it, or reply with a quick texted message.
Google Hangouts
Google Hangouts offers to Google account users free messaging, free video calls for up to 10 people in a group chat, and, best of all, free phone calls. You will need to have the internet on your phone for this app to work, but if you have a prepaid cell phone or other type of phone that does have internet, this is your best and cheapest option.
Go to the Google Play Store app on your phone and install the Google Hangouts app. You will also need the Hangouts Dialer. Tap on the ‘phone’ icon to bring up the Phone Call section of the app. Tap on ‘New Conversation’ and then you can type in the phone number of the person you want to call.
It also tells you the price of the phone call next to it. The first time you use the app, you will have to register your phone with it, although you can add a new free number (which you can get with Google Voice, listed below).
After that, you can make phone calls and also FaceTime with the speaker, too. Tap the ‘Dial Pad’ icon to bring up the dial pad, where you can tap out the phone number. People can also call you through the Google Hangouts app, too. It’s so simple to import your contact list through the ‘Settings’ icon on the main menu.
This Google Hangouts app works in the United States and Canada to give you free phone service for unlimited phone calls.
Google Voice
If you’re not too keen on the features of Google Hangouts, but also want a Google product to help you get free phone service, then try Google Voice. It gives you a free telephone number, which you can then use to text, call, or check your voicemail from a single app. There’s voicemail transcription, too.
With this Google Voice app, as with Google Hangouts, you can sync to your computer and even make calls from there, saving more money in the process. This app also contains messaging for anyone in your Google Groups contacts list. Any calls can be forwarded, and spam is automatically filtered. However, it only allows unlimited calls and messages in the US, not Canada.
TextNow App
Another popular way to get free phone service and make calls or receive calls on Android is through the free TextNow App. It’s available on the Google Play store. There are paid plans, but with the free plan, you get a free phone number and voicemail, free calling, and unlimited calling and texting to the USA over Wi-Fi only, and high-speed data over Wi-Fi only. For only $2.99 per month, you can upgrade to get the ads removed, a caller ID, and call forwarding, which is still much less expensive than most major cell phone service providers.
To use TextNow, go to the Google Play store on your phone. Install the TextNow app. Create your free account and get your new phone number. Then, you can tap the ‘phone’ icon and dial the number to make calls.
Phone Calls Over Apps
As cell phone bills climb, more and more cell phone users will seek alternative ways to call loved ones. While calling over the internet on a phone technically isn’t free, since it still uses data, it’s an ideal way to keep in touch with loved ones and friends.
These types of apps would be best for users who don’t make a lot of phone calls and communicate primarily through other means. You’ll also notice the quality of the phone call over the Internet is slightly less clear and with more distorted clarity than it would be over a cell phone service provider.
But if you’re ready to chop your cell phone bill, then using it as mostly a computer with some free calling app capabilities just might be your best bet.
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