Does one still need a talk plan?

[yhelothar]

With google talk and skype, can one get away with just a data plan?

Are there any advantages of paying for a talk plan over google talk/skype?

 

[vshah]

You still need a voip provider as Google voice by itself is not voip. Skype would work. Some people have tried it on Tmobiles 30$ 100 minutes/5gb plan and have reported laggy audio. It'd be very dependent on signal strength and network coverage.

 

[wirednuts]

skype is the only voip service ive tried on android that really doesnt lag. there might be free options, but they dont hold a candle to skypes quality.

 

[zerocool84]

Data coverage is always more spotty than talk coverage. If you only ever talk in one spot with good coverage than it could work but I've tried a couple and traveling all around LA and OC sucked with any of them. I talk a lot on the phone so I'll always need unlimited talk.

 

[Bman123]

It really wouldn't be worth it as you need at least hspa+ preferably LTE and solid coverage at that. Then you would have your data on all the time and tank your battery pretty quick on LTE.

 

[dagamer34]

I wouldn't attempt this until carriers turn on VoLTE, because then a few rules should kick in, such as carriers not being able to degrade competing services such as Skype. At that point, you really should be able to separate voice from data, since at the network level it's all just data.

 

[vshah]

battery life for phone calls would also be terrible.