[ale] Moving my Wife/Kids phones into the 20th Century

[cluon at geeklabs.com (Mike Harrison)]

> Does anyone know of a carrier that will sell an android smartphone WITHOUT a data plan?

You can BUY a smartphone.. unlocked, from many sources. Best Buy for 
example.. Amazon.com..

Most carriers want that plan.. they are carriers. ;)

I bought my Samsung Note II from T-Mobile, cash.
After the return period (45 or 60 days, I forgot)
they nicely emailed me an unlock code.  No plan was required.

I do use and like their prepaid service in urban USA areas.
But I was just in the Philippines and for 550 PHP (Pisos)
got a local sim and minutes (no data), That's $13.00 for a Sim,
Phone# and minutes/text capabilities. As I needed to test the local
SMS gateway system we were installing, I needed a true local number
and SMS capabilities. WiFi worked great for data..

The difference is, buying from a carrier with their "less than full price"
requires a data plan because that's what subsidizes the cheaper price.