I have never been much of a texter because I’ve always had a pretty crumby phone. I always had plans to upgrade to a smartphone when I could afford one. However, when my girlfriend put my phone through the washer I had to use my upgrade on a replacement phone. I was finally able to upgrade to an iPhone and consequentially my text messages began to rise out of the limits that my basic plan provides (200 total: in and out). For another $10 a month I could add 1300 more messages, but I knew I wouldn’t use all of them and I didn’t want to give more money to my cell phone provider for a service that costs them virtually nothing. Then I realized I could use Google Voice to help with this dilemma. I signed up for it a long time ago and only really used my invite for the vanity number. I could be using it to send free text messages straight from my phone.