The new T-Mobile Sidekick 4G with their "VB" (voice barred) data only package.

If you are like me and use your Sidekick mainly as what I sometimes refer to it as a "Email, text & IM pager" maybe you are not so interested in paying for a voice plan. Perhaps you are hearing impaired and therefore the voice plans would just be a "waste of money" for you.

Whatever the case might be, T-Mobile offers something they do not advertise much (if any) they call these plans "VB" (stands for voice barred). They have been around for a long time with TMo, in fact back when I got my first Sidekick I had such a package for $29.99 a month. 

After having had my Sidekick 4G on a $30 (data) & $39.99 (500 min voice) plan for around 2 weeks, I have changed my mind and gone with this "VB" plan for my SK 4G, that now goes for $49.99. Why do I chose this option? Well for me (using an individual plan & having a "second line & phone" with another carrier) it just made no sense to pay close to $100/month for my SK4G.

So how does this work in reality? Well you have zero minutes on your account and in fact you can not call out nor can anyone reach you at the number that is assigned to the Sidekick. If someone calls your number they will get the message "At the subscribers request this phone does not accept incoming calls". So how can one still keep on using your phone and maybe (as with me) long time phone number in a more normal way? Well recently Google Voice has started to allow for porting of numbers the Google voice service as such is free (for domestic calls and texting/SMS) but the port itself costs a one time fee of $20 and takes around 24 hours to be completed (exactly to the hour for me!). The completion of the port of the texting/SMS feature takes longer (still pending for me for incoming but works for outgoing).

Since the new Sidekick 4G is Android based it works very well with the Google voice app from the the Android market (also available for iOS devices btw). So I can continue to send and receive text messages/SMS' to my "old" number and (uniquely to Google voice for now as far as I know) you can even forward your texts/SMS to another number as SMS (or/and to emails if you want!). So the SK voice barred (but with included unlimited text/SMS) can be set up to receive the SMS as a real SMS which can be handy if/when you happen to be in poor reception where there is no data coverage but maybe voice (whereby text/SMS also works) coverage is available.

I can also place and receive calls within my Gmail account in my browser. However since the Google Voice app for the mobile phone wants to use the voice line to place a call I am NOT able to use my Google Voice app for placing or receiving calls. Now while the mobile data coverage and speeds are somewhat lacking still in North America it is possible (though at times limited) to use VOIP over 3G/4G data. So I am able to use the Skype app for unlimited calling in the US & Canada for $2.99/month (with $13.99-19.99 for worldwide unlimited packages as optional). Once Google Voice completes the full port and thereby activates my incoming texts/SMS I can add my old (now ported to Google Voice) number with Skype and thereby have it to show up as the caller ID number when I use Skype to call out.

This all might sound somewhat complex, but I must say once it is all setup it works fantastically smooth and gives me full control of what, where, to where, from where I get calls texts/SMS and how I can access them. Unlike "traditional" texts/SMS since I now get an email with them I have them archived for as long as I chose to, something that has at times been an issue in the past, especially with the old Sidekicks that had a maximum of 100 messages.

All I can say is I am NOW HAPPY with my Sidekick 4G setup at $10 more a month than I was paying for my very first Sidekick soon to be a decade ago! 

The only little silly thing is I have no way of calling 611 to reach T-Mobile! :)