The reason consider iPod touch instead of iPhone are simple:
1) 3 years contract and $70 monthly payment is not worthy for non business man
2) it’s easy to turn iPod touch to phone at free or very low cost
Here are simple steps:
1) call out to normal phone via voip
skype is number one choice, 5 hours – 300 min at CAD$0.027 rate will cost CAD$8 , not matter local or long distance call.
google voice is also free to call normal phone in US and Canada through whole 2011.
2) call in from normal phone
need a local phone number and forward to skype id, buy a virtual number from Virtufon http://www.virtufon.com at CAD$6 per month without talk limit
3) voicemail
buy from skype, it’s CAD$6 for 3 months or CAD$20 for a full year
4) SMS
one option is from skype at CAD$0.12 per message
also there are many free web-based SMS tool, this is simple and easy one:
http://sms.dynadel.com
Let’s see how much cost for 300 mins local/long distance call + voicemail + SMS in Canada:
CAD $16
You will save at least CAD $40 every month then.
The only problem is this phone is not available all the time due to based on wi-fi not 3G.