All smartphones come with a data plan, which makes sense -- you do, after all, need a data plan to be able to get online when you're not in range of a Wi-Fi network. You don't, however, need to be in range of a cellular data network or, in fact, to have a data plan to use Wi-Fi on your smartphone -- the two are completely independent of each other.
Using Wi-Fi
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Whenever your smartphone is in range of a Wi-Fi network, it can connect to it, as long as you know the password to it. This is the case even if the SIM card inside your smartphone isn't active, or if your smartphone lacks a SIM altogether. You can take advantage of this in many situations. If you're abroad, for example, you can avoid extra charges by switching off data roaming and using Wi-Fi networks to get online. You can even turn off your smartphone's access to the cellular network altogether, both for data and for voice and texts, and still maintain access to Wi-Fi. To do this, switch on airplane mode for your smartphone, open the Wi-Fi settings and reactivate the feature.
