Are voip and pay-as-you-go phones reasonable cell-phone alternatives?
You can get a VoIP account and have all calls to your VoIP account forwarded to your cell, if you don’t pick-up on the VoIP incoming call. With services like CallCentric, it is possible to get a VoIP account and no VoIP equipment if your primary interest is to have VoiceMail on that number. All voicemails can be forwarded to your email account as an attachment. Or set the account to forward all unanswered calls to your cell, or any other phone number you like.
