Deactivate iP4, but keeping it as an iPod/mini iPadish thing?

Hey,

I'm going to put my cell phone service on pause for 6-7mo ish due to leaving the country. While I'm away, I'd like to be able to keep in touch with my loved ones/friends, assuming I have access to wifi at certain points. I was wondering if I can keep my phone operational without service? I'm JB on 5.0.1. Ideally, I'd like to be able to use facetime, skype, or gmail voice chat and ios message or bitesms credits for texting with wifi. I also have an non-JB iPad2 if tht makes a difference in my possibilities. Appreciate any help or insight, thanks.

 

Will that require me keeping my service? I'm deploying and will be in the middle of the ocean for most of it. As such I WON'T have access to wifi or a cell tower, so I can save 600 bucks by pausing my cell service. I guess my question really is, will my JB iphone have any functionality once I cut off the cell service, or should I just leave it at home until I can reactivate my service?

 

AWESOME! Thanks guys