Your questions are very subjective. Many cell phones can run Java applications--those can use Opera Mini which is a very nice, fast Web browser. Opera Mini does work over WiFi and gives you access to a lot of the Web from your phone. If you stick with a "dumb"phone, you shouldn't need a data package.

I am looking for a wi-fi capable phone, but one that I do not have to sign up for a data package with. I can find several phones that have wi-fi, but some are fairly simple flip-phones with smallish screens. With some of these I can find no mention of what kind of application they are using to access the web.

So what are people using the wi-fi for? What is it worth if there is no web browser available? Is it worth anything if you do not have a larger screen size, and an app that will format the web pages for easy viewing on a small screen?

Most of the highly rated phones I seem to find are phones that the carriers require a data plan with.

Thanks for any help.