I went the Hangouts+pure data plan route, 10 bucks per month and I've had spam filtering and a single and/IM/video call/voice call/phone call account available on any device I sign into regardless if my phone was turned off 3 states over or not.

It sucks they are dropping it and there is nothing like this experience available. Even Apple requires pairing to a phone (that is actively online) to send SMS.