Hobby phone setup and apps

[MarkusH]

Hello all, I am posting here hoping to get responses from a wider audience,as my question pertains to both technical and security aspects.

I know the question has been asked before in many contexts, but I am trying to find a comprehensive solution. Sort of like a best practices.

What are the best suggested setups related to:

- physical phone/device, smartphone, brand etc.
- service providers such as att etc
- services needed such as voice,text,data or a combo of them.
- any apps for smartphones.

Overall idea is to do it at minimal initial and recurring costs, while maintaining privacy and security.

Thoughts and ideas? Serious discussion only please.

[Clark W. Griswold]

You don't need anything fancy. It can be a flip phone for all you care. You can go to Walmart and grab one for $30. Voice and text should be more than enough. It's a phone that you wouldn't mind having to throw away should the occasion arise. Hence the term throwaway phone.

[Pho King]

I have an att flip phone....I also have the sideline app, and textplus app on my regular phone. Textplus costs 5 bucks for 200 minutes I think and it gives you your own custom vip number. Besides it's easier to text with textplus than a flip phone. Call quality is still the same