Hobby phone setup and apps

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.

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.

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