Has all the bells and whistles I need, in addition to the storage space than my previous Samsung phone I have had for over 4 years. Plus I can watch Netflix and Disney+(which I bought a year subscription to). I have had Netflix since 2015 and LOVE IT. I did not need the S21 or the S21 Ultra, which run up there.

I paid $200 less at Costco than I would have at the Verizon store. With taxes, it was well under $400. I put down $330 and paid my son in cash for the remainder that would have been on our family account. Costco has a deal with Verizon, Apple, AT&T, and T Mobile.

Saying that, it seems you just need a phone and not necessarily a smart phone. You should be able to find a decent one for under $100 but it wont have much other than a phone and messaging,

I paid $180 for a new LG for my wife and it is more than she needs. Since you wont need 4g or 5g, maybe you can get a used 2g phone and it should be under $50. I would ask someone who knows more than I do whether it will be able to communicate with whatever service you decide to go with.

Don't want to spend big bucks for one if I can get by with just a cell phone.

Get a SIM for whatever compatible service you prefer. The G8s are out, but you don't have to get the newest model

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/motorola-moto-g7-plus-64gb-unlocked-black/6432489.p?skuId=6432489

As of January 19, 2021, AT&T no longer activates new SIM card with the phone that don’t support 4G HD Voice since they won’t be compatible on AT&T network when 3G shuts down by February 2022.

3G unlocked phones will still works with Activated At&T prepaid SIM Card for this time before February 2022.

The bumpy syntax is because I copied this from a phone description page.

Looks like I need to educate meself a bit about phones.

If you use comcast as your cable or internet provider, you can sign up for Xfinity Mobile. I pay $14 a month for mine since I use under 1G every month and that might be cheaper than going with pay by minutes. The catch is you have to buy one of their phones and the cheapest might run you $140 or so, and you can pay on a two year plan. That would be apx $8 for the phone and $14 for the service for a total of $22 per month. But once it is paid off, your phone bill will be super cheap.

Nothing fancy, $40.00 @ Tracfone, decent service, inexpensive plans if you don't use data, data, texts & minutes roll over. I pay about $23 for three months, but rarely use it.

My wife bought a google pixel 4 & uses Google Fi, since google Fi uses your wifi or any wifi it can find, runs her about $25. a month. She uses he pixel for facetime, zoom etc, but always at home using our wifi. Moto E6 takes decent pics, Pixel 4 pics are awesome. Think the Pixel4 was around $350... wife playing tennis right now, so not sure.

Having your battery performance degrade to the point that your phone is unusable and not being able to replace the battery is the reason that most of us buy new phones.

Thought that was a plus, as used to cold boot older smart phones, remove the battery...to date haven't taken the battery out, got the phone for some silly price $30, I think when tracfone advised me LG phone wouldn't work on whatever cell provider they piggyback on after Jan.1 2021.
I'm now retired & when I was working, had a car phone, pager, cell phone buzzing me constantly, these days I use my phone for Bluetooth data (exercise) from a smart watch & a paper weight when it's windy while sitting outside.

been looking Republic Wireless for awhile. I won't rathole on their business model but they are a good fit for users that will be in range of wifi for most of their usage and have very reasonable plans with unlimited text and talk.

https://republicwireless.com/

That best buy price is really worth it. Nice screen resolution, decent camera. 64 GB is plenty of storage, and it's dual-SIM.

I've been using the Moto G unlocked line for about 4 or 5 years.

Bought a phone from Verizon for $79, pay $45 a month for unlimited phone text and data. The phone I bought is a Samsung J-3 and I can talk, text, use the internet, take pictures, record videos, play games, etc etc. I have been more than satisfied with the phone and the service. It is very reliable. Do not buy into the rhetoric that you can't find a decent phone unless you pay big bucks for it. My phone has a decent size screen which is 5 in. The only reason I think about a new phone is for a bigger screen size.

You might look into Straight Talk. My wife uses them, and have some decent cost-effective plans.

$25 a month for unlimited talk and text plus 1Gb data (I never use it up, only listen to a little audio in car or walking)...serves my needs just fine, you can refill online or get the monthly cards at many local stores (WalMart, Dollar General...other)...If I do want to watch video I just make sure I'm somewhere with wifi (which it works fine with) and watch away...

If you want a signal at your house I’d check with neighbors and see who has decent service where you live. It varies a lot by providers.

Got mine at a Dollar General, but they are available at a lot of places.

I've had this phone for 12 years, use it for occasional calls (or for when a mobile number is required) and carry it with me in case of emergency. Runs on major networks, so it works wherever a smartphone works. Never had any problems with it. Can't beat the price.

I liked them but got sucked into other inexpensive deals, but for the past 3 or 4 years I've used a gently used Iphone 7 with Cricket as my carrier. Cricket will give you a choice of a few different android phones free and some at reduced charge for the $35 monthly charge.

I hardly ever use mine for calls but you will find a phone gives you uses you never had before when you use the apps. I don't mean the social network thingies, but Contacts is wonderful. You have names, addresses, birth dates, everything at your touch. Who knew if you went into the hospital outpatient lab you had to have a next of kin name and phone number? It's right there. In my 70s phone numbers are hard to remember. Apple weather is better than the Weather channel. I almost never call anyone, but it's there if needed. My friend's granddaughter fixed something so if I get calls not in my contacts app it doesn't ring at all, so no junk calls even though the notification is on the phone. I go in later and add that to my block list, so I don't get repeats from the same number. I sometimes use the camera to take a picture of something with the price displayed so I can refer to it later to compare it to something or some place else. Some of the apps I rarely use, but some I absolutely love. There are apps to leave notes to yourself. Think of it as a mini computer.

As far as Android phones, Walgreen's not only has a decent selection, the few around here have a Clearance section of 1 isle where they often put discontinued things at half price. Sometimes they will have a few phones in there for either Tracfone or a few other of the burners. I have seen them as low as 10 or 15 dollars including a number of "trial minutes." All you have to do is activate it. It might not be an Iphone but it wasn't bad. I was tempted to buy one to put in my emergency go-bag but if you're bugging out it probably woudn't have time to activate a new phone.

I will probably hold onto my land line until or if I ever cut my cable cord. As long as I get all 3 as a package I'm good with that. Besides, I kind of like never answering my land line until I see who is calling,