I'm on a Tracphone and mostly satisfied. Best feature is the cost. I pay about $100 per year and the minutes roll over. I did the extra cash up front for "lifetime" double minutes... that is life of the phone. First phone I had was not very good... second was more expensive and more powerful. At the moment I have over 2000 minutes because I don't use them all... may have wasted my money on the double thingy. Downsides! They will kick you off the air if it is busy. Not dropped... they just won't let you call or it will say "emergency only". Most of the time it works just fine but not at all during lunchtime when everyone is calling someone. Texting is poor because of the cheap phone but it does allow it. Texting is popular around here because we have weak signal and text will go when voice won't. I think they ding me 1/2 minute per text. I don't use it much but it is a nice option... helps to have a friend that will let you send a couple practice texts while learning how. I really like the voice mail! My home voice mail was often a pita... machine broke or ran out of room. Almost worth the phone just to have the mail. Tracphone has some really cheap phones. About $15 should get you the lowest which comes with a few starter minutes. If it works for you they have better phones available on the website. If you buy minutes for the cheap phone then get a better one they will transfer but that deactivates the old phone. I will probably watch this thread as I'd like something a bit better. Just waited 90 minutes to make an important call because the airwaves were "congested". Suppose the call got made... and emergency service was available if that had been the situation. : ) lyra

I have the minimum data plan on my phone, with the phone I got, smartphone, you are required to have a data plan, I am with Att. What I do is go into settings and turn off mobile network for Internet. That way I know I am not using up my data plan, but I can access the Internet via wifi with no costs, at home I have wifi so I can use it all I want or any where I have a wifi connection. Now if I am out and about and find I need to access the Internet and no wifi around then I go to settings and turn on the mobile data connection. I can then connect to the Internet to get the information I need then turn it back off. I have an app on my phone that keeps track of exactly how much I have used on both the mobile network and wifi. One thing that will eat up your data plan is if you allow the apps and stuff on the phone to update automatically, because if they all decide to update when you are on the mobile connection that definitely uses up quite a bit. If I turn on my mobile network I always go to settings before that and turn off auto updates, so I know nothing will be using it but me for what ever I am looking up. I learned that fast, the first day I had my phone and checked my data used I already had used over 20 mb and my plan is only 200mb for the whole month. I don't use texting so I don't have it in my plan but I didn't know that at first so I texted a few people and sent pictures in texts I found out those were charged to me individually and the picture ones were quite expensive. I don't do that ever. So if you can do it this way you can get away with the minimal data plan of 200mb if you will be using mostly the mobile network instead of wifi I would go for a larger data plan. You can definitely go up in plan size not sure about down.

I misplace my TV remote enough that I don't want to be looking for my one and only phone. I have a 10 room two story house and wouldn't even hear the phone unless it was strapped on my body. I have three phones downstairs and they are always on their stands when not in use. The cell is in the car because I always forgot to bring it in the house. It's not a smart phone,( we opted for an iPad instead) just a flip top Samsung and we 're not on a program. We "buy" minutes every year and it's pretty cheap. Our phones are part of our Verizon bundle... My son has only a cell phone, no land lines and kept his old number.

Ulster County can give you much of what you want, but anywhere in NY state will put an end to gardening in winter unless you have a greenhouse or some other way to heat your planting area and animals. You should visit realtors after driving around. You have some big dreams. Good luck!