I'm going to have to remember "Amish phone"!
That's exactly what I have. We first tried cell phones here around 2000, and the only places that weren't "dead zones" were the local so-called big towns, one 32 miles away and the other 70. I could sometimes get semi-connected from our house by standing on the back porch, which wasn't pleasant during blizzards and caused several misunderstandings.
Around 2009 a cell tower went up about dozen miles north of here, and after confirming we now had cell-sercive I bought a flip-phone at Wal-Mart for $14.99. Have been using it ever since, even though it doesn't take photos and texting is about as slow as an Amish Corvette. Tracfone service (which works just about everywhere in the Lower 48 a call phone can be used) costs just about $100 a year.
