Second the recommendation for [jmp.chat](https://jmp.chat).  I’ve been using them for a while, and they’re just the best.  Their customer support are the same people as the dev team (I think), and they usually answer pretty quickly in the support channel.

Also consider looking at the Pinephone for a free-as-in-freedom smartphone.  It’s not fully free (it still requires non-free drivers), but it’s about as close as we can get right now.

MarsIronPI

They take Bitcoin, among others, it's dirt cheap and you can top up well in advance if you like it

This setup needs a Jabber instance and creating an account there - this one has been up for years:

You can run this whole setup on a laptop - Dino is a popular choice on Linux:

If you decide to use a mobile device like offline phone or tablet, Cheogram works great there

privacy

Ditching the Phone 

TheWildHustle

I recommend starting here:

https://jmp.chat/

They take Bitcoin, among others, it's dirt cheap and you can top up well in advance if you like it

All you need is wifi

This setup needs a Jabber instance and creating an account there - this one has been up for years:

https://www.jabbim.com/

You can run this whole setup on a laptop - Dino is a popular choice on Linux:

https://flathub.org/apps/im.dino.Dino

If you decide to use a mobile device like offline phone or tablet, Cheogram works great there

No need here for a cell for years now

Enjoy!