Cell/Smart Phone Survey...

I'm contemplating finally getting a smart phone (I know, another one of my "said I never would" statements that is coming back to bite me in the butt.)

But as a blogger, I'd love to be on Instagram. Most of the make money angles for bloggers out there now want you on Instagram, I'm finding.

And as a woman with a disability, I'm tired of being lost out in the boonies or in possible gang territory because I just plain tend to get lost most of the time!

So I start researching cell phones and plans. Geez Louise, I need a translator. 

Locked versus unlocked...what does that mean? I must have been living under a rock. I've never heard of so much of their lingo.

All these terms that I can't understand. It's maddening to attempt to decipher what the plans and actual phone costs mean.

Is it better to buy from a store or buy from the cell phone company carrier?

Could you just jot down your current phone and carrier in the comments and tell me why you like/don't like them? And any other information that might help me with this?

Please help to educate me on this so, going forward, I don't manage to get lost in cell phone rhetoric. 

I truly get lost when there are so many choices!