Yes, Spellbound, a flip phone uses cellular data (off the tall towers) not wifi. And will ping off towers just fine.
Remember the days of handhelds/PDA's/Ipod Touches/tablets before the iPad? Those ONLY had wifi and weren't phones.
And back in those days, before Smartphones, cell phones ONLY pinged off towers, took and made phone calls, and sent texts.
When smartphones came along, that is when data (internet and stuff) started being sent through the cell phone towers, which previously only did cell phone calls and texts. You have heard "3G" and "LTE," etc. Those are systems of sending data through cell phone towers, which didn't used to carry data before smart phones came along. They compete on how fast they can put data through--but in my opinion their data isn't as fast as wifi data.
When smartphones came along, they had both--they were phones (using cell phone towers for phone calls, texts, and data) AND old-fashioned PDA's (personal digital assistants) (with calendar apps, etc., using wifi alongside cellular data) That is when people quit using PDA's like iPod Touches, Pocket PC's, etc., because now their phones kept their calendars and had apps and all that.
Then tablets came along that not only did what tablets used to do, with apps and wifi like old-fashioned PDA's, but they also could use cell towers and cellular data!!!! This is what the iPad does if I'm not mistaken. You have to purchase a separate cellular data plan (to go through cell towers) in order to use that service with an iPad. Not all tablets even today have this capability. My Android tablets don't--they only have wifi. Kindles and readers like that have wifi, but not cellular capability.
Wifi is mostly free, except you have to pay for your home Internet to have wifi in your home. Wifi is mostly free in coffee shops and hospitals, etc.
It is easier to find a missing person from cell phones pinging off towers, but I THINK when you tell your smart phone to find your location using GPS, it cheats and uses wifi sometimes (???) not sure (???) whereas REAL GPS uses satellites. Your smart phone (I think) cheats and uses whatever cell towers are around, and whatever wifi is around, to tell where you are. It's scary how my phone knows when I'm near a Costco or a grocery store and starts urging me to buy bathroom tissue on sale!!!!! it knows where I am and I think that's done by wifi.
My smartphone has something called "Wifi Assist" where wifi takes over when the cellular signal is weak (for apps, not phone calls, I think) And just the opposite happens...when you are out of wifi range, cellular data will take over and finish whatever you were doing on your app, for instance it will show my husband a whole flipping basketball game and we get a huge cellular data bill grr
And for those times when you REALLY have to go out in the remote desert, there are satellite phones, which as far as I know predated almost all of this. Or at least goes way way back. I think I remember seeing a satellite internet gadget in 1994. It doesn't use the cell towers, but satellites.
And for those times when you REALLY gotta be a nerd, they have Internet over ham radio (Packet Radio) It's all but dead, but a few ham types still use it, I think. When the **** hits the fan these are the guys who will save the planet!
