then dont worry about getting a throw away phone.

Some gents dont want to use the phone their wife knows about or their work phones and therefore need a throwaway phone.

Do you have anything to lose if you get caught?  I'm single, old, and have my cell phone.  I do not feel the need for a hobby phone.  You have to analyze your total situation and decide it's worth the expense of a hobby phone.  If you are young, and might get involved with a significant other, it probably would not hurt to have a hobby phone.  They are pretty cheap, if you get a cheapo phone that you just add minutes when you need them.

Swim

maybe you need to re think hobbying. As a newb you're probably going to make some minor mistakes and having a hobby phone is just an extra layer of separation. One pyscho escort experience will have you running to Walmart, Target or Radio Shack for a hobby phone. I use my own phone and a hobby phone. Just depends on the circumstances and who I'm contacting. When I'm toftt I always use my hobby phone.

These are secret worlds...  you really don't want to carelessly leave tracks that can never be erased.   Do not share this with your best friend, your brother, a civie you date, or even the girl you decide to marry.  You never know what some drunk EX-buddy will say!  And can do you great harm thereby.   Imagine your wedding day & said buddy stands up to toast the girl who took you away from whoring *not my words, shock value intended.)  If you have GFs or decide to marry...  you can say you had GFs before.  You never say how long (hours) they were your GFs for.  

My hobby phone cost a 20 at WM, & 20 every 3 months.  100 first year.  

When I started this hobby, I promised I'd not do anything "stupid"...  well as I read TER, I've learned I was not a clever as I thought.  I was lucky & luck is not a plan.  
H

Here are a couple quick reasons.

Provider gets busted and LE is looking to bust johns or others to testify against her. Do you want to go through all that trouble? It will cost you time and big bucks, maybe your job!

First thing LE will do is go through her phone and if you don't respond, a simple court order to your phone company will furnish them enough information for them to come knocking on your door.

If you get a hobby phone and assuming you are smart enough to register the phone anonymously, the job becomes that much harder for LE to track you down. You can simply toss the phone away and get a new one with a new number.

Second reason. You just don't know when you will run into a provider who is a little cuckoo and start to harass you. She can call you and text you at all times of the day and night nonstop and what are you going to do about it. She can go online, get a membership at some website, submit your phone number and find out everything she wants to know about you.

Do you really want her coming to your house or place of work unannounced with a "remember me" look on her face?

The key to this hobby is to remain incognito almost CIA like. Getting a burn phone is one of the cheapest, smartest investments you can make to save you plenty of sleepless night down the road.

I'm single, I don't have one, and I've never had any problems. However, I have a work phone that I use for most of my everyday life personal communications. I pretty much only use my personal cell phone for the hobby and to talk to friends if I don't happen to be carrying my work cell with me. My family members don't even know that number. If I needed to change that number, it wouldn't be a big deal.

As for that LE scenario, LOL, the odds of that happening are about 0.001%. If the police showed up at my door because my phone number was in someone else's phone or computer, I would laugh in their face and close the door.