Thanks again for the responses.
UPDATE
My sim card from AIR VOICE WIRELESS arrived today. I placed it in a new test phone that I will sell later. It is an android.
Everything’s fine so far.
NO CONTRACT
This Air Voice Wireless plan is a refill/ no contract system. I’ve only ever had an AT&T contract plan or an expired contract – not a Go Phone Plan, even - so this is new territory for me. It seems slightly inconvenient at first. However, you can arrange to have your monthly refill automatically deducted.
DATA
I have the $30/month plan which is unlimited talk and text and 500MB of data.
The surprising thing (and this is not in the Frequently Asked Questions section) is that you may use only 250 MB at a time. Once you’ve used it up, then you call Support to have the remainder added to your phone. I don’t know whether the plans with more data have the same limitations.
COVERAGE
I checked the coverage map before purchasing. Air Voice has the same service coverage as AT&T. Still, in the next few weeks I’ll test out everything with my test phone on an upcoming trip. I might come across questions or limitations I haven’t thought of yet.
SUPPORT
Support is always professional, so far, but it’s not a 24-hour service. That matters little, since it’s not as if I spent hours calling AT&T.
They patiently walked me through the programing of my test phone so that I could use my data. If I had purchased one of the AIRVOICE phones, I probably could have avoided that 20-minute conversation.
MY ACCOUNT ONLINE
The fact that they do not have a 24-hour support system becomes slightly inconvenient since their FAQ is not extensive and there is no way to check your account online. You can create a profile, but all you do is set up your billing address and email. You do not check data online or even payment history.
There seems to be no reason to register for an account online with AIRVOICE, except they will send your receipt via email once you purchase monthly minutes.
SUMMARY
After you become accustomed to AIRVOICE WIRELESS’ differences from your old contract phone service, it’ll do nicely for basic phone use.
Thanks again for the reassurance, everyone.
Now, let's see how difficult (or easy) it is to port my number over to Air Voice…
How easy was it for you?