Airvoice Wireless Review

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Airvoice Wireless is a relatively new and small prepaid provider with standard rates and a few twists.

Coverage on AT&T's GSM Network

The coverage map on their site doesn't list who provides the coverage, but if you look at the page source of the map, you can see that coverage is provided by AT&T. In particular, it is the same coverage as that provided for AT&T Gophones.

They used to also offer CDMA phones that must have run on Sprint's or Verizon's network, but it appears that they no longer do that.

Where to Buy Phones

RetailAirvoice sells its physical phones at retail locations of licensed dealers. So, if you can find a store selling Airvoice phones in your area, then you are in their coverage area.

Online

You can now also purchase their phones and airtime online as well. They offer a good selection of phones. All the phones currently (2011) listed are under $100, so they're affordable as well. The selection ranges from a refurbshed Samsung Epix Smartphone for $99 down to an basic Alcatel E206 candy-bar style phone for $25.

SIM Card

Airvoice Wireless SIM card

If you already have an unlocked GSM phone, you can purchase a SIM card for $4.99 and then activate your phone on Airvoice Wireless.

Pay As You Go Rates

The rates are actually good. They start at 10 cents a minute and drop to 8 cents a minute if you buy larger quantities of airtime. Text messages cost 10 cents to send and receive.

You get an airtime bonus when you buy refills, the bigger the purchase, the more bonus minutes you get.

$100 for a Year

A $100 airtime refill has an expiration of 365 days or a full year. This means if you don't use your cell phone all that often, this could last you the whole year which works out to just over $8 a month. Pretty good.

Bonus Minutes

You get bonuses for buying larger airtime amounts up to $20 when you buy the $100 airtime card.

Airtime Refills

While you can’t buy their phones online, you can buy Airvoice Wireless airtime refills. You pay with credit card and your minutes are sent to your phone within one business day, though it probably won't take that long.

Additional Fees

20 Cent Daily Access Fee

There is a 20 cent access fee on the days that you use their phone. This means any day you make or receive a call or send or receive a text or MMS message.

E911 Fee

There is a $1 per month fee for E911 access.

411 Fee

There is a steep $2.65 for dialing 411, so don't. There are free options available such as 1-800-FREE-411 (1-800-3733-411).

Monthly Rates

There are two monthly Airvoice Wireless plans.$39.95 per month for unlimited talk and text or you can pay $49.95 for unlimited talk, text, picture messages plus 100 MB of data. Presumably the data in the MMS messages counts against the 100 MB as well.

International Calls

You call the AirvoiceILD number to make international calls that are billed against your airtime balance. Rates are pretty reasonable. Just remember these costs are on top of your Airvoice airtime. If you have their monthly plans, it makes no difference, but if you're on Pay as You Go, you use that airtime plus the cost of the international call.

Mexico

Calls to Mexico and Canada cost between 1.5 to about 2.5 cents depending on what part of Mexico you call.

Canada

Call to Canada cost 1.9 cents

Go with Airvoice?

While it's not a well-known prepaid provider, Airvoice Wireless seems to have some good features and a good selection of affordable phone, so you might want to check them out.

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SBI!