Ended up on Ggl Voice
I investigated a few options, and ended up selecting the Mountain View, CA one. I created a separate account just for texting with a new number.
It was a bit unintuitive to set this up as iPad only, but I got there. It literally took a computer, mobile web and their app to get it configured. (I bow to anyone who could do it more efficiently.)
I'm still a little anxious about tracking stuff (and no, don't write me off as someone wearing a colander on their head underneath a tin foil tent. My industry uses personal marketing data.)
The government tracking is another concern, but that's the cost of entry. It's hard to resolve the "safer world thing" with "moral corruption." Goodness knows what they have or have not prevented through voice and data monitoring.
Thanks for the assistance.