[NA] Visible

[Mahneuvers]

After 20+ years w/ AT&T, I'm leaving for Visible (which runs on Verizon). I have 5 phones and expect to cut my bill in half. I switch my phone tomorrow, and if all goes well, will move the other 4. Anyone have anything to say about Visible? Their plans are pretty darned compelling, even more so w/ a YE promotion.

 

[Kevin Holbrook]

Very happy with Visible. As you said, cuts phone bill in half. Pay a year at a time and save even more.

One of the only MVNOs that supports cellular Apple Watch.

Only hassle- when I signed up, could only have one line per email address. I like having everything under one email/account.

Overall very satisfied.

 

[luvflyin]

After 20+ years w/ AT&T, I'm leaving for Visible (which runs on Verizon). I have 5 phones and expect to cut my bill in half. I switch my phone tomorrow, and if all goes well, will move the other 4. Anyone have anything to say about Visible? Their plans are pretty darned compelling, even more so w/ a YE promotion.

If we don’t see you tomorrow should we launch SAR?

 

[Bill]

Very tempted to go to Visible, please give a PIREP after you've used it a few days!

 

[NealRomeoGolf]

We've been moving to Tello on the T-Mobile network. I have one phone left to move.

 

[Kevin Holbrook]

I and my family have five lines with Visible. It is basically Verizon, actually is owned by Verizon. It functions as an MVNO, riding on Verizon towers. If you can get a signal, you will get a signal with Visible.

For most of my travels, performance is no different from Verizon. There is one exception - in Eastern Ky, there is a regional provider called Appalachian Wireless. They use the same frequencies as Verizon; when you are in their service area, with Verizon or Visible you are "roaming" on their towers. I have noticed some throttling in this area, but customers with actual Verizon service experience the same thing. In urban / suburban / most rural areas there is no difference.

One of the ways you save is customer service. It is available by chat / email ONLY. No number to call, no one to talk to. On the rare occasions I have needed help, chat was quick and effective.

I recently transitioned to eSIM instead of a physical SIM. The transition was quick and painless.

As I noted before, MVNO's, to my knowledge, do not support cellular service on an Apple Watch. Visible, being closely tied to Verizon, does work with cellualr apple watches.

If you pay a year in advance, Apple Watch service gets included for free.

I wish they offered Ipad / tablet data plans, but they do not.

One of the quickest ways to get the kiosk cell phone people to leave you alone is just tell them you have Visible. They know they can't match the price so they just tell you to have a nice day and leave you alone.

Overall very satisfied.

 

[DaleB]

We had Visible for a year or two, a while back. They started out great, then the service got progressively worse until I really was not happy with them. I switched us to T-Mobile on their Magenta Max 55 plan.

I've heard that Visible is much better now, so just the other day I looked at switching back to Visible. By the time I paid for the stuff we get included with our T-Mobile plan, we'd be within $5 a month - and TMO gives us unlimited free text and data while traveling outside the US (meaning we can use Facetime or Whatsapp, for example) and free wifi on a lot of airlines. Point is, figure out your actual all-in cost if your current cell plan includes things like free Apple TV+ or Netflix or whatever. But if you're on AT&T you'll probably be very happy to leave.

 

[Zeldman]

It is basically Verizon, actually is owned by Verizon. It functions as an MVNO, riding on Verizon towers. If you can get a signal, you will get a signal with Visible.

Here where I live we are lucky to get a half bar signal with Verizon. Since Visible runs on Verizon towers, can I expect the same signal with Visible that Verizon provides?

When I first moved here Verizon would be 4 bars all day. Over the years it is getting progressively worse.

 

[keen9]

Here where I live we are lucky to get a half bar signal with Verizon. Since Visible runs on Verizon towers, can I expect the same signal with Visible that Verizon provides?

When I first moved here Verizon would be 4 bars all day. Over the years it is getting progressively worse.

You'll get exactly the same signal strength as Verizon.

I've had Visible for about a year, and it has been no different from the Verizon service I had before except less than 1/2 the cost.

 

[Rarefied]

Here where I live we are lucky to get a half bar signal with Verizon. Since Visible runs on Verizon towers, can I expect the same signal with Visible that Verizon provides?

When I first moved here Verizon would be 4 bars all day. Over the years it is getting progressively worse.

That's an interesting one to me. In my area, Verizon has been and still is the only option with reliable cell service once you leave the center of town. Living at the same place, 10 years ago the house would get 2 bars at best of verizon, and now its full bars. Mint mobile is very attractive to me but they primarily use T Mobile so it won't work, but Visible sounds very intriguing to try. Visible would be the same signal as verizon though yes.

Also, there's a app that shows you heat maps of different cell providers in any given area. Definitely worth taking a look at: https://coveragemap.com/ they have an app too

 

[Mahneuvers]

So far so good with Visible. The only negative to report is apps seem to struggle on first run, like something cached must be reset. Otherwise, I'm happy.

 

[mark.staggs]

Just a drive-by recommendation for US Mobile.

They're an MVNO where you can choose your network (T-Mo, AT&T, Verizon). You can even switch between them and maintain your plan. The only downside I've had after a couple years or so is that their online support is wonky unless you post on their sub-reddit, which usually gets things fixed quickly.

Edit to add that at $35/mo (annual pre-paid) for 2 lines is worth the hassle factor for this cheap pilot.

 

[NealRomeoGolf]

The irony about comments about customer service / support is that I can't even get that at Verizon now. It's all AI and it doesn't understand what I need help with. I'm about to ditch them because it can't be worse can it??

 

[mark.staggs]

The irony about comments about customer service / support is that I can't even get that at Verizon now. It's all AI and it doesn't understand what I need help with. I'm about to ditch them because it can't be worse can it??

Yeah, unfortunately that seems to be "normal" now for most large businesses. It's either going to be AI, or AI-assisted, and even when you get to speak to a human they're slow (probably handling multiple support calls at once) and/or aren't native english speakers.

 

[NealRomeoGolf]

I have the opportunity to switch to Xfinity mobile free for a year. They are supposedly on Verizon's network, which is what I'm already on. But I hear the same thing....customer service is atrocious. Yeah well, so is everyone else. Maybe I should just do it.

 

[SkyChaser]

I have the opportunity to switch to Xfinity mobile free for a year. They are supposedly on Verizon's network, which is what I'm already on. But I hear the same thing....customer service is atrocious. Yeah well, so is everyone else. Maybe I should just do it.

DO NOT go xfinity if you want service and any type of customer service that isn't the stupidest AI bot in existence. We had their internet service and it *sucked*...and the customer service barely exists. As in, we were routinely getting less than 40mbps when we were paying for 400mbps and at least once a day, it would just quit working completely until you rebooted the modem. The hassle to talk to a human was horrid and I spent about 5 literal hours fighting with their bot who couldn't help me before I finally got through their AI bot to a human in their chat function. And then I had to drive 50 minutes one way to pick up new equipment (because supposedly the whole issue was our modem overheating because we had an outdated one) and their idea of "restitution" was not charging us for the new equipment...and within two or three weeks, we were having the same issue again with the new equipment.

That was in August, and in October, we switched providers. When I called to cancel, I had to schedule a callback, and that callback came an hour after the window they'd given me (already an hour long)...and then they tried to sell me on a faster internet plan instead of cancelling and assured me that the speed would be better because "it would be the new equipment and the equipment we had was the old stuff".

There might be a good reason they are offering a year free. Just saying.

 

[Baked Potato]

DO NOT go xfinity if you want service and any type of customer service that isn't the stupidest AI bot in existence. We had their internet service and it *sucked*...and the customer service barely exists. As in, we were routinely getting less than 40mbps when we were paying for 400mbps and at least once a day, it would just quit working completely until you rebooted the modem. The hassle to talk to a human was horrid and I spent about 5 literal hours fighting with their bot who couldn't help me before I finally got through their AI bot to a human in their chat function. And then I had to drive 50 minutes one way to pick up new equipment (because supposedly the whole issue was our modem overheating because we had an outdated one) and their idea of "restitution" was not charging us for the new equipment...and within two or three weeks, we were having the same issue again with the new equipment.

That was in August, and in October, we switched providers. When I called to cancel, I had to schedule a callback, and that callback came an hour after the window they'd given me (already an hour long)...and then they tried to sell me on a faster internet plan instead of cancelling and assured me that the speed would be better because "it would be the new equipment and the equipment we had was the old stuff".

There might be a good reason they are offering a year free. Just saying.

Good to know things haven't changed. It's been a decade since I switched to Verizon because every single Xfinity (just Comcast at the time) support experience was such a death spiral into bottomless depths of incompetence that I swore off of ever being a Comcast customer again as long as my heart beat under its own power.

Verizon is not exactly white glove service, but they're still miles better than any single Comcast interaction I ever had. When I need something I usually use their online chat function and complain until I get a real person.

 

[Domenick]

Gerneally, Comcast/Xfinity is a government approved monopoly. At least in Seattle it is. Not as much as in the past, but they still act like one.

I have found the best way to approach Comcrap/xfinity is to show up at an office in person. Get the name of the person to whom you are assigned and make sure they see you write it down.