Visible Wireless Review

JGoodish

Cleared for Takeoff
Joined
Jun 10, 2006
Messages
1,419
Display Name

Display name:
JGoodish
Since I rarely post much anymore, I thought I'd pass along a review I wrote after testing Visible wireless service recently. Visible is owned by Verizon, so they aren't technically a MVNO, but they are a discount, online-only, eSIM-centric, wireless service provider using the Verizon LTE and 5G networks (note that they do not use the older CDMA service, or permit roaming, as most Verizon MVNOs do). They also appear to use centralized gateways, one in the east and one in the west, so network latency is often higher than you'd see with postpaid service or typical Verizon MVNOs. So what's their pitch? Unlimited everything (including hotspot), for effectively $25/month including taxes and fees.

I’ve had Visible for the past 3 months alongside AT&T postpaid service, which I’ve had for years. The service itself works well most of the time, with a few caveats: deprioritization is real, roaming is not permitted, and latency is around 3 times higher than postpaid or other MVNOs. Streaming video works well, video conferencing works well, and most other things work well, but if the app or web site is latency-sensitive you may have usability issues even when deprioritization is not a factor. Most of the time, speed is acceptable to good, but the reliability of that speed can change from minute to minute or mile to mile if you’re traveling. However, the same is true to some degree with all cellular service. Voice calls and SMS text messages appeared to work as well as with any other service. I have a suspicion that some of the latency may be artificial, and also suspect that not all RF bands or channels may be available to Visible customers in all locations, but I haven’t researched this in detail so I can’t say for sure.

Visible is pretty committed to eSIM, but the system has pitfalls even on the eSIM-friendly iPhone. I ported 2 numbers to 2 different lines and lost service both times. In one case, Live Chat with Visible and a network settings reset on the phone was able to resolve it quickly; in the second case, it required an escalation and 2 days of pestering them to resolve, during which I had no Visible service. In both cases, a redownload of the eSIM parameters through the Visible app was required. Once you persevere and get things working, the service seems to be reasonably stable, but changing phones is likely to send you back into the eSIM provisioning jungle.

One other issue which I have encountered only rarely: if the phone is out of service range for a period of time, it will sometimes remain at “No Service” with no signal strength indication even when you return to a strong signal area. To rectify, you can toggle airplane mode or otherwise turn the eSIM off and back on again. I am unclear if the root cause of this issue is Visible or iOS, but I suspect the latter may play a role.

I found Visible’s Live Chat customer service (the only kind they offer) to be slightly above average in knowledge and helpfulness, but they are only first-level support and if the problem is more complex, there is no option to engage directly with more senior level folks. Support folks consistently appeared to have a good grasp of written English, and I never encountered the frustration that a language barrier sometimes presents.

If you need maximum reliability and speed, or you want to walk into a store with a problem and walk out with the problem fixed, you probably need postpaid service. However, for the Party Pay price of $25/month, it’s hard to beat Visible for value.
 
We’ve been on Visible for a while now, probably the better part of a year.

The good: $25 per month each, unlimited everything, including WiFi hotspot.

The not so great: Coverage on the road sucks. And by that I mean literally on the road, highway driving between cities. Sometimes it’s great, but there are large swaths of no coverage at all. It’s frustrating as hell to drive I-29 between Omaha and KC, driving past cell towers every few minutes, and have no service.

So the question becomes, do I want to pay 2-3 times as much per month to fill in those gaps in coverage? So far, no…. But it could change.
 
The not so great: Coverage on the road sucks. And by that I mean literally on the road, highway driving between cities. Sometimes it’s great, but there are large swaths of no coverage at all. It’s frustrating as hell to drive I-29 between Omaha and KC, driving past cell towers every few minutes, and have no service.

I’ve had no problem with coverage driving to the south or as far west as the Chicago area (from PA), especially on the highways, but there are three things I’ve noticed:

1. There are times when I have a (sometimes good) signal but data is so slow that it’s practically useless. Usually this resolves when the tower changes, which makes me wonder if there are band/frequency limitations with Visible or whether this is simply prioritization on a tower that has limited back haul capacity. Often when this happens I’m in the boonies, not a highly populated area.

2. Visible won’t roam on partner networks, and won’t use Verizons’s CDMA (3G) network, so if LTE/5G drops you will have “no service.” My experience in the eastern part of the country indicates this is extremely rare, but there are some spots where Verizon just has lousy coverage and no roaming partners (West Virginia is an example) so even postpaid Verizon would have the same issue. There are large areas of KY and a few other places where Verizon roams and Visible would have no coverage. My observation is that AT&T’s network is more often better in rural areas of several eastern states, and with the FirstNet contract this may only improve. Still, there is a pretty big difference in price between Visible and AT&T for an equivalent service.

3. As mentioned in my review, I’ve also had a few times where I was in a legitimate “no service” area but when I returned to an area with coverage, the phone failed to reconnect to the network. While I am tempted to blame this at least partially on iOS and eSIM, I am reminded that I did a similar test drive of Mint Mobile using eSIM (and the same phone) a few months back and did *not* experience this issue with them, despite the T-Mobile network’s more frequent “no service” areas. A simple toggle of airplane mode fixes the problem, but you obviously have to notice it first.

It appears that the I-29 route between Omaha and KC should be fairly well covered. What equipment are you using, and are you using a physical SIM or eSIM?
 
Last edited:
Huh? This used to be an aviation forum. ...
 
I’m using an iPhone 12, my wife has an 11 Pro. Physical SIM in both of them. Both directions were the same, no service from just north of St.Joe for about 70 or 80 miles.

We had a similar experience driving from Waco to Joplin last winter. No service for pretty much the entire state of OK, despite passing within spitting distance of a hundred or more cell towers. That was pretty aggravating, to be honest.

I have mixed feelings about it. It’s a PITA for a couple of weeks per year when we’re taking road trips. We don’t generally NEED cell coverage, though it’s nice to be able to stream music in the car. On the other hand, if I need to call AAA from the boonies, then it’s going to be a Big Freaking Deal(tm). So…. Maybe the solution is a SIM or a burner from Straight Talk or someplace that we use as a backup for stuff like that. I dunno. I just hate the thought of going back to getting mercilessly screwed for cell service again.
 
Interesting. I’ve been across several states here in the east and eastern midwest over the past 3 months and have never had widespread loss of service on Visible. I’d probably Live Chat with them to see what they say, though I think there are some large stretches of OK where VZ roams. Might be worth experimenting with a Total Wireless SIM or even VZ Prepaid for a month to see if there’s a difference in those areas, but it is my understanding that the MVNOs will roam where VZ has roaming agreements.

I considered Total Wireless (TracFone-owned MVNO) and some others as well, but none of them are as inexpensive and convenient as Visible. A couple years ago I tried to activate my daughter’s iPhone on StraightTalk, and the phone worked for voice but not data. After a while attempting to work with TracFone’s non-English speaking support, I gave up and just added her to the AT&T plan my wife and I are on. Now that she has her own job, she got the boot over to Visible, which was the primary reason behind my testing.
 
Back
Top