Visible Phone Service

[ssomwm]

Wife and I are currently on Verizon with iPhones.  Thinking of switching to Visible to save some $.  I would like to hear both good and bad stories of using Visible for phone service.

Thanks

[acampingwewillgo]

Since no one has answered up yet, I have had Visible for 15-18 months, always trying to keep at the 25.00 rate. My comments probably won't help much but I use it only if our primary T mobile phones are not available. It has come in handy where T mobile will not work for both cell coverage and Data streaming. 

Having it at 25 a month is worth it to us as I'm sure many others do the same.  I probably shou l d use it more than I do.

[Greg112]

Visible looked good to me but I would have to buy a new phone which put me off it. I'll probably switch when I need to get one anyway.

[docj]

If you search RV forums there are lots of comments about Visible.   I had it for ~6 months.  It's like many other low priority cellular services--the service can vary from very good to awful on a moment to moment basis or location to location. If you don't need a 24/7 high speed connection, Visible probably will work for you.  One of the reason I decided against it was that I like to combine my cellular connections using a load balancing router and Visible was so unstable, at my location, that it messed up the load balancing.

[agesilaus]

I've been on it over a year and my wife for 3 months. It just works, I do have a cell booster but it is very rare when I cannot get a signal. I'm not a high volume user, maybe 50 GB/month.

[ssomwm]

Thanks for the replies - I am looking it primarily just for phone service.  ie need to call the kids or need to order food for pickup

[chuckbear]

We have Visible and like it a lot. Like any other carrier, there are good and bad LOCATIONS. Our Visible at home works great where our AT&T is useless. Visible is also better than Verizon at our location even though Visible uses Verizon towers. So service at your location will be a bigger determining factor than how well it works for others at different locations. That's the problem with opinions on any one particular service. Chuck

[SWharton]

We have had no problems with Visible, we mostly text and use it as a hot spot where it performed great as we streamed programs. TMobile and ATT did not work, but Verizon did. Nothing to complain about for $25 a month and unlimited.

[LindaH]

I had it for a few months, but discontinued the service.  I was primarily using it for a hotspot connection, not calls, but I was trying it out thinking that if it worked, I'd quit our Verizon service and move exclusively to Visible.  

I ended up having too many problems with the service -- things that it wouldn't do on particular websites that would work on my Verizon phone.  I got one problem solved by an hour+ chat with a CSR at Visible, but another problem they were never able to solve for me.  It was at that point that I discontinued the service.

I would suggest that, if you want to move to Visible, you get a phone and try it out for a few months BEFORE you cancel your Verizon service.

[whj469]

Most of the secondary cell companies use ATT or Verizon cell towers. Maybe T Mobil has many of their own tower now that they merged with Sprint. But if you don't use the hot spot for internet you can get better prices from one of the resellers?

[Dutch_12078]

4 minutes ago, whj469 said:

Most of the secondary cell companies use ATT or Verizon cell towers. Maybe T Mobil has many of their own tower now that they merged with Sprint. But if you don't use the hot spot for internet you can get better prices from one of the resellers?

Visible (owned by Verizon) offers just one plan that includes unlimited talk, text, and Internet, including hotspot/tethering use on phones that support those features.

[whj469]

And they don't slow you down if you use to much data?

[bigjim]

🤫

 

Edited March 27, 2021 by bigjim
I screwed up a-gin

[mfredm]

I have had Visible for 18 months, as my primary phone/internet, in the rig.  In the RV, the phone stays tethered to a router.  With only one exception, I have had good service everywhere I've gone.  I use a lot of data, around 300gigs a month.  I will say though, that I research the availability of Verizon signals in a particular area, and will not go there if there is no signal..  The times  there are problems with Visible service I used my Hello Mobile back up phone.  I think for $25/month, it cant be beat, Period.

[Lou Schneider]

On 3/26/2021 at 8:34 PM, whj469 said:

And they don't slow you down if you use to much data?

You'll be "deprioritized" if you go over 22 mb in a month, in other words other users have higher priority when the network is heavily loaded.   So yes, after 22 mb you can be slowed down if you're on a crowded tower.  But you'll return to full speed as soon as the congestion eases.  And as soon as you enter a new billing cycle you return to the same footing as everyone else.

I've had Visible for several years and the only time I was deprioritized was when I was staying in a motel room in Las Vegas adjacent to I-15.  During commute hours my speed slowed noticeably but was still sufficient to stream SD video.

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by Lou Schneider

[Dutch_12078]

On 3/26/2021 at 11:34 PM, whj469 said:

And they don't slow you down if you use to much data?

No... Visible data service is subject to temporary deprioritization on congested towers, but there are no data speed limits for both the phone and hotspot service at any time. I regularly hit 100-150 GB/mo with no significant slowdowns.

[chuckbear]

23 hours ago, Lou Schneider said:

You'll be "deprioritized" if you go over 22 mb in a month, in other words other users have higher priority when the network is heavily loaded.   So yes, after 22 mb you can be slowed down if you're on a crowded tower.  But you'll return to full speed as soon as the congestion eases.  And as soon as you enter a new billing cycle you return to the same footing as everyone else.

I've had Visible for several years and the only time I was deprioritized was when I was staying in a motel room in Las Vegas adjacent to I-15.  During commute hours my speed slowed noticeably but was still sufficient to stream SD video.

 

I haven't seen nor experienced anything about 22mb limits to be prioritized. I probably reach 22mb 15 minutes after I log on at any given day. Other carriers including Verizon have 22gb limits on their unlimited plans. But I have not seen anything stating this for Visible. We reach 22gb early on most of the months we have had Visible and never seen this. Chuck

[agesilaus]

As I understand it, tho I didn't see the 22 MB limit, this only applies if you are on a congested tower. And if you change towers it goes away. I have never seen it myself.

[Dutch_12078]

5 hours ago, agesilaus said:

As I understand it, tho I didn't see the 22 MB limit, this only applies if you are on a congested tower. And if you change towers it goes away. I have never seen it myself.

There is no "22 MB" limit on Visible. Deprioritization applies any time the tower is congested, and only lasts for the period of congestion or you move to a less congested tower.

[hemsteadc]

Probably not the best for hotspot users who travel.

[agesilaus]

3 hours ago, hemsteadc said:

Probably not the best for hotspot users who travel.

If you mean travel around the US, including the desert west west, then I disagree. We have very rarely not had a usable signal and that includes boondocking. We do have a cell booster but you need a signal in the first place for those to work. The place we are at right now outside Deming NM actually has the worst signal that I've seen in awhile, 2 bars.

 

Now I cannot say Visible is the best, who knows after all, but it does work.

Edited March 31, 2021 by agesilaus