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Carrier Visible
- Thread starter max2
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I tried it but quickly discontinued it. Inconsistent signal and speeds. I live on 1250 acres in the middle of nowhere. I use Verizon mainly and thought since Visible uses their towers, it would be a viable alternative. It wasn't for me. They also do not offer large buckets of data only (which I need where I live). For some reason, my Verizon data hotspot works like a charm 24/7. Never have any issues with it. I also tried Cricket Wireless with their 100GB data only plan. That was hit or miss and most of the time a miss.
I used Visible for about 6 months this year. I had a fantastic experience (on my current Pixel 4XL alongside Google FI). The only reason I left is that Verizon has bad coverage at my house... and I need my carrier to gave good coverage as backup for when my ISP goes down.
Keep in mind, Visible is a Verizon MVNO, which means it gets second priority after Verizon Postpaid users. All visible data is always de-prioritized. This means, if you have little congestion in your area (like I do) you get fantastic throughput. At my home (with crap reception), I'd get 18mbps down. Around town I regularly got over 200mbps down. If you live in a very congested Verizon area, you may get significantly slower speeds. Other thing with Visible is depending on where you are, your latency could be 70ms-150ms... something to keep in mind if you do latency critical things (gaming for example).
For me, my primary carrier has always been Google FI, but for domestic data usage, I used Visible's unlimited data and loved it... can't complain for $25/month. Allegedly they will even be releasing an eSim capability soon, which should make testing it out even easier. You can currently order their sim on the website and have them give you a new number. IF you like the service, contact support and have them port in your number at a later time. Doing this is "safer" but you lose out on any promotions they may have running like the $100 MasterCard.
Reddit has a dedicated Visible group that is worth checking out for common issues people experience. Keep in mind, Visible service is very dependent on Verizon congestion, so some people have fantastic experience (like I did), while others have a miserable time.
Also keep in mind... the website claims that hotspot is limited to 1 device and capped at 5mbps. In practice on iPhones and Pixel phones this isn't enforced. I got full speed on up to 5 devices. This cap seems to only be enforced on their store brand el-cheapo phones.
Keep in mind, Visible is a Verizon MVNO, which means it gets second priority after Verizon Postpaid users. All visible data is always de-prioritized. This means, if you have little congestion in your area (like I do) you get fantastic throughput. At my home (with crap reception), I'd get 18mbps down. Around town I regularly got over 200mbps down. If you live in a very congested Verizon area, you may get significantly slower speeds. Other thing with Visible is depending on where you are, your latency could be 70ms-150ms... something to keep in mind if you do latency critical things (gaming for example).
For me, my primary carrier has always been Google FI, but for domestic data usage, I used Visible's unlimited data and loved it... can't complain for $25/month. Allegedly they will even be releasing an eSim capability soon, which should make testing it out even easier. You can currently order their sim on the website and have them give you a new number. IF you like the service, contact support and have them port in your number at a later time. Doing this is "safer" but you lose out on any promotions they may have running like the $100 MasterCard.
Reddit has a dedicated Visible group that is worth checking out for common issues people experience. Keep in mind, Visible service is very dependent on Verizon congestion, so some people have fantastic experience (like I did), while others have a miserable time.
Also keep in mind... the website claims that hotspot is limited to 1 device and capped at 5mbps. In practice on iPhones and Pixel phones this isn't enforced. I got full speed on up to 5 devices. This cap seems to only be enforced on their store brand el-cheapo phones.
I thought it was a scam lol visible. No way could you have unlimited, and good coverage for $25. But it’s true. I’m in the suburbs and love it. Never have issues streaming YouTube going into LA or on road trips unless the signal is nonexistent.
Did a test yesterday where I took my son to a state park and let him use my Visible hotspot on my phone the whole way to watch youtube videos on his iPad. Didn't have a single hiccup, even with me streaming music and using Waze at the same time. I gotta say I am super impressed.
It’s a good deal if it works well in your area, but it’s too inconsistent for me to keep it long term. I had a few moments when I really needed to use data and just nothing would load. Imagine it being 2020 and you essentially don’t have service in the middle of suburban/urban areas that are actually covered by all 3 carriers.
Ya it’s impressive. I’m in SoCal and I use mine to tether my laptop and iPad. Especially the iPad, the connection is automatic. iPad OS knows you are not on wifi, so it finds my discoverable hotspot automatically.
I’m professional driver and probably the only service here in my state that I have not lost signal yet. Yes, it can be slow in congested areas. Total pain in butt then.
Otherwise even $25 on party pay. I stream music 8 hrs a day. No more worries about going over data limits.
Otherwise even $25 on party pay. I stream music 8 hrs a day. No more worries about going over data limits.
This is my experience. I work hard for my money and to me paying $60 a month for a cellphone bill is not worth it. $25 unlimited with occasional congestion slowdown is a fine sacrifice for me. I never expletive slow down when driving long distance. I road trip a lot 2x a month and stream YouTube videos with no issues as background noise.
See my usage below. Hot spot, YouTube, podcast, Last cell usage reset was 11/13/20. Work from home via hot spot since had to work out of my car for 3 days and also went to 2 road trips since then.
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What quality do you stream YouTube videos at? I know technically your limited to 480p, I believe, on Visible but do you use a VPN ?
No vpn. Why would I need vpn? I just use normal settings using the YouTube app or safari website. Probably it’s 480p. I’m driving when streaming so quality isn’t actually something I’m concerned of. Just need background noise.
The fact of the matter is at $25 for unlimited, plus free hotspot and free future 5g support, it’s an unbelievable deal. I won’t use 5g (due to battery life considerations) unless I’m downloading a movie which is rare only when we have power outage in Cali lol.
vpn allows you to stream highest video quality plus protect you when doing banking online.
I just got an email from Visible regarding 5g. I have been with them for about close to 1 year. Anyway, they directed me to go to general settings, about, and a new carrier update will be available. Yup, I did the above and I know have 5g on my mini. I drove around town and typically I can hit 14 mbs on lte. I was hitting 50+ mbs! Signal was weaker than LTE unsurprising. In the middle of town and the main streets I had 5g with 40mbp to 50mbs. 5g signal dropped to LTE when I went to the hilly area and mountain areas. Still great since 1) no new sim was needed, 2) no extra charge. At home I do not have 5g, only LTE. Will see if that ever changes.
I kinda want another power outage due to windy conditions so I can go to town and download shows using 5g. lol.
I kinda want another power outage due to windy conditions so I can go to town and download shows using 5g. lol.
Wow. Had a very similar experience about a year ago. Mine was a port though. We got my wife's number ported ok, but tried 4-5 times to get mine ported and it would not go. This was with the help of customer support too. Eventually, I had to return to my original carrier, then went else where.
Normal here.So how is everyone's service going so far? Been hearing reports of pings going up recently.
I know ping can be important for online to feel fast. So yeah. Kinda sucks.