Visible Limitations

[Ozybstd]

excuse me , but what does mvno stand for?

I could be PhilS1954

 

[Bunpoh]

I went ahead and got their cheapest Blade ZTE phone and a Beryl router about a week ago, using USB tethering and the unthrottleing hack on the router.

We will pick up our MH from the mechanic today, hopefully for the last time and launch in a few days, but we've been using this for WiFi since there's been a problem with my Mom's in Prescott. It starts out strong, up the 7 Mbps, but the speeds deteriorate to .5 - .1 Mbps within a short period of time, sometimes minutes, even during the middle of the day.

I'm hoping it's because there's a lot of tower congestion in Prescott and that we'll find less out on the road. Gave in and got WeBoost setups for my Jeep and the Beast so that we can use faint signals.

If these speeds don't improve, considering ditching this setup and going with a MIMO router and the double Yagi antenna setup. I keep seeing info on that and getting buyer's remorse...but trying to keep monthly costs down from here on out and I think you need a more spendy plan for those? Still, if it doesn't work, it's certainly not worth $25 a month.

 

[user 16179]

excuse me , but what does mvno stand for?

A 5 second Google search reveals...........MVNO stands for " Mobile Virtual Network Operator ," and being virtual, that means an MVNO does not own the wireless network towers that it uses.

 

[Cagey]

My two cents as a Visible customer (actually, all 4 cell phone users in my household (yes, I'm not yet nomadic)) for the past 10 months:

Caveat: most of my use occurs within a 5 mile radius of a point about 3 miles from a 40K town (city?) in SE AZ. Definitely not "in town" (rural suburbia?). At this location, on my phone (BYOP Google Pixel 5), I have "LTE" coverage (never "5G"), I get 60/15/8 Mbps down (best/typical/worst). If I drive 3 miles further from town, I hit a spot (a favorite restaurant) where I get 135/90/8 (also LTE).

I use my hotspot regularly but seldom daily. Mostly to fill in when my 5G cell-based T-Mobile Home Internet has an outage or severe slowdown. I bought a GL-iNet router in hopes of getting same speeds on hotspot as I get on the phone itself, however none of my attempts (1 month ago) to modify TTL on the router firewall (all internet-suggested permutations) achieved this goal. This result aligns with those achieved by some users on the iRV2 forum thread mentioned earlier: works for some, but not for others. So I use hotspot directly from my phone. This has not presented a problem in practice: it works, I'm only using one device with hotspot at a time, and I can place my phone in a wireless charger while operating in hotspot mode, allowing hours of hotspot use w/o draining the phone battery too severely; also, switching to use the hotspot w/o router is utter simplicity: turn it on: done!

On the bright side, I have observed that for my particular Visible account, my hotspot speed ceiling is no longer 5Mbps (as it was for the first 4 months), but 10Mbps (down and up). This is a surprisingly impactful difference (and in a support chat this month, a Visible rep denied that their 5Mbps hotspot ceiling had been raised...).
Anecdote: earlier this month I had to spend a week in Phoenix, and most of that time was spent in a hotel, waiting, so I entertained myself (and checked on what I was waiting for online) using a Chromebook; I used my Visible hotspot for the entire 7 days' stay (poor hotel Wifi): it consistently delivered 10Mbps the entire time (many hours per day).
Obviously my ability to get 10Mbps from the hotspot is dependent on sufficient local cell network resource availability (and in my examples I'm admittedly NOT boondocking). Regarding Visible's unlimited data: this month (so far) my mobile data usage is 37GB (I think this is the most cell data I've used in a month) with no slowdown observed.

Another anecdote: last fall I spent 4 days at Grand Canyon's North Rim (Lodge); Visible speeds were amazing (best of the trip)! I'd be sitting on a bench overlooking the edge of the Grand Canyon, enjoying the amazing view while doing a multi-100MB download at extreme speed on my phone just because it was so amazing that I could (I couldn't help myself).

In summary, I have no reason to even think about quitting Visible; IMO it's an amazing deal, and liberating in the sense that I don't have to worry about how much data my phone is using; in fact, I leave my phone's WiFi turned off and use cell data exclusively at all times (including while at home). And I've received no reports of callers/texters being unable to reach me.
On the few occasions I've contacted Visible support, they've resolved whatever need I had, without significant delay.

For reference: my previous provider (for 6+ years) was Cricket, on a grandfathered "5 lines for $100/month" deal (4GB/mon NO hotspot). Eventually, only 2 of those lines were being used, so the low per line cost became irrelevant (and I resolved to never let myself get locked into a family plan again; the grandfathering effect led us to stick with Cricket far longer than we should have).

Aside: wanting a second voice+text line on a different cell network "just in case", I'm now on my 3rd month running a $5/month unlimited voice & text, 500MB/month Hello Mobile (T-Mobile MVNO) line. 500MB/month is a tiny amount of data, so this phone runs with WiFi enabled at all times (sometimes I'll use Visible hotspot with it) and with most apps blocked from using cell data to conserve. The service has worked fine for me so far (being a backup, I haven't used it heavily), and costs little more than "parking a number" at e.g. numberbarn ($2/month). Customer service is "bare bones", but I've only contacted them once (not for an actual problem). My only annoyance thus far is that (unlike Visible), they gave me no options regarding the phone number (including area code) associated with my new SIM. For that reason I did port in a number to my Hello Mobile line 3 weeks in, and that process was fast and trouble-free (same as Visible).
Previously on the same phone (Samsung Galaxy S9) I bought a TextNow (also T-Mobile MVNO) SIM to obtain its free unlimited voice+text service plan, however in practice I found TextNow annoying because it isn't real cell service, but instead its SIM delivered cell service only via an ad-laden TextNow app (which seemed to always be getting updated with new misfeatures). Also the rate of spam calls on my TextNow-assigned number was extremely high. In contrast, Hello Mobile gives me real cell service (can be used with any phone/text/app on the phone) on the TMO network for $5/month.

 

[ohbejoyful]

A 5 second Google search reveals...........MVNO stands for " Mobile Virtual Network Operator ," and being virtual, that means an MVNO does not own the wireless network towers that it uses.

Cricket is an MVNO that uses the AT&T network, for example.

 

[RonDean]

I went ahead and got their cheapest Blade ZTE phone and a Beryl router about a week ago, using USB tethering and the unthrottleing hack on the router.

We will pick up our MH from the mechanic today, hopefully for the last time and launch in a few days, but we've been using this for WiFi since there's been a problem with my Mom's in Prescott. It starts out strong, up the 7 Mbps, but the speeds deteriorate to .5 - .1 Mbps within a short period of time, sometimes minutes, even during the middle of the day.

I'm hoping it's because there's a lot of tower congestion in Prescott and that we'll find less out on the road. Gave in and got WeBoost setups for my Jeep and the Beast so that we can use faint signals.

If these speeds don't improve, considering ditching this setup and going with a MIMO router and the double Yagi antenna setup. I keep seeing info on that and getting buyer's remorse...but trying to keep monthly costs down from here on out and I think you need a more spendy plan for those? Still, if it doesn't work, it's certainly not worth $25 a month.

I hope Bunpoh has better results with Visible and the Blade phone than I did. My Blade phone is now collecting dust in the bottom of a drawer. Maybe someday I can find some kind of use for it. Maybe as a webcam? And Visible service is only a bad memory. I am sure that for some people, it may work out. But, in my experience, traveling was not the best use. The reception was poor and spotty to nonexistent. And I tried to work with their customer service several times, only to come back to it was my problem - due to my location. Except for folks on the Verizon service (and others) and with better phones parked or standing right next to me had no problems.

 

[AmargosaWayne]

MVNO customers will never have the same level of access compared to the actual carrier's customers.

Cheaper service involves trade offs.

 

[RonDean]

Y

MVNO customers will never have the same level of access compared to the actual carrier's customers.

Cheaper service involves trade offs.

Yes, we should expect less access. But, I remember having a road breakdown and needing to call for help. Except I had NO connectivity with my Blade and Visible. Lucky for me, someone pulled over that had a connection (Verizon and iPhone).

We need to consider just how important it is to us to be able to get a connection vs saving a few bucks. On the road, it can be VERY important.

 

[Headache]

My fiance and I recently switched to Visible after I had been a long time Verizon customer and then getting screwed by them. He left Boost. Speeds on Visible are definitely slower and data was all but unusable over Easter. I'm in an urban area now(Temecula, CA) so not feast (summer) or famine (winter) like Quartzsite. It's a little bit slower most of the time. In comparison to the virtually instant connections I had with Verizon it's noticable but thankfully usable most of the time.

It was recent that Visible changed the amount of members in the party plans from 4 to unlimited. We're in a party on Visible with 53 members in it. While the price doesn't go any lower than $25 a month, you don't have to worry about getting other members in if some drop as long as it doesn't go less than four. Saves you from babysitting the account.

Also, you currently can bring up to 5 people to Visible and you get a referral bonus for $5 for the following month of service for each successful customer sign up. Your referral also gets one month for $5.

 

[Headache]

I forgot to add that we both got the Motorola One 5g uw Ace. My sweety is a tech geek and he got excited over the 1tb storage card option. He spent the day comparing phones and with the speeds it could handle it wasn't a bad buy at $240.

 

[flylo]

I've had Visable well over 2 years, free ZTE phone, $25/month no added fees, never been throttled & I think it's the best deal going.

 

[dhuff]

MVNO customers will never have the same level of access compared to the actual carrier's customers.

Cheaper service involves trade offs.

Indeed. Carriers will throttle speed for MVNOs (and some of their own customers with cheaper plans) via Quality of Service (QoS) configs in their equipment. It's like the old engineering rule of thumb: "Fast. Cheap. High quality. Pick any two."

 

[Bunpoh]

Quick update...my partner proposed that a VPN might help our Visible speed situation. He figured out that he was already paying for a high level tier of Proton VPN that allows 12 connections.

So we went ahead and set up the Blade that we're using as a hotspot to the Beryl router, as well as on our own phones. Suddenly we're getting 2.5 - 3 Mbps down, 10+ up!

So...if you're having troubles with throttlingnor deprioritization try using a VPN. Right now there's a great deal at Private Internet Access VPN - 2 years for less than $57, and they have good speed and 10 connections, or IP Vanish, which I used to use and has unlimited connections and good speed scores as well. Proton has great privacy but I don't recommend them just because the good sped and number of connections are only available to higher, pricey tiers, but my partner is already paying for it as part of other services he gets from them. And I've heard that Netflix isn't blocking them...yet.

 

[dhuff]

Quick update...my partner proposed that a VPN might help our Visible speed situation. He figured out that he was already paying for a high level tier of Proton VPN that allows 12 connections.

So we went ahead and set up the Blade that we're using as a hotspot to the Beryl router, as well as on our own phones. Suddenly we're getting 2.5 - 3 Mbps down, 10+ up!

VPNs are a fine solution for several issues around geographical location (e.g. using streaming services limited to other countries) and security. I recommend using a VPN under specific circumstances. But this cybersecurity engineer and former network engineer can't fathom how routing all your network traffic thru an encrypted tunnel, which is what VPN software does, could have any effect on your network speed. Cell carriers base their network throttling QoS rules on the type of acct the user has, not the type of network traffic they're sending/receiving.

Of course, if the carrier has poorly thought out QoS rules ("we're only throttling web traffic over port 80 or 443" or "we're only throttling traffic to/from youtube.com" or whatever), then I guess it might work. Jokes on the carrier then, I suppose Anyway, glad it's better for you!

UPDATE: Well, a carrier might base QoS rules on the type of network traffic in certain circumstances. But the ones I've seen are where they raise bandwidth for certain things (like videos) as part of a "deal" on some plans. But since we were discussing things going slower, not faster,...

 

[Bunpoh]

It's odd...it was better for a bit...then not. I'll continue testing, but I'm afraid you're correct, dhuff. I think we're gonna have to find a better solution.

 

[hugemoth]

I'm curious if anyone else is having problems with Visible service right now. My ZTE Blade A3 Prime phone quit connecting yesterday and I'm trying to figure out if the phone itself is the problem. The phone shows 3 bars as usual and also shows the 4G connecting but I can't make calls or connect to the internet.

 

[RVTravel]

My motorola is working fine, but in the past some updates to motorola software has disabled the phone and text app. Both are working after last update.

 

[hugemoth]

My motorola is working fine, but in the past some updates to motorola software has disabled the phone and text app. Both are working after last update.

Thanks. I managed to get the chat with Visible going and after a few tweeks to my phone it is working again, at least for the moment.

 

[hugemoth]

Visible quit working again and I spent 3 hours chatting with an agent but they couldn't fix it. Will try upgrading to a stand alone $30 month service which they say will work. We'll see! They're sending a new sim. Not very happy with Visible right now.

 

[BlueMarkOhio]

A 5 second Google search reveals...........MVNO stands for " Mobile Virtual Network Operator ," and being virtual, that means an MVNO does not own the wireless network towers that it uses.

Visible is only "kind of" an MVNO since it is actually owned by Verizon. I've heard that they do not throttle or limit data on their unlimited data plans for using too much data (but will temporarily throttle due to congestion like everyone else). Hope that is true as I am probably switching to them soon.