Visible slow data

phoneman2021
Superuser
Superuser

Hi, I had Visible.  I had a SE2020 and a iPhone 13 pro on Visible.  The SE was on Visible for just short of a year.  The 13 pro was on Visible for a day.  In October of this year around the end of the month I noticed speeds of like 1.2 down 2.0 down 0.9 down.  This didn't use to be the case with Visible.  I chatted in with Care 6 times.  All 6 times they disconnected the chat.  Is this the new Normal for Visible?  What can I do to get better speeds if I give Visible another try?  Should I give them another Try?  I'm in a good Verizon coverage area.

4 REPLIES 4

Tecxy
Novice III

Hi Phoneman,

 

The slowdown is caused by deprioritization. Since cell towers have limited bandwidth, your speeds will be slowed to preserve bandwidth for customers with higher priority (Verizon Postpaid/Prepaid). This will occur regardless of signal strength.

Multiple factors can cause slowdowns to happen. If more people are in your area now than there were previously, slowdowns can happen. This is common in southern states as snowbirds move in for the winter. The increase in travel over the next few months (especially if you are near a major highway), can also impact your speeds. There isn't really anything that you, as the customer, can do to improve speeds.

Matt2h
Novice

I doubt that deprioritization is the main reason, unless you are experiencing very slow speeds even with the $45-$50 plan. If you have the $25/$30 plan, the more likely reason is that you do not have access to 5G Ultra Wideband in your area, so you're seeing more 4G-like speeds. Then why advertise that all plans feature 5G access? Well in certain areas they do have 5G nationwide, using a different technology. This will often be available in city centers and it just depends where you are. For me the slower speeds are perfectly sufficient for what I need. I will consider upgrading my plan if I'm feeling financially secure. For $25 month, this unlimited data is great. I'm willing to accept the slower speed in most places. 

Matt,

This post is almost two years old. On the old network, before Visible+, 5G network access, and any other upgrades existed, deprioritization was the main reason (and really the only reason) for slowdowns. Since this post, Visible has introduced those things, and unusably slow speeds are now (for the most part) a thing of the past. However, what you stated about limited 5G coverage, could very well mean slower speeds for modern Visible users.

I beg to differ. September 30, 2023 I'm one month into visible and my speeds were good for 2 days. Afterwards, they fell to below 10mps and have stayed they during all times of day as well as in different locations. If this continues, I will not be staying with visible much longer. Customer chat will keep you on hold for 15 min at a time and then disconnect if you do not answer them within 10 seconds of them finally responding to you.