spotty data, usually really slow

[jdm]

Visible since 2019 and my data speed has been getting slower and slower.  Lately I have 0.08 mbps to none during the day but, today, about 10:30AM ,for about a half hour I had over 5 mbps.  I've already paid for a month starting today.  I've tried the setting changes, take the SIM out and replace (sometimes that helps temporarily), change the APN and help chat.  Any suggestions would be appreciated. 

[jdm]

I did get a new phone from Visible this year.  I thought it helped for a little while but, now I'm back to using the 2019 phone.  I've never gotten a new SIM.  I logged into my account to see what the "new plan" was the email I got was talking about.  I went through the steps, neither of my phones are compatible and it took me to free swap.  It turns out, free swap is only for new members.  I don't want to buy another new phone to take a chance Visible might get better. 

[jdm]

Almost midnight here and I took advantage of my late night speedy data and did help chat.  Val said she gave me a rehit (my word, not hers) on my SIM card.  I'm over 5.00 mbps down now.  She seems confident they can get me workable data.  Tomorrow will be the test.  I be back here either way with the results.

[BobbieT]

Do you live in a metro area, or more rural?  I live in southern Arkansas, and no other carrier has coverage in our area.  I’ve been plagued by slow internet for years, and thought it was just because of my location.

[jdm]

I live in a metro area.  I'm thinking congestion is part of my issue, too many people sharing what's available.  It used to be my data was much faster if I moved away from town, not so much here lately.

[TheCellTower]

The reason why it's so slow is because there is traffic on the towers which Verizon postpaid costomers get first and traffic on visible servers if you want premium data for cheap try US Mobile they have a free trial 

[jdm]

It's better today, more bursts of data come through.  I've been unable to check out who offers what but, I did see Mint has a 3 month, unlimited data plan for $90.  I'll look at US Mobile too.  Thanks!

[TheCellTower]

Mint doesn't offer unlimited data the unlimited data is 35gig at high speed, if you don't use more it's a good deal, us mobile comes out cheaper with family plans, with family plan you save a lot you get perks, international data

[jdm]

It's just me, an individual line so, family plans are no help for me.  I've been trying to reply here all day and now is the first time I've had enough data to do it.  Watching a video in 360p (internet says that's 0.7 mbps) is as much data speed as I really need and I can pause and wait for that to load.  I do use a lot of data in a month because I'm on it so much.   I can see I'm an odd customer so, it's going to take some looking to find a fit for me.  Hours on hours during the day that no page will load isn't working.  

[TheCellTower]

So US Mobile won't be the best option for you because you only get good deal with family plan unless your willing to pay $49 per month. But on the other side you get the same date as Verizon postpaid costomer, US Mobile internet is great they have prioritized data 

[jdm]

Talked to Val at help chat.  She said she did something to my SIM card.  More data than I can use right now.  Tomorrow will be the test.

[jdm]

Didn't think about Val could be a he but, Val Kilmer.  I don't know.

[jdm]

Don't give up on help chat without giving them a chance!  That was the advice I should have followed.  So far, it has been great, mostly 5+ mbps down today with a few as low as 2+ mbps but, always much more than I need.  Watching on a laptop, do I need more than 360p and it loads without me waiting at all.  Usually I have list of things I want to access when I have data late in the day.  Today I've run out of things I want to see.  Big thanks to Val at help chat.

[TheCellTower · Accepted solution]

Thanks for sharing your experience this will help others with the same problem, now we know that the costomer care could make the data better, you just don't give up you keep trying, thanks!!

[jdm]

I'm going to hope I'm not jinxing myself saying this one is solved but, it's getting close to 48 hours and I haven't had a problem with not enough data speed in that time.  It does fluctuate, usually from 2+ to 5+ mbps with a low of 0.27 once but, never a zero and I was getting a lot of zeros.  YouTube almost always auto sets to 720p and plays without any hesitation.  It seems to load in spurts.  I'm a happy camper.

[marciano]

I have an iPhone 7 Plus on the old network with $25 a month with Party Pay.  Since I joined Visible sometime in 2019, my speed has always been around 2 mbps.  Even with that speed, I can watch a lot of YouTube videos in 720P on my laptop.  That surprised me, of course!  Sometimes, I do have to down scale to 480 or 360.

After reading your post, I checked my speed via fast.come and speedtest.net.  Both said about 5 mpbs. I am in a northwest suburb of Los Angeles and hope to upgrade to iPhone 14, once they are released, to hopefully get better speed.

[jdm]

Looking online I saw that it takes 0.7mbps to watch a video in 360p.  For what it's worth, I don't really like cell phones at all, mine rarely leave the house and I didn't care which cell phone I had I just wanted to get away from AT&T.  I got the $19 ZTE R2 phone from Visible in 2019 and got a $100 Motorola Moto E from them in March of this year when my data got so slow.  I found out that the $19 R2 was just a little faster on data speeds.  Hopefully I now have data speed and it won't take me an hour and a half to watch a 22 minute video in 360p anymore.

[marciano]

I want to take advantage of the 5G capability of the latest iPhone.  Off brands may not offer the same speed.  That and other features of the iPhone are why I am going for the 14.

[TheCellTower]

The latest Samsung devices also deliver very fast speed, I did testing in a cellphone store in some cases the latest Samsung devices was faster than iPhone, it was interesting 

[marciano]

I have an MacBook Air and an iPad.  I am in the Apple eco-system, as they say. :). Otherwise, I'd consider an Android device.