Caveat Emptor

[Anonymous]

To those similarly frustrated... here's my experience to date with Visible. If you want a bumper sticker version, sorry there isn't one other than Caveat Emptor. Since Visible doesn't really want to be transparent about the issues being experienced and even cuts my Chat sessions off abruptly (Thanks Patricia, I've got receipts) I can only vent my frustration here.

July 13 - ordered SIM and Visible Unlimited Plan (the old legacy plan). SHipped overnight and was up a running the 1st day. I was evaluating viability of meeting my distinct needs. Payed for the 2nd month and everything was smooth until August 17, the day the new plans were announced.

August 17 - After reviewing the changes to the Legal Disclosures regarding the new plans, decided to upgrade to the new Visible Plan ($30). I wasn't and still am not interested in the Visible+ Plan since for $15 more per month it offers little value to me - for others maybe, but not me. Placed the order but did not receive a confirmation email, which should have been the first red flag that something was amiss. However my account page showed ordered and awaitng shipment. In short, never shipped and on August 24 went through the pain of a lengthy Chat sessionand was assured it would ship soon. However that very same day, I lost access through the account with no data. Back to Chat - and at least this time, the issue was resolved on August 25 after an email from tech support. Looking at my order history as soon as I got backon - it appeared they simply de-provisioned and re-provisioned the account to get things working again with some fake debits and credits. Since then, thaose have disappered from the order history Who know perhaps in an effort to cover their tracks but that would be paranoid right - one would think at least until my Chat buddy Patricia actually erase the majority of our exchange earlier today and abrubtly terminated the session, but I digress. Checking my account after service was restored, showed that then upgrade order simply disappeared - not unexpected due to the de-provisioning and re-provisioning. No problem, simply reorder...

August 25 - In short, reordered the upgrade. Once again order has never shipped and remains in limbo. A chat session on Septemeber 3 was quickly terminated by the rep with an abrupt "it can take up to 3 business days to ship" - you all can do the math.

But wait, there's more... after noticing both Best Buy and Walmart are now selling Visible Prepaid Cards and SIM Kits, decided to order through Best Buy establish a new separate Visible. They aren't in the store yet but can be ordered for shipping or store pickup in 3 days - at least Best Buy understands the meaning of 3 days. Ordered 9/5 and picked up on 9/8 when ready.

September 8 - it's a typical SIM kit. SIM, SIM ejector and Prepaid month of service. You do incur sales tax when ordering though Best Buy. Without braking the seal, you are instructed to check phone compatibility - scanning the OCR code, I passed. Breaking the seal it's a matter of simply following the directions. I signed up for and a new account (different email address) and new phone number. Everything went smoothly and you're even instructed to complete the process over WiFi, which I did. The last step is to restart the phone. Whoomp,there it is! No phone service, emergency calls only, not text, no data where it sits now on September 13 with empty promises offered by Chat. As an aside however, when logging into the new account using the app since yesterday, I am now greeted with a popup stating: "We are working on some things in the cloud. You'll be Visible soon." Cute pun there Visible but as I see it now, I've just paid $30 plus tax for a SIM ejector - I've still go a few days to return to Best Buy and will hold out til the last minute giving Visible time to get its act together.

As I said, Caveat Emptor but YMMV and consider the lack of support in making your decision to go with Visible. I need help and there is no solution that anyone in this peer-to-peer support community can offer. The ball is in Visible's court.

To be clear, Visible is a mixed bag for me. The original Visible Unlimited legacy plan works very well for my needs. Support is atrocious at best and I suspect that is a universal experience. I wanted to do a side-by-side comparison of the old plan vs. the new plan. I won't recommend Visible to anyone other than saying try it, don't port a number, decide for yourselves. There are so many variables associated with success that I cannot make a blanket recommendation - everyone's experiences will be different depending on those variables. These include your location, phone, and operating system amongst others.

I am satisfied with the original Visible Unlimited plan (excluding woeful support). So much so that combined with my primary cellular service,  I kicked Dish to the curb in favor streaming solutions.

[phoneman2021]

I encourage you or anyone having issues with Visible to file complaints with the FCC.  This is absolutely ridiculous .  Visible needs to 1 admit the issues.  2 fix them.  I believe this could be a wonderful option but something needs to wake them up.

[Anonymous]

I plan to and agree with everything else. I also need to see if there's an FTC angle here - since this appears to be more of a consumer protection issue that regulatory issue. Visible could be a viable option for many depending on needs, but don't expect any significant support. I don't expect them to support issues folks are having with their operating system, apps, etc. Question's like that can best be answered by the community here. When it comes to activation, ordering, order fulfillment, billing and administrative issues only Visible can provide those types of solutions.

[russellowens20]

Bob,

May I ask what phone you have?

I went through the same headache upgrading my s20 FE to the new $30 plan. Now after 4 weeks of painful APN combinations I finally fixed my phone and have data and I am able to send MMS messages.

This is the 2nd time I have had to manually input APNs on phones that I owned.

[Anonymous]

Samsung S21(5G) for the original unlimited account; Samsung A42(5G)  for the non-functional account. Both are compatible with Visible. Unfortunately neither has allowed modifying, adding or saving APN settings since the May security updates for Android 12. Carriers don't want anybody messing with their settings it seems and Samsung is obliging by locking down certain functions (even on unlocked phones). APN settings are good on each. This is a matter of the account and phone not being provisioned properly. No phone, no text, and no data - just emergency calls. And this hardly warrants a 911 call. I'm not inclined to use the eSIM on my S21 and  A42 doesn't support eSIM. Fortunately I had an old Moto G Power to continue using my other provider. I'm ultimately only going to use one of the Visible accounts after canceling the other and reverting to using only the Samsungs. Was hoping to get a side by side comparison done prior to next billing but alas, that's tomorrow so time's running short.

[russellowens20]

That's odd! I have an unlocked Galaxy s20FE that I bought from Samsung and it is on Android 12, One UI 4.1 and I was able to add the APN settings after installing the new sim and activating it. One would expect that the APN setting would automatically install like most carriers, even Verizon will do that when installing a sim card.

These are my settings.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ymiWWmK9VyRi7qpS8

I wonder if resetting the APNs only will unlock the APNs so that they can be added?

FYI, I did not have any service like you initially.

[Anonymous]

I may try resetting the APN on the A42 to see if it makes a difference, but am reluctant to do so. I'll try it just before I head out to Best Buy to return the Visible Prepaid Kit and SIM next week if the issue isn't resolved. I'm not paying $30 plus tax for effectively a SIM ejector 😀

Oops accidentally marked as a solution, and can't find a way to unmark. Like I said earlier onl Visible has the solution.

[russellowens20]

No doubt!

When I went from my S8+ to S9+ Visible said that my s9+ was not compatible with them so I used the iPhone trick to get a sim and got it working on my own. S.M.H

[russellowens20]

Good luck! I understand the frustration with Visible. 

I love the service when it is working and the cost is excellent but you have to work for it, and that for many is much more challenging endeavor and take quite a bit of ones time to fix. If Visible would get that part of things together they would be amazing, but I am not holding my breath.

[TheCellTower]

I think at this point visible is not worth it, especially when the downloads take forever 

[Anonymous]

Still waiting on Chat agent ...

[Anonymous]

Sept 20 and the new SIM has yet to be activated; however, finally got an email from the Visible Care team with a reference number and promise of an update or resolution within 24 - 48 hours. Unless it's a resolution, it's too little too late. The window for me to return the kit to Best Buy is by Friday, Sept 23.

[russellowens20]

Did you try any of the settings?

[Anonymous]

No, they don't even have account fully established so nothing to try against. The phone isn't even registered on the network.

[SomeHelpPls]

I regret not having read this thread PRIOR to getting involved with Visible.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

September 21 and I'm Visible! Awoke this morning to email(s) regarding the new plan and SIM.

1st email was a notification that the SIM had shipped and was on its way. Of course I already had the SIM and perhaps this was the root cause of my problem - they though the SIM had not shipped, I had picked it up at Best Buy and perhaps they aren't fully setup to handle that channel yet.

2nd email was the welcome email stating to restart the device

3rd email was from the Visible Care team stating the issue had been resolved and to restart.

Actually it took a couple restarts to get things going - phone, text, data all working.

So this gives me a good three weeks to run the old plan and new plan sided-by-side and determine which to keep. Too early to say anything since speeds have been in the toilet on the old plan since yesterday - not much better on the old plan. Ping time much improved on new plan vs old - 42 vs 142.

It really shouldn't have been this hard.

[russellowens20]

I'm glad you're finally active. 

For me no amount of restarting fixed my issue after they would say it was fixed.

If you look at your APNs, do you only have one listed? 

[Anonymous]

Yes, just one. Same as your default, except Name is Visible Internet New, MMSC not set, and APN roaming protocol is simply IPV4.

Still cannot edit, add new or save.

[LVrocketgal12]

Hi

Ive been trying to activate my phone and my husband's since Wednesday a week ago. (Nov. 30th)

Not as long as you.  I didn't realize at first that we had physical sims in our phones. Weve had them a year or so and I forgot. After hours and several days trying esim they mailed us physical sims but still cant get them to activate. And we r trying to keep our previous verizon numbers since we've had them for 15 years. My husband is a private consultant and he really needs his phone to work. We got tired of paying $300 per month to Verizon. well one month. But they took away his veteran discount because he won't do the ID me. His veteran status is never going to change. And we lost my phone turn in monthly discount $24.16 so they basically stole my old phone. We have no cell signal SOS only, no texts or emails except to other Verizon phones like my family. When I try to text friends with ATT they get an email from me not a text. Tmobile friends do not get anything from me. But if I send them a message on messenger they can get that. (and of course must have FB account)

I'm venting and thank you for sharing your experiences at least I don't feel like it is just me. I don't kn ow what we are going to do. We r in a remote area and my phone and my husband's keep draining battery. It must be searching for it ? There is no way we will get 5G here and don't expect it or care I would just be happy if the phone works. I can hardly wait for Elon Musk phone and Starlink !

[LVrocketgal12]

My Phone keeps saying under settings general about shows network nothing available but shows Visible has my number. Ugggggg