Visible and Text Messaging Issues

[mitekcomputers]

First let me say overall I am happy with Visible phone service. I wish roaing was enabled BUT it is what it is I suppose.

What I hate is that almost daily on my Samsung Galaxy A21 phone, I constantly throughout teh day get to a point where I cant receive 2 step authentication messages from any service I use. Its ridiculous. I have toi turn airplane mode off and on at least twice or more, and then within a minute or so I receive a TON of messages all at once.

From what I have read this seems to be a VERY comon problem with Visible and after calling Visible support, they told me to restart the phone, turn airplane mode off and on, and messages should show up.. so they KNOW its an issue yet are doing nothing at all to resolve it.

I have tested it with more than a few MMS/SMS third party applications and its the same no matter which app I use. If you turn airplane mode off and on at least twice, making sure to leave airplane mode on for at least a few seconds, and at times restart the phone, you will be inundated/slammed with all of the messages you should have received but didn't. I am talking several messages all at once.

I have had mobile service with numerous companies since the 90s and NEVER have I had an issue with text messaging like this. It is without a doubt the most unreliable text messaging system I have ever seen.

Its BEYOND frustrating and ridiculous. I mean what good is it saving money on the mobile service IF the service doesnt work 100%.

The voice side of things, and everything else works fine, but the point is I am mute. I cannot speak, so I really only use the phone for text and chat etc. Without this feature working the way it should, there ius nothing for me if saving a few bucks a month doesnt include roaming or reliable text messagunbg. Some people like me are diabled and without text, we have no form of reliable communication.

So basically you are NOT doing right by customers with dsabilities such as mine. 

What I do know is if I called ATT or Verizon or even TMobile with this issue it would be resolved quickly. As long as Visible has had this issue, it should have been resolved 100 times over..so how about getting off your keisters and have your engineers fix this very common and specific problem, that seems to be only happening with Visible phone service?

It's very hard to promote a service or ask friends to use this service when you know there are problems such as this. How about a little help OTHER than turning airplane mode off and on and restarting your phone? Once a month I could understand BUT every day or so??? Ridiculous and it shows me your customer service is not nearly as great as you make it seem.

Thanks.

Mike G

[phoneman2021 · Accepted solution]

First Mike G let me make a few suggestions.  1 ask the case be pushed to the engineers.  You should at that point get a time frame for issues to be resolved.  Second have you considered getting a newer phone?  Hope this helps.

[sixraven]

I've been with visible a couple of years I had the Google pixel 3A and was having this issue with any text from anybody all of a sudden the end of the day I'd realize I had no text and then without rhyme or reason they would all come in at once. It was never figured out then I did it a few more times in that year and then hasn't done it for a year or so. I have a new Samsung phone just a couple of weeks ago it started doing that again no rhyme or reason tried different texting apps somebody's got to fix this this isn't a new problem waiting right now on a text for my boss I called him he sent it but I can't see it come on visible

[Jammon96]

I have the same issue on my Samsung S21 however mine also includes calls not coming in.   I have also been on with customer service numerous times with no resolution other than resets and airplane off and on.  I have asked repeatedly for my call/issue to be escalated and I have NEVER heard back from anyone. Or my personal favorite is when the CS reps sit idle for 3 minutes you are kicked back into the que to start the process from scratch all over again.   Getting a newer phone? That is not a resolution, they can’t support phones they confirmed they were compatible with what makes you think a new phone will solve it?  I think newer phone technology is something they have  no idea how to support

[phoneman2021]

The customer service has a lot to be desired especially if it is a complex issue.  I base this on numerous complaints  I've seen on here and other social media sites.  A solution to this that I don't see being added but it should be is USA phone support.  You should be able to call and speak to a US rep.  This would give Visible better reviews and overall help them get more customers.

[Travelmill]

I am so frustrated with visible's customer service.  i've been on multiple times with them to get my new visible service activated, and it's always trying the same old things.  I'm still unable to make phone calls and send/receive texts.  I thought it would be seamless to transfer from Verizon which is twice as expensive each month, but maybe worth it since there were no issues.  I will not be recommending Visible.

[cieglo]

Joined Visible yesterday with my pixel 6.  Ported from Verizon.  Was getting some text messages last night. Today I realized I'm getting zero group texts, can send zero group texts and I'm basically locked out of every secure app or website because I am getting zero authentication messages from any system/app/page.  They tried to reload my eSIM this morning, had issues and now I have to wait hours to try this all again.  

Tried the airplane mode, reboot, reset networks (wiping out ALL my network passwords, grr...), turned the SIM off/on...no love yet.  If reloading the SIM works, I'll post that.

[cieglo]

After much time on chat help and many failed attempts to correct the problem I was just told, "So the reason this eSIM isn't working is because this device is unfortunately coming up as incompatible as of now. Some devices can be incompatible based on the specific serial number on the device and where they are purchased from. I'm very sorry about that inconvenience"

So yay?  Heading back to Verizon.

[cieglo]

So.  Things just suddenly started working today.  Verizon had some weird tech issue with porting my number back so I didn't do it and today everything works fine.  See my chat transcript here: 

https://community.visible.com/t5/Help-Forum/No-Group-Text-Messages/td-p/18693

[lynnann96]

Me too with a Pixel 5!

May be right behind you. 

[phoneman2021]

This is irritating for a few reasons.  1 It should never take several hours.  2 It shouldn't matter where you purchase the phone from.  If it is unlocked it works.  This is the experience with other carriers.  I'm sorry you are having this experience.  This is why people leave Visible and never come back!!!!!!!

[Richard93444]

UPDATE June 16, 2022: After my comment yesterday, I spent a few hours basically fumbling around, restarting my phone, switching in and out of Airplane mode as others suggested, fiddling around with cache and text settings, and I don't remember what else. As of early this morning, I was able to receive authentication tests from the websites I need to log in to, so all is well. Voice is working fine, quality is excellent compared to what I had before (ATT via Red Pocket), coverage has been consistent, speed consistent, no dropped calls. I'm a hHappy camper for the time being. Hope it lasts a while! 🙂 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joined Visible a couple of days ago. Swapped out an old Android for Visible's Moto G Pure, so one would assume it is compatible. Voice quality is excellent. Voice over WiFi is convenient. Download speed is about 20 Mbps. Hotspot tested, download speed is a constant 5 Mpbs. The one problem I noticed is that, as the OP above described, I am locked out of all websites that require security verification via a phone token because the texts never arrived. Yes, I did the restart, Airplane mode, etc. etc. Still no texts, and there should be about 20 of them now--all lost in space. This is a dealbreaker for me, and if it's not resolved quickly, I'll be moving on at the end of the month. There's a lot to like about Visible IMO, but I *must* be able to get authentication texts, and realiably and quickly. It seems that quite a few people are complaining about this, so I'm going to expect it won't be sorted out and that I need to have my T-Mobile compatible phone charged and ready to go.

[JimmyP]

I'm having the same issue and am finding that it seems to be an issue with Verizon's network. I'm about to leave both...they've been working on it for more than 8 weeks.

[Tylr_Noice]

I too had a similar problem where I could text some people but not others and after reading a lot of threads and getting no where I started to dig into the settings on my phone (iPhone 13) and discovered that when Visible switched my service from Verizon my phone was showing two service providers ("cellular plans" on my iPhone) one for Visible and one for Verizon both utilizing the same phone number. I had to deduce that the phone was in conflict so knowing that I no longer had Verizon service I removed the cellular plan from Verizon and problem solved. My not be the silver bullet for all but hopefully it will help someone.

[pdawson723]

I’m having this issue also.  iPhone 12 and it’s showing two cellular plans.  Your recommendation is to delete the “primary” cellular plan?  The other is cellular data.  I switched to make cellular data my primary choice yet even after that I sent a text, got a r3pky, attempted to reply again and got a “failed to send”.  I’m so confused!

[Anonymous]

I am also having this problem. Just switched to Visible a week ago and having random issues sending SMS to various contacts, but not all, on an iPhone 14 Pro. Sounds like I should consider going back to T-Mo Prepaid.

[phoneman2021]

Hi, have you tried to chat with support?  They can't fix an issue if they don't know it is happening.  

[Anonymous]

Yep. "Just wait and see if it clears up."

[phoneman2021]

than chat back in.  I would calmly and politely ask for my case to be given to a super visor or teer 2 support.  State it hasn't cleared up.  again be nice.  

[Anonymous]

Basically the same response, and 'tier 2 wouldn't be able to do much.' This must be that great support everybody on reddit talks about.

[phoneman2021]

Have you reached out to  tier 2?  It sounds like you aren't even giving it a chance.  This is not fair to Visible.

[Anonymous]

I've been giving it a chance for over a week. I reached out to support twice today, who I asked to send me to tier 2 the second time. The response was "tier 2 wouldn't be able to do much."  as I stated above. Is there a direct way to get in touch without going through first-tier support? If so, great. But I already ported out to AT&T after my previous message. 

[AkilahM]

I kindly disagree, What visible service is doing is not fair to its customers.

[phoneman2021]

there is nothing they can do now. You ported out.

[sevans8]

I  switched to Visible about 2 weeks ago using an iPhone 13 Pro Max. I recently had a battery issue with the 13Pro and had to take it into Apple last night. They gave me a loaner phone and had to transfer the esim to an iPhone XR. When I got home, I switched esim from XR to an old iPhone 12 Pro that I had. Since the switches, I've been having problems with receiving SMS texts. My SMS texts are received by the other side, but I'm not able to receive any response from them. Please help!

[PDechert]

I am going through the exact same thing. I can receive messages from someone who has an iphone(as that’s what I have), but cannot receive regular text messages. I’ve factory reset my phone, had a new eSim downloaded multiple times, and still nothing. I’ve also lost access to my voicemail. No solutions have been given. 

[MBROWN92124]

same issue with me and my wife today. But we can send and receive rcs messengers for android, and can send SMS messengers. but cannot receive SMS messenges. 

[kpk13]

Same issue.  Started today 2/28.  Cannot receive SMS messages.  Can send SMS, can send & receive chats (RCS) can make & receive calls.

Been waiting for support chat for 30 minutes... says higher than normal volume... 

Down Detector also looks like there's an issue: https://downdetector.com/status/visible/

[AkilahM]

And here it is over a year later LITERALLY and the issue is still prevalent😂. For what I know I get my calls, though I haven’t gotten a call none yesterday, the calls I made went through.

 The kicker is if you’re a new customer and have this issue you have to wait 60 days for your phone to unlock to leave the phone company. 60 days of mediocre service. Visible is a joke.

[phoneman2021]

@AkilahM  if you are so dissatisfied why are you still with Visible?  Have you switched to the new network to see if the issues continue

[AkilahM]

Good morning,

Because Visible has a policy where your phone is locked for 2 months before you can effectively switch without owing them another dime. Trust me once my 2 months are up I am gone

[Braziliansteven]

I am in the same boat. I get random group texts but miss others. I don’t get any 2FA texts except visible. I am also missing certain individual texts. Help desk forced me through 5 reps and 5 hours of chat support only to escalate it. The following day got an email saying you get our texts the issue is not us. REALLY… read the thread it’s clearly visible. I was fine until I ported in. 

[timmyc519]

I've been with Visible for a few years now and have never been able to receive MMS. Everything else is working. I can send pics and other MMS. I just can't receive. I assumed when I upgraded to the new service and got my new SIM card that the issue would be corrected.. nope. I guess I'll live without incoming MMS. 

[halofriendly]

Duplicate post (from another thread):

If anyone else is still having problems, here's what I realized my problem (and solution) was. 

I did the 15-day free Visible trial, which sets up a temporary secondary number on your phone. 

Then when I signed up for a (paid) Visible account, and ported my old number over, I assumed incorrectly that my phone would use the line assigned to my old number (labeled primary, in settings > cellular), and so I disabled the temporary Visible trial number (labeled secondary).

I was having SO MANY PROBLEMS. I could iMessage other iPhone-using people, but could not text my Android-using husband. And could not do anything using data (only wifi).

In about 24 hours, I looked at my settings again, and things looked different: it showed that now I had two lines using my same old number. A-ha. I needed to disable the old one (labeled primary) because even though the numbers were the same, that was my old (and now deactivated) cell provider (in my case, Verizon), and enable the new one (labeled secondary) because that was my new (and now activated, with my old number ported over) cell provider (Visible). 

Did that, and now everything works just dandy. 😅 

That may sound confusing. Happy to upload a screen shot if it helps anyone. It all seems obvious in hindsight, but it took me a while to figure it out, and thought maybe I'm not the only one. 

Good luck!

[EmitTrap]

I've had 4 different Pixels and I solved my texting issues by deleting cache and data within the messaging app itself. In my case I am using google messages. Should work with others. Worst case delete your messaging app and re-install.

[wildgift]

I have been with visible for a couple months now. Moved from Verizon. I never had this issue until I moved here. I have to chat with them and they reset network settings on their end to resolve the problem. It's happened now 2 times in 2 weeks in the 2 months I've been with them. I'm going to try to resolve it with your steps above next time before reaching out to them. 

After they reset the network settings on the backend the missed tests didn't come through. Only new texts. The next day all the missed texts come through. Like they're stuck in a queue somewhere. 

Frustrating especially when many online websites don't use authenticator apps for authorizing access... Just text.