An honest take on if the savings are worth it

While many people know that Visible is owned by Verizon, there’s still a lot of confusion about how the two services differ. In this guide, I want to clear up the confusion about what Visible offers, what it lacks, and whether the savings are worth it.

Why trust my take? I’ve been a Verizon postpaid user for years (mainly for work-related reasons that necessitate sticking with a big carrier). However, I’ve also used Visible off and on. Based on my experience with both, I believe each has its advantages and disadvantages. Ultimately, the better choice depends on what matters most to you.

With that out of the way, let’s dive in.

As you can see from the TL;DR and the table above, Visible is undoubtedly the more affordable option, but it also offers some surprising advantages. Let’s break down how these two services compare in terms of pricing, prioritization, speed, phone selection, special features, and more.

Pricing

• Visible is the clear winner here, even for families.
• You also get higher priority than Verizon’s cheapest postpaid plan with Visible Plus while still costing less.

The most obvious advantage of Visible is the cost, especially when compared to Verizon’s cheapest plan. Verizon’s entry-level plan has the same low-priority data as Visible Basic, yet a single line costs $45 more. Even larger families will find Visible Basic significantly cheaper: $80 for four lines of Basic or $120 for four lines of Unlimited Welcome.

Visible Plus also outshines Verizon MyPlan Unlimited Welcome. For $35 less per line, Visible Plus offers higher-priority data and better international perks. A family of four would pay the same for Verizon’s cheapest plan as for Visible’s most expensive option.

One caveat: The prices quoted above aren’t permanent. Visible is currently running a sale, with the promotional pricing set to end this month. Sign up before the promo ends, and you’ll lock in the lower rate for two years!

• Verizon myPlan Plus and Ultimate are the way to go if you want unlimited high-priority data.
• Visible Plus is a close second as you get 50GB of high-priority data before it pushes you to a lower priority for the rest of the month.
• Visible Basic and Verizon myPlan Welcome have the lowest priority tiers so you might struggle if you live in an area with heavy Verizon traffic.

Contrary to popular belief, postpaid plans aren’t always faster than prepaid MVNOs. Both Verizon and Visible use Quality of Service Class Identifiers (QCI) to manage network traffic.

• QCI 9: Used by Visible Basic and Verizon’s MyPlan Unlimited Welcome.
• QCI 8: Higher-priority data used by Visible Plus and other Verizon postpaid plans (Visible Plus reverts to QCI 9 after 50GB of usage).

You may be wondering the difference between QCI 8 and 9 regarding speed and reliability. The truth is that this answer will vary depending on where you live and where you visit with your phone. If you live in an area with minimal congestion you’ll get the fastest speeds possible regardless of what your priority is.

I personally have Verizon myPlan Plus but my daughter is on Welcome and I’ve used both tiers of Visible. I can tell you that the real world difference between QCI 8 and 9 can be dramatic at times, but it really depends on how congested your location is.

As the tower gets more crowded QCI 9 plans will see their speeds throttled back first to ensure the best speeds possible for those on QCI 8. As more users pile into the cell the speeds may slowly degrade for both QCI 8 and 9 users but those on a higher priority plan will always have highly functional speeds even if they end up with minor throttling.

In a crowded downtown area or stadium, this can translate to almost completely unusable speeds (think 1Mbps or slower) for those with a lower priority plan, while those with QCI 8 plans will still typically see speeds that are good enough for almost every use case (above 10Mbps or more, typically) even if not as fast as you’d get in less crowded spaces.

• Visible has a smaller selection than Verizon but it has all the best flagships and more.
• Verizon has better financing options, as Visible uses Affirm, which is less trusted.
• Verizon and Visible both have decent insurance options. 

Visible’s selection of 41 phones includes all major flagships, foldables, and budget-friendly options from Samsung, Apple, Google, and Motorola. While Verizon’s selection is larger at over a hundred, many of its devices are refurbished or low-end models.

One major difference here is you won’t find as good of promotions or special offers. You may occasionally find discounted phone promotions but for the most part, you’ll be paying closer to full retail price on most devices.

Verizon is more likely to have steeper discounts and better trade-in offers. It even runs free phone promotions and other offers, though most of these deals are now limited to Plus and Ultimate users.

Another area where Visible is less impressive is financing. Visible relies on Affirm for financing, offering terms like 0% APR for 36 months. However, Affirm has a mixed reputation, with common complaints reported to the BBB about unexpected fees and payment processing issues.

Those interested in insurance might assume Verizon has the better options here but thankfully that’s not the case. Visible partners Assurant and offers many of the same features as you’d get from the big carriers. It’s also cheaper.

For example, Visible Protect covers mechanical and electrical failure, accidental damage, loss, and theft for $10 a month or $8 a month for pre-owned (though the latter doesn’t offer loss/theft protection). In comparison, you’d pay at least $16 a month for very similar coverage with Verizon Mobile Protect, though there are other cheaper options like Verizon TEC which offers less comprehensive coverage for just $9.10 a month.

Customer service experience

• Verizon has better customer service thanks to phone, online, and in-person options. Visible is an online only affair.
• If don’t mind doing your own troubleshooting and research as needed, Visible’s customer service will probably be enough.

Verizon gives you brick-and-mortar, online, and telephone-based customer service though the former sometimes incurs an extra fee depending on what you need in-person help with.

I’ve never had an issue with Verizon’s customer service but what about Visible? Personally, I’ve only had to contact them once during a port out years ago, and the experience went perfectly fine.

Of course, there are plenty of folks that have run into issues. Android phones tend to have more issues with prepaid due to APN setting issues that sometimes arise, while iPhones are typically much more plug-and-play here. Visible’s customer service is also an online-only affair.

Visible’s customer service is good enough for the basics but I will admit Verizon has a better reputation here. Still, you likely won’t have major problems if you are tech-saavy or the patient kind who doesn’t mind doing simple online research directly.

Do you consider yourself tech-illiterate? Verizon setup tends to be less problematic even for Android users, and Big Red has in-person resources that might be a better fit for you.

• Verizon offers add-on perks for around $10 each.
• Verizon has slightly better international offerings, though Visible comes quite close here.

Verizon doesn’t offer free perks anymore but there are add-on perks that typically run around $10 apiece. Perks include the Disney Plus Bundle, a Netflix and Max ad-supported bundle, an Apple One bundle, a Walmart Plus bundle (with Paramount Plus), and the list goes on.

You won’t find anything fancy like that with Visible, but you will find some international perks such as unlimited talk and text in Canada and Mexico for Basic users and some extended extras like 2GB of daily data for use in Canada/Mexico while traveling 12 Global pass days, and more.

Verizon offers similar perks with its plans, though the Ultimate tier includes talk, text, and data in 210+ countries which you won’t find with Visible.

• Visible is typically cheaper and has higher priority. Unless you really care about the brand name, this probably isn’t the option for you.
• Verizon prepaid is only better if you truly value the brick-and-mortar element.

It would be remiss of me not to mention Verizon prepaid. While most prepaid customers jump to an MVNO, are there any reasons you’d want to stick with Verizon for prepaid service? Honestly, I would go with Visible Plus in most cases as you’ll typically get the same experience for cheaper.

In fact, if you act fast and lock in the current $30 a month pricing for two years, you’ll get QCI 8 priority with Visible Plus versus Verizon prepaid’s QCI 9 priority level for less money!

A single line of unlimited Verizon service will run you $50 and its 15GB service is $35 a month, which is $5 more than you’d pay with Visible Plus! Even with its multi-line discount system, Verizon Prepaid will still come out to around $35 a month and yet you won’t get all the postpaid perks like device financing and add-on streaming perks.

Verizon Unlimited Plus matches Visible Plus by offering 50GB of high-priority (QCI 8) access and 25GB of high-priority hotspot data. You also get a Global Choice country you can call for free. You’ll also pay double the asking price at $60 a month, or as cheap as $45 a line for four lines.

The only exception where I’d consider Verizon Prepaid is if you need brick-and-mortar assistance. You may be charged for some extras depending on what kind of help you need, but many times basic assistance is free.

Personally, I think Visible is a better deal for most users, especially those without a larger family. But not everyone is the same!

For me, I know buying multiple new devices outright might be cheaper in the long run but with a big family, this gets expensive fast and it’s easier to budget by spreading things out monthly. The added streaming perks also save a bit of extra money as I’m the kind who subscribes to nearly every streaming platform. 

Those on a tight budget or who are just plain bad at savings will likely find Verizon is a better option. That said, Visible is a better deal if you don’t care about streaming perk discounts and would rather pay for your phones outright. In the end, you’ll almost always save more money than you’d pay for that postpaid plan with a “free phone” and perks.