TIPS Cellular.everything

[kenn10]

I had a phone on Verizon that I had bought from Verizon and supposedly was "unlocked." It would not accept any other SIM card and no other Verizon MVNO could use it. I gave up and got an unlocked Pixel 4a 5G from Amazon. The eSIM IMEI won't work to qualify, but the physical SIM IMEI did. I don't believe you would ever have to disconnect from one service to be able to register with Visible. Nor would I trust what Verizon is saying about that. My current service is with Verizon and I set up for number transfer on Visible with no issues.

Here are the specs on the Galaxy S9+: https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-checker/US/samsung-galaxy-s9-plus
While not a 5G phone, it is otherwise fully compatible with the Verizon network.

Here is an article on Reddit about your phone model:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Visible/comments/cbwmvc

 

[kenn10]

Visible | It's Phone Service. In An App.

www.visible.com

Currently only for iPhones.

 

[dghundt]

I had a phone on Verizon that I had bought from Verizon and supposedly was "unlocked." It would not accept any other SIM card and no other Verizon MVNO could use it. I gave up and got an unlocked Pixel 4a 5G from Amazon. The eSIM IMEI won't work to qualify, but the physical SIM IMEI did. I don't believe you would ever have to disconnect from one service to be able to register with Visible. Nor would I trust what Verizon is saying about that. My current service is with Verizon and I set up for number transfer on Visible with no issues.

Here are the specs on the Galaxy S9+: https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-checker/US/samsung-galaxy-s9-plus
While not a 5G phone, it is otherwise fully compatible with the Verizon network.

Here is an article on Reddit about your phone model:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Visible/comments/cbwmvc

My model ends in U
I'll load the international, instead of verizon, firmware on my spare and see how it goes. It has the most current verizon firmware, but will do the international instead.

 

[JFrost]

I tried checking the IMEIs on my two Galaxy S9+ with Visible's compatibility tool and it says not compatible.
I confirmed with Verizon that both are unlocked. One is a Verizon phone, the other Sprint running on Verizon.
Apparently you have to deactivate the phone before the Visible tool will say its compatible? (that's what verizon said at least).
Anyone else with experience using the Visible compatibility checker?

I just checked my Pix 3a (unlocked) and both IMEIs (sim slot and e-sim) said compatible.

If your phone is a VZ phone and you're a VZ customer likely they are ref'ing their own IMEI database and seeing the phone as attached. That MAY be the source of their telling you it has to be deactivated before they can activate on MVNO. It's not uncommon and I've seen far weirder...

 

[w1ve]

I tried checking the IMEIs on my two Galaxy S9+ with Visible's compatibility tool and it says not compatible.
I confirmed with Verizon that both are unlocked. One is a Verizon phone, the other Sprint running on Verizon.
Apparently, you have to deactivate the phone before the Visible tool will say it's compatible? (that's what Verizon said at least).
Anyone else with experience using the Visible compatibility checker?

You need to be a Google Search maven. There are many threads about how to make the S9+ work on Visible. (I have an S9+ for backup running at the moment. My Pixel 4XL battery has gone bad and it's back to Google for warranty repair.) The trick is you must authorize your account with some other compatible phone. Then, you put the Visible SIM in your unlocked S9, and change the APNs manually. There are many posts on Reddit and Youtube on how to do this.

 

[w1ve]

I'd like to play!
Can you PM me an invite please.
David

David, refer to the Nerdvittles article on how to join the party. The links are all there.

 

[wardmundy]

I'd like to play!
Can you PM me an invite please.
David

Both the registration link and the Party Plan link are now in the Nerd Vittles article: http://nerdvittles.com/?p=34317

 

[w1ve]

Currently only for iPhones.

Huh? I am exclusively Android on Visible (my kids have iPhones)

 

[w1ve]

I just checked my Pix 3a (unlocked) and both IMEIs (sim slot and e-sim) said compatible.

If your phone is a VZ phone and you're a VZ customer likely they are ref'ing their own IMEI database and seeing the phone as attached. That MAY be the source of their telling you it has to be deactivated before they can activate on MVNO. It's not uncommon and I've seen far weirder...

Part of the issue is if you have locked or unlocked firmware. If your model is locked to Verizon, and it's not immediately compatible, you are not dead. There are many articles, step by step, to put an unlocked firmware version on pretty much any Android phone. The radio is software-defined, and any restrictions on it are purely implemented in firmware. As long as it can do the correct bands, any Verizon phone can be made to work on a Verizon MNVO. It all depends how comfortable you are with using the tools to update the firmware. No more difficult than building IncrediblePBX!

 

[KNERD]

What's the catch? Why would Verizon operate this service in direct competition with their own Verizon Prepaid service?

The price listed is $40 (https://www.visible.com/plan/), not $35 as you state. VZW Prepaid unlimited is $50 after you apply loyalty and auto-pay discounts. I like what you're saying but I want to know what's being excluded for the $10 discount. (I am a current VZW Prepaid customer and have been happy enough with it that I don't want to switch if it will be a detriment in any way.)

For the same reason AT&T operates Cricket, and T-Mobile operates Metro PCS.

I am not sure about the others, but in the Metro fine print, it is indicated your traffic has less priority over T-Mobile customers, and more likely you will be throttled.

 

[wardmundy]

As long as you don't plan to use the phone at major sporting and entertainment events with thousands of people, prioritization probably will go unnoticed.

 

[w1ve]

For the same reason AT&T operates Cricket, and T-Mobile operates Metro PCS.

I am not sure about the others, but in the Metro fine print, it is indicated your traffic has less priority over T-Mobile customers, and more likely you will be throttled.

There is no catch. It's SMART marketing, as we have said here many times. The majority of expense in cellular service is infrastructure, followed by overhead in marketing. Every major player in the cellular business has their own MVNO, as stated.
The Visible party plan is $25/month, with no extra taxes or fees. I am NEVER throttled. As an added advantage, because I live rurally, I have spotty coverage at my house, so I picked up a Verizon 4GLTE Samsung Microcell on ebay, and run it off my Internet Service. Works perfectly with Visible. If I was a Verizon customer, I'd be billed for every KB I'm running through my own service. On Visible, I can download 100GB at 150Mbp/s or more from the Microcell, all for $25/mo. there's a bunch of us here on the Forum already on the party plan -- it works.

 

[kenn10]

Huh? I am exclusively Android on Visible (my kids have iPhones)

I meant that the eSIM is currently only available for iPhones on Visible.
I'm online with Visible now but it shows wifi callinging as "Coming soon." Seems ridiculous since my phone was doing wifi calling on Verizon Prepaid 4 hours ago. Scratch that. Wifi calling just started working. It has taken about 4 hours for all the bits and pieces to converge. It took almost 30 minutes after I activated to show mobile service available.

 

[kenn10]

OK. Now that my Visible account is fully functional, I can report that my speeds are much higher than they were on Verizon Prepaid. Keep in mind, I'm in a mountainous area with relatively poor cell service. My phone is hitting the same Verizon towers on the same LTE bands (2, 5, & 13.) I was getting about 5Mb down on Prepaid. I'm getting up to 20Mb down on Visible. My upload of about 2Mb is the same on both services. Wifi calling is working quite well and my Verizon voice mailbox stayed with my number when it moved from VZW Prepaid to Visible. I'm very pleased and everything is working.

 

[KNERD]

What sort of phone we need to bring without buying one? I have tried phones from AT&T and T-Mobile which are GSM types, and they all come back as no good with them. Is Verizon using some sort of GSM-CDMA hybrid, or something else to be able to use SIM cards?

 

[hawk#1]

What sort of phone we need to bring without buying one? I have tried phones from AT&T and T-Mobile which are GSM types, and they all come back as no good with them. Is Verizon using some sort of GSM-CDMA hybrid, or something else to be able to use SIM cards?

I have a couple 4G phones that were branded by AT&T but they have been totally unlocked and they work without problem. I've heard of others that claim their phones were unlocked and not working but the phones were not actually unlocked. Have you used the link posted in Nerdvittles article to check if the phones are compatible?.

 

[kenn10]

The best way to check your phone is to use this site to see if it is compatible with Verizon: https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-checker . Many phones which are LTE and have the correct cellular bands are compatible. I have found that AT&T phones were the most crippled if you bought from them. I've bought unlocked phones for the past few years and they work on all carriers because the firmware and radios in them allow most or all cellular bands to work.

Never fall for the plans that lock you in on a cellular company with monthly phone payments. The phones are just as cheap to buy outright as being locked in for years with a particular carrier.

Here is a list of phones that are supposed to be compatible with Visible: https://www.androidcentral.com/what-android-phones-are-compatible-visible

 

[w1ve]

Thanks @kenn10 for the feedback. Yes, NH is also very mountainous and I see the same type of results here. Great links as well.

 

[wardmundy]

New Teracube eco-friendly phones are not compatible unfortunately. Teracube works perfectly with Acrobits Groundwire, however.

 

[kenn10]

New Teracube eco-friendly phones are not compatible unfortunately.

The Teracube site does not tell you what cellular bands it supports but apparently it is GSM based. You would think that LTE is LTE across carriers, but it is not.

I'm not fond of Google but the Pixel phones like the 4a 5G are one of the best open unlocked phones to buy. The unlocked version does not cover Verizon's UW 5G but they aren't putting it anywhere except very high density areas. Their "nationwide" 5G is on traditional cell channels and works just fine on most other unlocked 5G phones.

By the way, not many unlocked phones support Verizon's wifi calling but the Pixels and many iPhones do. Here is a current list: https://www.visible.com/help/What-d...C_C_AC_1101l46155_PZ_2019_OTC_affiliate-cid-0