Visible by Verizon (stylized as v˙s˙ble and also known simply as Visible) is an American

mobile virtual network operator A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobil ...

(MVNO) owned by

Verizon Communications Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas i ...

. Visible competes primarily against

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic (T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland (T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobile ...

Metro by T-Mobile Metro by T-Mobile (formerly known as MetroPCS and also known simply as Metro) is an American prepaid wireless service provider and brand owned by T-Mobile US. It previously operated the fifth largest mobile telecommunications network in the U ...

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

Cricket Wireless Cricket Wireless is an American prepaid wireless service provider, owned by AT&T. It provides wireless services to ten million subscribers in the United States. Cricket Wireless was founded in March 1999 by Leap Wireless International. AT&T ac ...

and Dish's Boost Mobile as part of the prepaid wireless service provider brands.

History

Visible was launched by Verizon on May 10, 2018 without any prior announcement. At launch, the service was only available by invitation only, and at the time, required users to register via the Visible app or its website. Once registered, Visible would send users a SIM card the next day and once installed, can access the network. In addition, only unlocked phones were available to be used at launch.

About Visible

Visible is an all-digital wireless carrier in the United States, offering unlimited text, talk, data, and hotspot, on Verizon’s

4G LTE In telecommunications, long-term evolution (LTE) is a standard for wireless broadband communication for mobile devices and data terminals, based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA standards. It improves on those standards' capacity and speed by us ...

and 5G Networks. It is owned by

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...

and was founded in 2018. The service supports

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

and Android devices. The service is cheaper than Verizon with the downside being service will be deprioritized if Verizon subscribers in the area are busy on the network, giving Verizon subscribers the faster connection. As of May 2021, Angie Klein is CEO. Visible was named to

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...

’s Most Innovative Companies list in 2020, and was named Best Telecom Brand by

Adweek ''Adweek'' is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1979. ''Adweek'' covers creativity, client–agency relationships, global advertising, accounts in review, and new campaigns. During this time, it has cover ...

in 2021. Visible has also won a Shorty Social Good Award for its #VisibleActsofKindness campaign. In June 2022, Visible was rebranded as Visible by Verizon.

Pattern of Customer Complaints

The company has faced numerous complaints since its inception related to its lackluster or non-existent customer support, which is only available via chatbot through their Android or

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

app, and social media platforms

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

and

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. The company has no phone number, and thus no customer support via telephone. Customer complaints range from weeks long waits for

porting In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...

in / out to complete, SIM / eSIM provisioning issues, loss of service for multiple days, failing to honor promotional deals, and charges to credit cards without services provided. On April 28, 2021 The

Better Business Bureau Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a private, 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization founded in 1912. BBB's self-described mission is to focus on advancing marketplace trust, consisting of 97 independently incorporated local BBB organizations in the Unit ...

issued alert posted for the company, citing a pattern of consumer complaints that the company was unresponsive to their request for assistance regarding cellular service and billing and advising consumers to file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection. The company's score with the Better Business Bureau is B-, with a rating of 1.38/5 stars.

Trustpilot Trustpilot Group plc, is a Danish consumer business operating a review website founded in Denmark in 2007 which hosts reviews of businesses worldwide. Nearly 1 million new reviews are posted each month. The site offers freemium services to busine ...

gives the company a similar negative rating of "Bad" with similar consumer complaints and a 1.4/5 stars. In a September 20, 2022 article in

Fierce Wireless MidOcean Partners is a New York-based alternative asset management firm that specializes in mid-sized private equity and alternative leveraged investments. The firm, founded in February 2003, is based in Midtown Manhattan. MidOcean was origina ...

, the company finally admitted that there are in fact problems with their customer service model.

References

External links

* {{US mobile phone companies Verizon Communications services Wireless carriers 2018 establishments in the United States Mobile virtual network operators