At a time when most wireless providers are pushing out slight price adjustments that have customers pay more, Visible — the prepaid carrier owned by Verizon — has turned hard in the other direction.
On Tuesday, Visible announced a new pricing structure for its wireless plans that involves added perks like better streaming video quality and more priority data, with some customers paying little to nothing more for those added benefits
Visible’s flagship tier, called “Visible,” now costs $25 per month (previously, it was $30 per month) and includes many of the same benefits as the legacy plan, including unlimited talk time and texting, and uncapped 4G LTE and 5G data. Video streams in standard definition, hotspot connections are limited to 5 Mbps, and a smartwatch plan is available for an extra $10 per month.
Customers who need more can upgrade to Visible Plus, which now costs $35 per month (before, it was $45 per month) and includes the same benefits as the Visible plan. As before, Visible Plus includes access to Verizon’s 5G Ultra-Capacity (5G UC) network — and, now, customers have unlimited premium, priority data across Verizon’s 4G LTE, 5G and 5G UC networks (previously, 4G LTE and 5G was capped at 30 GBs of priority data, while 5G UC was uncapped). Visible Plus also bumps up the video quality to full high definition (1080p), and boosts the hotspot speed to 10 Mbps. As with Visible, a companion smartwatch plan is available for $10 per month.
And, now, there’s Visible Pro Plus ($45 per month), which offers the same perks as Visible Pro but increases the hotspot speed to 15 Mbps and ups the streaming video quality to ultra high-definition (UHD/4K) across supported apps. A smartwatch plan is included with the price.
Customers who purchase Visible Pro or Visible Pro Plus can also add Verizon’s 5G Home Internet service and save $10 per month off that plan, and have Global Pass days included with their service, which allows them to roam in other countries. All plans include unlimited talk time and texting to numbers in Mexico and Canada, as well as “high-risk spam and robocall” blocking. Taxes and fees are included in the price of all plans, so customers only pay the price that is advertised.
Visible has been one of the most-aggressive prepaid wireless carriers in terms of features and cost, with the Verizon-owned company offering more customer perks and routine discounts that are highly competitive when compared to offerings from T-Mobile (Metro by T-Mobile), AT&T (Cricket) and even some of Verizon’s other virtual network operators (Total by Verizon, Tracfone, Walmart Mobile).
Typically, customers can save off the retail cost of a Visible plan by using a discount code — some customers were on the Visible Plus plan for $35 per month with a five-year price lock guarantee — and wireless subscribers who took advantage of those opportunities can continue on their plan if they wish, but they won’t get the new features offered until they upgrade to a new plan.
One reason why customers may want to maintain their current Visible plan, especially if they are on a promo: There is no guarantee that Verizon won’t increase the cost of its Visible plans in the future, and the company’s decision to grandfather customers into its legacy plans is more of a goodwill gesture than a firm, long-term promise.
Still, the new perks — faster hotspot, unlimited priority data and better video streaming — are hard to pass up, and few other companies are offering anything close to what Visible promise at ridiculously low price points.
The new Visible plans are available to view by clicking or tapping here.
