$25/month unlimited internet....interested?

[gsgriffin]

I hope that everyone reading this post just gets a new sim with the new phone. Everyone that follows the direction I provided on post #10 seems to have no problems. Many that try to use their phone or port a number have trouble. I encourage everyone again, if you want the least trouble, just follow the simple steps and purchase the phone and sim and not try to use their existing phone or phone number. Keep it simple. Just have a new phone and phone number that is only for internet

[brandss]

I'm not sure how you can make it more clear than you already have. Some people can't follow directions and you cant do a thing about that.

[Tom_M]

To the OP, many thanks for your efforts. You have put a lot of work into this.

Here's an update on my situation:
I purchased the ZTE R2 and it arrived promptly. I chose to port my phone number over even though you suggested not to. The porting went fine. The problem I encountered turned out to be self inflected. I wanted to change the SSID for the WiFi hotspot but turns out I changed the network Access Point Name. This disabled the 4G network.

The Visible customer service has to be some of the worst. After 3 days of chat sessions and text messages I asked if a factory reset should be done. The reset was quick and got my mobile data back. It is now day 6 and have yet to be contacted.

Everything is working well. I am getting a consistent 6 Mb/s download speed.

I have a GL.iNet GL-AR150 Mini Travel Router which is working well. I just discovered another router I have and tried it. It's a HooToo TripMate Nano Wireless Travel Router and it also works well. Both are available on Amazon. The GL-AR150 is $26.00 and the TripMate is $20.99.

[boyland]

I will add this just in case anyone does as above and does not follow instructions and did decide to port.

The service is not exactly the same as verizon. At my lake house we have 1x service on verizon my wife's phone is still with verizon, this is not great but at least you can make a phone call and send a text message. With visible i have no service i see using cell strength apps it connects to the 1x and disconnects over and over and over. Which means the phone is seeing the service but it is not a registered sim for it to use. So from what i can tell is it is only available as long as 4g is available.

The coverage maps says there should be 4g at that location but there is not i have had that discussion with verizon for about a year with no resolution.

I can only speak to our area of Indiana but i am thinking this is one of the items of difference besides the horrible customer service.

[Flyerone]

Has anybody else had success using another router? I already have the Pepwave Surf SOHO, I am going to get the phone and give it a try, if it doesn't work I will buy the suggested router.

[gsgriffin]

Originally Posted by Flyerone

Has anybody else had success using another router? I already have the Pepwave Surf SOHO, I am going to get the phone and give it a try, if it doesn't work I will buy the suggested router.

There are some other people that have tried other devices and can make it work. I opted for a better router, with multiple simultaneous wifi signals (which not all have) and better UI interface (in my opinion). The router in the instructions will allow for you to take a good wifi from where you may be (if you happen to be near a decent wifi) and then rebroadcast with your own wifi SSID. The benefit of this is that all of your RV devices can stay on the same wifi, but you can simply change where the router gets the internet from. Many other devices won't do that or do that easily.

There are a few other posts from people that have successfully connected. If your only need is simply to broadcast the phone, those can be used as well based on what others have posted.

Another nice feature to look for is that the router runs on USB power....then you can have your phone and router running on the RV batteries and don't have to be plugged in to 110v.

[gsgriffin]

Originally Posted by Tom_M

To the OP, many thanks for your efforts. You have put a lot of work into this.

Here's an update on my situation:
I purchased the ZTE R2 and it arrived promptly. I chose to port my phone number over even though you suggested not to. The porting went fine. The problem I encountered turned out to be self inflected. I wanted to change the SSID for the WiFi hotspot but turns out I changed the network Access Point Name. This disabled the 4G network.

The Visible customer service has to be some of the worst. After 3 days of chat sessions and text messages I asked if a factory reset should be done. The reset was quick and got my mobile data back. It is now day 6 and have yet to be contacted.

Everything is working well. I am getting a consistent 6 Mb/s download speed.

I have a GL.iNet GL-AR150 Mini Travel Router which is working well. I just discovered another router I have and tried it. It's a HooToo TripMate Nano Wireless Travel Router and it also works well. Both are available on Amazon. The GL-AR150 is $26.00 and the TripMate is $20.99.

Tom. Sorry to hear about your troubles. I do believe that Visible is trying to position itself towards those that don't need help. I know it sounds crazy, but their customer service doesn't appear to be trying to get better and they are doing their best to have as little options, simple website, and no support. I suppose they hope to have minimal overhead in order to provide a cheap service. Will work for some and not others. Perhaps they only care to work for some and are not trying to steal everyone away from their parent Verizon.

Thank you for posting the option of the GL-AR150. The interface should be very similar to the instructions for this setup. The difference, I believe, that the AR150 is a single antenna device and can only repeat a signal. Feel free to correct me, but that is what I read. That means, for someone like me, if parked in a place where I need to use an external wifi (outside of Verizon coverage or Canada/Mexico), I can only repeat the SSID and not broadcast my own (or if it does allow for your SSID, it will be in repeater mode and cut the speed in half since it used the same antenna to connect up to the source and your devices).

For me, this would also mean that I need to reconfigure both of my roku's and all of the devices in the RV that are looking for internet (kindle, computers, phones, Google Home, etc...yes, we have a lot) to look for the source SSID that you are repeating. Not the end of the world, but what I was looking for in a router and willing to pay a few more bucks to have all of the flexibility for every situation.

Thanks for posting options for people looking to save $50....that will get us Class Aers another 100 miles down the road.

[Tom_M]

Originally Posted by gsgriffin

The difference, I believe, that the AR150 is a single antenna device and can only repeat a signal. I can only repeat the SSID and not broadcast my own (or if it does allow for your SSID, it will be in repeater mode and cut the speed in half since it used the same antenna to connect up to the source and your devices).

I have tried both the GL-AR150 and the TripMate as repeaters. I can assign a different SSID. I think you have to assign an SSID that differs from the phone SSID. I'm seeing the same data rate whether connected direct to the phone or connected to the router. If a router receives a signal on one channel then transmits it on a different channel there is no reduction in the data rate. This can be done using a single antenna.

[RobReab]

Originally Posted by boyland

Ok after the issues with moving the number I decided to take a different route to this:

I ordered a new sim with service on my Pixel 3xl did the online thing and the sim arrived in about 3 days.

I tested the sim and activation with the app on the phone all worked as planned except i have a new number.

Next step i went onto google voice and transferred my number to google voice this process took exactly 24 hours for the phone and 36 hours for texting.

I think put the visible sim back in the phone and linked to my google voice account.

There are a lot of options on google voice on how you can be notified etc. You need the google voice app on your phone and i set mine to use voice by default for all calls. Now the tricky part is text messages will not use your default messages app you need to use the text messages in the APP.

Google voice is free for USA and canada(i think)

Now for me who works mean hours a day on my computer this setup works pretty nice because i can just reply to a text from my computer and i see the transcripts of voicemail without ever needing to look at my phone.

I had debated about doing this for a while because i do like to test services this allows me to do it without having to move my phone in the future.

Disadvantages to use the google voice service you will need a data connection and the text messages is not nearly as robust as the default apps in general
I am rarely where i do not have data so for me that is a very limited issue and worst case i use the visible number to call from until i am in a data area.

Just an FYI. Messages.Google.com let's you text from chrome on your computer or tablet. Been using it for quite a while.

[CoachStreamr]

Originally Posted by boyland

I will add this just in case anyone does as above and does not follow instructions and did decide to port.

The service is not exactly the same as verizon. At my lake house we have 1x service on verizon my wife's phone is still with verizon, this is not great but at least you can make a phone call and send a text message. With visible i have no service i see using cell strength apps it connects to the 1x and disconnects over and over and over. Which means the phone is seeing the service but it is not a registered sim for it to use. So from what i can tell is it is only available as long as 4g is available.

The coverage maps says there should be 4g at that location but there is not i have had that discussion with verizon for about a year with no resolution.

I can only speak to our area of Indiana but i am thinking this is one of the items of difference besides the horrible customer service.

Visible is Verizon LTE Network Only, all calls are VoLTE, no roaming. Verizon is
retiring its CDMA anyways but if you are in fringe area (try a booster?), Visible might not be the best solution - no roaming can be an issue for some. Another reason to have a 2nd service, AT&T, T-Mobile etc. For our Coach, we have AT&T w/Mobley Plan, two Verizon Post Paid and Visible. May get rid of a Verizon Post Paid and add a T-Mobile.

.

[scasteel]

Originally Posted by Flyerone

Has anybody else had success using another router? I already have the Pepwave Surf SOHO, I am going to get the phone and give it a try, if it doesn't work I will buy the suggested router.

Will be watching. Was wondering about using the sim in pepwave

[Flyerone]

I received my phone today and connected it to my Pepwave Soho via USB tethering and it works fine that way.

[boyland]

Originally Posted by CoachStreamr

Visible is Verizon LTE Network Only, all calls are VoLTE, no roaming. Verizon is
retiring its CDMA anyways but if you are in fringe area (try a booster?), Visible might not be the best solution - no roaming can be an issue for some. Another reason to have a 2nd service, AT&T, T-Mobile etc. For our Coach, we have AT&T w/Mobley Plan, two Verizon Post Paid and Visible. May get rid of a Verizon Post Paid and add a T-Mobile.

.

I have had just about every carrier att, verizon, tmo, sprint currently have att mobley and unlimited hotspot , verizon prepaid unlimited hotspot and visible. My wife maintains her verizon post paid plan. She hates change.

ATT basically does not work at our house, verizon work great at our house as well as visible. Tmobile did work decent at the house.

Att works at lake house but slow, verizon 1x only calls and text, visible no service. tmobile could get a call but no one could hear me(Very very frustrating) it really would be best if it would work.

Sprint was pretty much not work well anywhere.

That was why i said i like to switch around and not lock in on one carrier.

I have 3 booster systems weboost, surecall and off brand chinese deal.

The one i generally find to the best is weboost i have another thread on that.

I am interested in what verizon will do when they retire the 1x services especially since there is not good 4g at the lake. Keep expecting this to improve but it never has.

[boyland]

Originally Posted by RobReab

Just an FYI. Messages.Google.com let's you text from chrome on your computer or tablet. Been using it for quite a while.

Yes however this for whatever reason does not work with google voice.

Very frustrating