Replacing Your Wireless and Cable Internet Plans With Visible 4G Wireless

Or how to get unlimited mobile hotspot data for as little as $25/month.

I have something great to share with everyone, something that can save you $30 or more on your typical monthly wireless bill.

About three months ago I picked up a second wireless number that promised unlimited everything — talk, messages, data, hotspot data — for $40/month. It’s called Visible (a Verizon subbrand) and it’s very popular in the RV community.

I tried it out, it works. So I cut the cord with Spectrum, my cable internet provider. I was tired of their underperforming 100 Mbps service for $60/month but which delivered typically less than half that speed along with equally terrible customer service (it’s the cable company, what would you expect?) when you complain that they don’t deliver the service they promise. When I pay for 100 Mbps service, I expect 100 Mbps service.

When I added Visible, at the same time, I bought their $19 ZTE R2 smartphone. The idea was to use it as my dedicated internet access connection. In my first billing cycle, I used 161GB of data for just $40 all in, including taxes. My second billing cycle — after I ditched my Spectrum video account — I used 450GB of data. This because I now use my Visible line of service for not only my internet access but for video (mostly free YouTube channels and content) as I dropped Spectrum as my video provider as well, saving even more each month.

The next step, after the $19 ZTE phone bricked up, was to get a replacement phone. I sent Visible an old, unused Motorola Moto G2, and they sent me a brand new ZTE Blade A7 Prime for free (They sell this phone for $50 but it is currently out of stock). It is my dedicated internet access line. I don’t use it at all as a voice/text line. (This story was originally produced in the Spring of 2020 so the best low-price hardware offer has changed but often Visible has a phone available for free with a new line of service.)

Next up was to end my long-running $60/month unlimited service relationship with MetroPCS on my main Motorola Moto Z4 with its MotoMod Hasselblad camera back.

The Hasselblad camera snaps on to the back of the phone and the damn thing even captures images in RAW format. I’ve shot covers for magazines with my Moto Z4/Hasselblad combination.

Even though I had unlimited data with my grandfathered MetroPCS plan (I had been with MetroPCS for almost a decade), it was limited to just 15GB/month for hotspot data. So I ported my MetroPCS number to Visible (it was easy, took less than an hour, and was done online through a Twitter chat window) with unlimited hotspot data, and saved myself $20/month to start.

Now I have two lines with unlimited hotspot data, for $80/month. But it gets better… much better.

The upshot is that I’ve eliminated a $65/month Spectrum cable internet bill, my $40/month Spectrum video bill, a $60/month MetroPCS bill (which did have unlimited data on the phone but the 15GB hotspot data cap as I mentioned previously above). I replacing it with two separate bills to Visible for two lines at $40/month each, each with truly unlimited data, including hotspot data, on both phones.

If you get three more subscribers connected together (four total including yourself), each with individual billing on what Visible calls Party Pay, the bill drops to just $25/month. So if you’re thinking of switching carriers and need unlimited data, especially hotspot data, check out Visible.

With my huge network of friends on Facebook (the 5,000 maximum in total), it was easy for me to find six friends that were thrilled to pay just $25/month for mobile service with unlimited hotspot data. Two are using, like me, a second Visible line, for a dedicated hotspot. (reddit is also a great way to network the needed Party Pay members if you’re not a four-phone household.)

Do you have a mobile plan as good as this with unlimited talk, text, data, and hotspot for just $25/month? I didn’t think so.

There is only one downside to Visible that I’ve found; it limits you to just one device on a hotspot, at a time. But those crafty RV-ers (and others) have found the workaround. A quick Google search (Visible+travel+router) will get you the multi-device solution.

But you didn’t hear it from me.