MVNO Showdown! | Google Fi vs Mint Mobile vs Visible

The topics you covered are great but I want to know about customer service experiences. Google Fi has the WORST customer service experience. No one can help you over the phone. They record the info when you call and then someone reaches out via email with an average response time of 1 business day.

I have only Verizon tower and Twigby, considering Visible. Twigby is less than $25/mo.

Google Fi service was great when it worked. Their customer service is worse than comcast. My phone suddenly wouldn’t connect to 5G for some reason and cannot make phone calls at all. I’m 3 weeks into an issue with their phone that’s under warranty, and they are giving me the run around.

visible is not a mvno

I have mint mobile and download speeds are pretty much the same as T-Mobile service (I had them before I switched). I will say that uploading things to google drive does seem a bit slower, and it also requests me being connected to Wi-Fi a lot more often to complete an upload of a video or large document whereas before on T-mobile it would slowly upload those files, but still attempt to upload them. This is probably the only time I feel as if I'm deprioritized though, for those who are afraid of the "deprioritzation" tag. And due to my e-sim, I seem to come across dead areas a lot less than when I had a sim card. I might switch to Visible when I start to travel more, but mint is a solid choice for the person who's trying to save money.

Chrome phones suck!!!!!! Even though you have downloaded the app they want you to upload another app so that you can use the app you have already downloaded!!!!!! It is a never-ending cycle of denial and turn down of uploads! I HATE THIS FREAKING PHONE! I spend more time moving in and out of aps just to bypass the advertisements! I swear I am so sorry to have accepted this phone instead of my Samsung! Do not fall for this crap substitution! It really sucks!!!!!!

I think one thing people don't mention enough is that mint mobile has to be paid up front instead of monthly. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but it could be an important factor for some.

I switched to mint mobile about three maybe four years ago. I don't remember... But I switched when I lost my job. I wanted to cut expenses and I thought it was a good idea to paint in advance so I wouldn't have to worry about a monthly expense. Fast forward to today. I'm okay with it, but I would consider other plans from other companies if they had similar payment plans as mint.

As Someone who just got off Government phone service called Lifeline here in California
I got unlimited decent cell talk, text, and shit data with ASSurance wireless. Their customer service is crap with what seems like offshore agents who take English names. The worst is their choice in phones, names you never heard of like Winko and the names you heard all phones are reconditioned.
I Chose Visible, I heard it first mentioned in comments section of a YT video. Visible seems like Best balance of Phones, Plans, and perks. Yes Mint has the cheapest plans but it seems that they have the fewest choices in phones with the highest prices. Since Mint became Tmobile Ryan Reynolds took his money and ran...I don't blame him. Thanks fer yer video, you seem genuine darling. Love.

not sure how visible wins highest data download and upload speeds… they are pretty sure compared to mint/google fi .. atleast in the northeast.

Google doesn’t deprioritize its data like mint and visible

To add, Mintmobile has a few fees involved which adds to the total cost. In contrast, I’ve heard that with Visible, what you see is what you pay.

If you don’t mind paying in bulk and don’t need a lot of data, Mintmobile offers the best value, even despite the fees. Visible seems to be a good for unlimited data without the need for bulk buying, but going by the comments, coverage seems to vary.

I’ve tried all 3, I think Visible is by far the best balance of cost, perks and performance. Visible all the way!

Just clocked mint with 127 gbs. Not bad

Is visible better than mint? I have mint but I wanna try something different

As a family we have been a Republic Wireless MVNO customer for years, specifically because here in terrain challenged NH WiFI calling/texting is important. However that all went away when Dish bought them. We have been looking at Mint but since T-Mobile bought them waiting to see how things shake out.

Google is a ripoff. If you stay out of the country longer than they allow, they suspend your service, but keep right on billing you. They dont let you cancel or manage your account. So they just keep right on charging your credit card for NO service. Not even limited service, like text. 😡.

Google fi is great for frequent traveling

Please keep in mind, Visibe by Verizon is not an MVNO carrier. They are in fact a hybrid prepaid carrier that happened to be fully owned+created right from scratch by Verizon since year of 2018. So no, they are not an MVNO carrier, nor do they rent right off of Verizon.

Why pick one?

We've been AT&T for years. Data plan for my wife's Treo. We were able to get unlimited data on her first (the OG) iPhone instead of the limited plans they came with if you didn't have data before.

But, that was what 2007 or close to 17 years ago.

Today, unlimited data is the norm. As a veteran, I get our AT&T Unlimited starter for $45/month plus taxes per line, which bumps up the costs to about $51/line in my area.

I've been using a work phone, so I've let my employer pay for my AT&T. (I have a Verizon hotspot, foreshadowing.)

We ditched the landline, years ago, and cut the cord on uVerse over a year ago, so really cutting the telecom spend.

So, I decided I probably need a personal number. Don't need my "your doctor appointment is on X, can you confirm" texts going to my work phone. So, I thought I'd give Mint a test drive about 6 weeks ago. Hard to go wrong with the $15/month for unlimited for 3 months.

And that got me digging into this even more. Once I was convinced it was doable, I found a used iPhone 13 pro to replace the iPhone 7 I was using to test drive. (The release of the 15 series has folks upgrading, making used phones begin to appear.)

Moved my SIM from my iPhone 7 (which made it hard to test Verizon based MVNOs as there was a difference back then) to the iPhone 13 pro. Got a eSIM for Visible and am doing their 14 day free trial.

And it hit me. Why not TWO carriers on my phone? Ditto for my wife's phone.

I think my plan is to go with Mint as my primary phone number with one of their scaled back data plans, say the $15 or $20/month plan AND then use Visible for what it does best, DATA! The $25 Visible plan with a $15-20/month Mint plan puts two carriers in my pocket for what we pay for my wife's AT&T phone.

Now, no reason to leave AT&T as she likes the MAX benefit and with my Veteran discount, it's not really more expensive than any of the $25-$30 / month unlimited plans + the $15/month I believe MAX would cost if we had to pay for it a-la carte.

I could even add a Visible eSIM to her phone and give her a backup data source. Or Mint, but Verizon/Visible has the better coverage footprint.

Between the two of us, when traveling, we would have all the major "mothership" carriers covered and if coverage is available where we are, one of us is bound to have it.

I could even get some "free" months when my daughter comes off our AT&T plan. I'll look at referring her to an MVNO, pay for a year of coverage AND get some referral credits.

Heck, even thinking of offering up my iPhone 7 for free to anyone who will sign up for an MVNO like mint and giving me the referral.

Here, free phone for your kid if you sign up for a 6 month plan...

It's great to have so many choices.

googleFI still the best i think! cuz 1yr YT n google1 cloud, thats massive!! add that money if you would have to pay those services xtra

I just looked at GoogleFi. It is way more expensive than other carrier in the type of plan. $10/GB with the $20 plan. PLUS tax and fees. ($10-20% more). At 3 GB, you may as well go with the $50 plan. Which is really $57-64 a month out the door. Visible is $25 out the door. So this doesn't make sense. Thanks for the informative video though.

Very nice comparison video. I am here researching plans for a friend. I have had Google FI ever since it was Project FI.

Throw in AT&T coverage, Cricket Wireless & Red Pocket

Please don't forget that Visible has a Apple watch plan for $5 as well

I'm surprised all the carriers haven't adapted to this model, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile with all their stupid hidden fees is ridiculous... I have been using Mint Mobile for 3 years now, my only complaint is my internet speed at times is very slow... Other than that, saving a ton of money overall vs. the brick and motar companies like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon..

To avoid less headache from those smaller carriers just use the main source smh

Thx so much for very useful info it’s really help me making a decision. I’ll give Visible a try to see its coverage in my area, if it doesn’t work I’ll switch to others no contract no sweat.

I had Google Fi but just switched to Visible.

Don't try to signup if you have a Direct Express green Master Card for your oldster SS-- google doesn't accept OLD homeless people ha ha. For real!

One other concern is coverage. I have had Visible for years and every time I travel to the mountains (East coast) I lose signal because Visible does not have the roaming agreement to use other carriers towers. Verizon is spotty in the East coast mountains. Family members on T mobile and AT&T and even on a Verizon plans do not have this problem as they all have roaming agreements to use other carriers towers while Visible does not.

She should have said with visible you get around 300 GB of data a month and with Mint Mobile with there $15.00 unlimited deal !0 GB of data then you can't use your hotspot to tether to your computer any more. So you need to use less then 10 GB of data a month to use your computer. She also didn't talk about the friends referral with visible verse the plan with mint mobile. With visible you get $25.00 off your bill if you use your friends referral when you check out like 393RJWZ then if you chose the $25.00 it would only cost you $5.00 for your 1st month and each month there after once you start to share your friends referral up to 12 times a year. So you could wind up with spending $60.00 for your phone for the year. With mint mobile you could get upto $90.00 towards your renewal and each friend that signs up gets a $15 renewal credit.

Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful observations here.

Using Mintmobile on a secondary line right now, but had Visible around the same time. Mint had the better deal at $15 a month unlimited for 3 months. Couldn't pass it up. Will probably go back to Visible once it ends though. Mintmobile sometimes struggles when I'm out of the city, Visible not as much.

US Mobile would be good to throw in these videos as well, they have very good flexible plans especially tiered data plans but their unlimited plan especially for family plans are amazing and at a very good price

Switched to Visible beginning of the year with $15/month deal. Keep Fi line for international use (you can pause Fi service for 3 months at a time) as it is just too expensive for daily use on a single line.

Your better as a blonde Ms Sherry !

I have Fi and my download speeds are typically between 50 and 400 mbps in rural Oregon. Plus, I get domestic roaming and prioritized data that I did not get with Mint when I had it.

I have tried at&t, visible, Google and Boost infinite. I love Google fi but price is too expensive. Now using boost infinite. Its good also.

Visible is a solid for me but the data does get deprioritized other than that its good

Still a babe.

My main line is on visible since i get unlimited for $25 a month. Plus there are no commitments so i can cancel anytime.
I have a secondary line on mint mobile because of just how affordable they are.
A 15gb plan for 15gb a month is hard to beat! The downside is that you have to commit to them for a year to get the best price unless they're is a promotion

I have Visible and I'm staying with Visible. Hi Sherri

I have Visible. I use about 120GB of hotspot data a month.