Google Fi vs. Visible vs. Mint

[Anonymous]

Tired of paying through the nose for Verizon wireless and ready to try something different. I have an IPhone and DH has an older Google Pixel so trying to decide which lower cost cell service to get (or if we should go separate ways since we have different phones). Any thoughts or experiences with service, both in the DMV and beyond? TIA.

[Anonymous]

I have visible in nova. Love it. Traveled all over the east coast, west coast, and Hawaii without issues. I lost service in the mountains of WV, but otherwise have been fine. $25/month, unlimited everything.

[Anonymous]

Mint is through TMobile so you need to go with the service that supports your phone. Otherwise go with price as they all run off the same systems.

[Anonymous]

I have google fi and I'm fairly happy. It's a lot cheaper than AT&T that we had before. There are weird settings that constantly need updating for things like text messaging whenever there's an iphone update, but if you're fairly handy maybe this isn't a big deal?

I seem to be able to reach most people fine, but sometimes have a problem calling my husband's iphone - the first 5-10 seconds are dead somehow. Maybe we are in a dead zone by our house when this happens, or maybe there's some issue. It's not enough to majorly bother us.

[Anonymous]

I am a long time user of Google fi, but I have found that instant messaging does not work well with iPhones. For example, I cannot send images between an android and an iOS phone.

Also, Google fi (unlimited) is not particularly cheaper compared t-mobile (fi runs mostly on the t-mobile network), and T-mobile plans offer perks, like discounts on new phones. I originally had a flexible plan that only charged per data used, but switched to unlimited plans for my data-heavy teens.

I really like google fi because users get high priority data access from the tower. With a lot of prepaid plans, users get lowest data access priority (full paying customers get data before prepaid customers). I found, for example, with Boost, if I was at a busy place, like a shopping mall or sports stadium, I would get very low data rates or no data.

I also travel internationally and like the way that google fi allows me to use my phone in most countries.

[Anonymous]

I have had Visible for a couple months and have frequent issues with sending and receiving text messages. The "solution" is to turn my phone on and off. Seriously. I'm considering switching, but $25/month for unlimited data is good...but if I can't text, why have a phone?

The "party" discount may be changing after October, fyi. Look it up.

[Anonymous]

I have been a Tracfone user for about a decade. It's not any different than any of the mentioned MVNOs in this thread. Verizon now owns Tracfone so there is a big push to move Tracfone users to Verizon network and away from other networks that Tracfone might be buying time from. Like one of the posters, the coverage is spotty in rural areas, but that's Verizon's problem, not Tracfone's.

Verizon coverage (and anyone who uses Verizon's network) is pretty good in the DMV suburbs. I see quite a few microcells popping up around the neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Google Fi here. Very happy. Works fine, sometimes call quality is so so but then we just FaceTime and it’s fine.

We are 6 person plan so it’s $20/head, which is amazing.

[Anonymous]

Works fine, sometimes call quality is so so

Not sure how poor quality is "fine."

In any case, as mentioned above, these are all MVNOs, which are third parties that buy excess capacity from major carriers (who are the ones that actually own the infrastructure). They should provide similar service under normal conditions, but will be the first to lose service if/when the network reaches capacity. This may or may not be important for the intended use case. I probably wouldn't want service from an MVNO on my only phone, but it might be perfect if you have a land line and only use a cell phone occasionally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Works fine, sometimes call quality is so so

Not sure how poor quality is "fine."

In any case, as mentioned above, these are all MVNOs, which are third parties that buy excess capacity from major carriers (who are the ones that actually own the infrastructure). They should provide similar service under normal conditions, but will be the first to lose service if/when the network reaches capacity. This may or may not be important for the intended use case. I probably wouldn't want service from an MVNO on my only phone, but it might be perfect if you have a land line and only use a cell phone occasionally.

It’s 2022, I don’t make many phone calls.

[Anonymous]

You can do Xfinity Mobile, you are still on Verizon's network.

You just need to realize that unless you are on a primary provider (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon) you don't get priority on the network. In extremely high network demand situations and in the hopefully unlikely event that we have a true disaster situation or other anomaly you will be at the back of the line for network access when you try to call. Also, as 5G phones become more prevalent you may be pushed onto 4G spectrum on certain towers, where if you had Verizon you will get priority on 5G.

[Anonymous]

I have Mint and have been happy with it. I had an issue with texting at one point, but I used their instant messaging help service and they walked me through how to fix the problem.

[Anonymous]

we also switched from Verizon to Google. Our bill is half of what it was. I agree with the 5 sec dead time when calling, but other than that no complaints. In fact, Verizon did not work at all at the high school and Google works perfectly, so that is a plus (in the kids minds!)

[Anonymous]

I use mint and have for the last two years. Very happy overall. Sometimes I have trouble directly sending pictures sms. But whatever. I save over $1000+ per year compared to Verizon.. totally worth it.

[Anonymous]

I had Verizon for 5 years then switched to fi for years then switched to Verizon and just switched back to fi.

The thing that pissed me off about Verizon again was the price was hidden because we needed to pay for visual voice mail per each device and the signal was always low and they basically raped us for overseas data and calls. Fi has no extra costs for overseas, visual voice is free and the service was equal or better