Last Updated on December 21, 2025 by Ewen Finser
I spent three years going back and forth with different prepaid cell phone providers. Every time I thought I was happy, Ryan Reynolds would show up on my screen and I would reconsider that happiness.
Suffice to say I’ve now had a great deal of hands-on experience, not just for myself, but for our family plan and our teenagers. Here’s what I’ve learned.
Visible vs Mint Mobile: Bottom Line
- Mint Mobile: Best for people who can pay annually in order to get the lowest rate possible, who are in a city, or who use limited data.
- Visible: Best for people who want a low monthly contract, who are in suburban or rural areas, and want unlimited data.
Below is a quick table comparing the two:
Features | Visible | Mint Mobile |
Plans | VisibleVisible+Visible+ Pro | 5GB/mo15GB/mo20GB/moUnlimited |
Pricing | $19-$33 per month | ~$15/month ($45 upfront), or ~$30/month ($90 upfront) |
Data | Unlimited | Based on your plan |
Speed | 34 – 149 Mbps with 5G | 127 – 455 Mbps with 5G |
Coverage | Verizon 5G and 5G UW | T-Mobile |
Plans
Let’s start with a look at the basic plans for each:
Mint has four plans for phones:
- 5GB/mo
- 15GB/mo
- 20GB/mo
- Unlimited
That’s really all there is to it. They make it clear on their website that if you use all your data, they slow it down for you, but won’t cut you off entirely. They use T-Mobile’s towers. That’s about all the information they have when you go to buy a plan, so there aren’t extra features like international coverage, differences for video streaming quality, use of your phone for Wi-Fi, or high-risk spam and robocall blocking.
Visible has three plans for phones:
- Visible: $19 per month
- Visible+: $26 per month
- Visible+ Pro: $33 per month
Visible+ Pro gives you smartwatch service included, but the other plans offer it at $10 per month. As you move up the tiers, you get better video quality for streaming and faster mobile hotspot usage. Otherwise, they all have:
- Unlimited premium data using the 5G Ultra wideband network
- Unlimited use of your phone for WiFi
- Video streaming
- High-risk spam and robocalls blocked
- Unlimited calls and texts to Canada and Mexico
- Discounts on Fios home internet
Conclusion: Mint Mobile has more flexibility in its lower data plans, but Visible’s plans have much more to offer in terms of features.
Price
Price is where things get pretty tricky. I don’t appreciate when companies provide misleading prices, and in my mind, that’s what Mint does with most of their commercials. They tell you what the cheapest price is, but in reality, that price point only applies to the largest payment plans.
Mint effectively works in installments. This means you can pay:
- 3 months at once
- 6 months at once
- 12 months at once
So no matter what, you need to be able to pay a minimum of 3 months of cell phone coverage at once.
The same is true for their “MINTernet” plans: 3, 6, or 12-month plans.
The biggest discounts apply to the largest number of months.
To be clear, Mint has the absolute lowest monthly rate, but only if you can pay upfront for a full year.
Most importantly though, Mint typically only offers sales for new customers. So, during the holidays, you might see a discount on unlimited data for $15 no matter how many months you pay, but that only applies to new customers.
Once you have made the switch, you can expect your pricing to only be discounted if you buy several months in advance.
NOTE: Another issue that I take with Mint Mobile is that your taxes and fees get calculated when you check out. So even an advertised price of $15 per month is actually going to cost more when it comes to your final bill. Visible includes taxes and fees in your monthly cost.
Visible is structured very differently in that they provide the real, month-to-month offering that you would expect with a contract-free company. They don’t require any upfront payments in order to get the best rates, and they won’t advertise a cheap discount or sale on their website that only applies if you pay several months at once.
Another thing I really liked about Visible was that deals crop up throughout the year, and sometimes, they might apply to existing customers as well.
Conclusion: Mint Mobile is the absolute cheapest if you can pay annually. Otherwise, Visible is cheaper for a month-to-month plan.
Data
Data is pretty important. Mint gives some of the best deals for low data users. They offer:
- 5 GB per month
- 15 GB per month
- 20 GB per month
- Unlimited
The cheapest prices usually come from the lowest plan, meaning light to moderate data users who can get by with less than 20 GB per month will find the best pricing. But if you need unlimited data, you will typically pay more than you would with competitors.
Again, if you happen to have a plan with only 15 GB per month and you use it up before the month is out, Mint won’t just cut you off, but they will significantly slow down your speeds. They won’t charge you or anything, and you’ll still be able to use simple internet services, but you won’t be able to do things like stream videos or play games for the rest of the month.
Visible gives you unlimited data. Period. They have unlimited data with no hard caps, so if you like to use your phone for gaming or you stream a lot of video while on the go, Visible will simply have better data options for you. They also have unlimited hotspot data. Speeds are capped, but even at capped speeds, you’re going to find a better deal here than you would with Mint.
Conclusion: Mint Mobile has hard limits on data. Visible is unlimited even with the most basic plan.
Speed
Mint mobile uses full T-Mobile network speeds, and they say there are no artificial caps until such time as you reach your monthly data limit. If you opt for the unlimited plan, the most expensive one, you get 40 GB of high-speed Data before they start throttling down to 128 Kbps.
By comparison, with the most basic Visible plan, you get unlimited data, but it can be deprioritized (sneaky term for “slowed down”) at any time if the network gets busy. With the other two Visible plans, you get 50 GB of prioritized data for Verizon’s 5G Ultra wideband network, and even if there is congestion, it doesn’t slow down.
Something that I learned was that Mint Mobile, using the T-Mobile hours, gives you a higher median download speed in cities and urban areas in particular. In rural areas, Visible is the better choice. Visible uses Verizon’s towers, and Verizon usually has more reliable signal and better coverage in remote areas.
Basically, if you live in a remote or rural area, your top speeds will still be slower compared to Mint Mobile, but you’ll have better signal and overall better reliability.
Conclusion: Mint Mobile has faster speeds, but only in urban areas. Visible has more reliable speeds in rural areas.
Coverage
Another area of consideration is coverage. Mint Mobile is great for major cities where they can use the 5G T-Mobile network. It’s actually available across around 36% of the United States, but the 4G LTE footprint is only around 45%.
That said, Visible, which uses the Verizon network, is best for rural areas because it covers around 70% of the US with the 4G LTE footprint. At the very least, you’ll have access to pretty decent coverage no matter where you are. 5G is limited with Visible, as only around 14% of the US has access to it.
However, something I found very interesting was that Visible had better signal penetration in big buildings and basements, whereas Mint Mobile was pretty weak if you were inside an older, dense building. Since half of our house is a finished basement that’s basically underground, that became very important, because it meant that we still got coverage when we were down in the kitchen or the den. Similarly, I work in a very old, very large building and I needed people to be able to contact me when I was at work, especially if it was my kids’ school. That’s what I got with Visible.
Conclusion: Mint Mobile has better coverage for major cities, but Visible is best for reliable signal in larger, denser buildings, or across rural areas.
Other Tidbits
A few other tidbits that I think are important include the bonuses or extra features that are possible with each of these providers.
Mint Mobile includes calling to Mexico and Canada, so if you happen to have family on either side of the border, or you do a lot of business in those areas, you’ll get a better deal using Mint.
Visible gives you the option of adding Smartwatch data. Mint has no such option. This means if you have an Apple Smartwatch and you are looking for a prepaid data plan to go with that, Visible is the best option.
Customer service is also something to consider. I, for example, prefer being able to talk to an actual person when I have a problem, because I may or may not know the right words to use to describe my issue to AI. When talking to a human being, they can figure out what I mean. Mint is the only one out of the two that offers phone customer service as part of your plan.
Conclusion: Mint Mobile is best for calls to Mexico/Canada or those who want phone customer service. Visible is best for Apple Smartwatch data.
Summing Up
Part of the reason I’ve gone back and forth between Mint Mobile and Visible is simply because I’ve moved several times over the last few years. Each time I move or circumstances change, I have to reevaluate which plan is best for myself and my family.
Mint Mobile is best if:
- You can afford to pay one year in advance in order to get the lowest possible rate and you are willing to stick with them for one year
- You use less data, around 20 GB per month
- You live in a city or an area where T-Mobile has the fastest average speeds
- You want to prioritize phone customer service
Visible is best if:
- You want unlimited data with no hard caps
- You prefer a monthly bill with no upfront payments required in order to get a discount
- You live in a rural area and prefer Verizon’s Network
- You want unlimited hotspot data included in your plan
- You have an Apple Watch and want the data plan as part of your prepaid monthly cost