Last Updated on January 28, 2026 by Ewen Finser
Visible by Verizon has really caught my attention recently. When I was looking to cut costs, my main focus was on cheap pricing, but then I ended up suffering because I didn’t have unlimited data or hotspot usage. As I tried to up my coverage, I ended up upping my price.
That’s when I looked at Visible.
However, I also travel for work, so I wanted a company that I knew would give me reliable coverage based on the three key cities I tend to visit, for, let’s face it, conference room meetings that definitely could have been emails.
So that’s when I looked at US Mobile.
I’ve honestly found that they are absolutely the best contenders when it comes to no-contract, prepaid cellular options. Really, no one comes close when it comes to the coverage, pricing, plan availability, customer service, and speed they offer.
So, how do you decide between Visible and US Mobile? I’ve broken it down into the big decision points, including coverage, speed, and price.
Visible vs. US Mobile: Pricing and Plans
US Mobile has a cool feature for those who are low-data users.
IF you:
- Don’t use a lot of data
- Don’t care about slow speeds during peak hours or in crowds
- Don’t want your phone as a primary hotspot tool
THEN, US Mobile has some very affordable plans.
As indicated in the image below, you can choose a plan where you only pay by the gigabyte for what you use, with unlimited talk and text, and then the available database on your needs.
These are by far the cheapest options, especially for low data users. My aunt, for example, has 20 GB of data, but she works from home, mostly with wifi, so she has never used more than 1% of that, which means she could save a ton of money paying only by the gigabyte with US Mobile.
Alternatively, if you are someone worried about lots of data and your focus is unlimited talk, text, and data with high speeds, they still have plans for you. These are:
- Unlimited Premium
- Unlimited Starter
- Unlimited Flex
Each of these is heavily discounted if you pay annually versus monthly, and the unlimited flex plan is only available if you pay annually.
Within each of these, you’ll see the option for international data, calling, and texting as an add-on for certain plans, as well as Smartwatch capabilities as an add-on for everything but the unlimited premium plan.
The data for high speed and hotspot are both based on the plan you choose, with unlimited talk and text only available with the unlimited premium and unlimited starter.
Visible, by comparison, is really only out there for the heavy data users, the people who don’t want their data throttled when they are in a crowd or when it gets busy, and who want unlimited everything without having to pay extra for it.
You can see in the image below that every single plan by Visible has some of the best features around:
All the plans give you unlimited data with no hidden fees, with unlimited hotspot usage, connection protection, and 24/7 access to real people if you have any issues, not a chatbot.
Now, their plans are as follows:
I was really shocked to see how cheap their plans were, especially the basic visible plan, which is only $19 per month when you pay monthly and includes unlimited talk, text, and data on the 5G and 4G LTE network.
This means unlimited use of your phone as a Wi-Fi connection, as well as unlimited talk and text to Mexico and Canada. Sure, you could pay by the gigabyte and get a cheaper plan US Mobile, but dollar for dollar, if you are someone who wants things that are affordable without compromising quality or having to constantly keep track of how much data you have used before you download that video your mom sent, Visible is a better investment, even if you pay monthly instead of annually.
US Mobile: Best for By-the-Gig Pricing
Visible: Best for Unlimited (everything) Pricing
Visible vs. US Mobile: Perks
Perks, though, perks are where I think US Mobile has the lead. Now, that said, “perks” look different for everyone.
Some people prefer having the perk of unlimited international talk and text to Mexico or Canada, maybe because they do business in Canada or they have family in Mexico. Others prefer perks like streaming services or discounts on bundles.
So, both US Mobile and Visible have options where you can either have Smartwatch service included or heavily discounted as part of your plan. They also both have international calling and texting, even the plans where you pay by the gigabyte (except for the 2GB monthly plan by US Mobile, where international calling is available for an add-on fee).
Visible doesn’t really have any extras other than, one might say, the perk of unlimited use of your phone as a Wi-Fi connection or the robocall blocking feature.
US Mobile has perks in the form of the network and the many streaming services. I would say US Mobile has much more to offer, but these are really only a free perk if you have their most expensive plan, and three lines at that.
US Mobile: Best for Subscription Discounts
Visible: Best for Unlimited Hotspot and Smartwatch Perks
Visible vs. US Mobile: Hotspot
The two companies differ in terms of hotspot offerings. Visible plans have unlimited hotspot usage for all of their plans. All of them.
That’s pretty impressive.
Sometimes, though, speeds get throttled, especially if you have the lowest level, base plan (though not for top-tier plans).
US Mobile has pretty good hotspot offerings around 50 GB, but then it slows down once you exceed that. Not as many “unlimited” options there.
US Mobile: Best for Moderate Hotspot or the I-Don’t-Care-Because-I-Don’t-Use-Hotspot Customer
Visible: Best for Unlimited Hotspot Use
Visible vs. US Mobile: Speed
All of the visible plans give you connections to Verizon’s 5G towers and the 5G Ultra Wideband connection for the top two out of three service plans. Verizon has great coverage, particularly in rural areas, if you are underground, or you are in an older building with thicker walls that other coverage providers like T-Mobile can’t really penetrate.
Speed isn’t downgraded when things get busy, something called deprioritization or throttling or just “what-the-heck?-why-is n’t-the-page-loading?”
The basic, cheapest plan from Visible is deprioritized in times of congestion, but the top two plans are not.
The same is true of US Mobile; you don’t get deprioritized most of the time, however, the speeds can drop off after things like 100 GB or heavy data usage. And really, the speed is based on the carrier package you choose, and which provider is offering coverage.
So let’s look at coverage.
US Mobile: Best for Speed from Three Providers
Visible: Best for 5G UW Verizon
Visible vs. US Mobile: Coverage
Here is their biggest difference.
Visible by Verizon uses, you guessed it, Verizon towers. So that’s the network/coverage area to which you are connected. Now, depending on the plan, you might get priority data and speed within that coverage, but it’s Verizon or buttkiss.
US Mobile has really made a name for itself because its plans are not just tiered by price but by coverage provider.
So users can:
- Manually change providers or
- Set their phone to auto switch providers based on coverage*
If you have the manual setup, then you can choose to manually swap providers based on the available coverage. This makes sense if:
- You Travel: If you travel a lot for work or you are a digital nomad, you might need the flexibility of being able to manually swap coverage providers based on where you happen to be working that day.
I.e. you travel for work two weeks per month to Ohio, where Verizon is better, but where you live and work the other two weeks each month is best served by AT&T.
- You Commute: Similar, but not quite the same as being a digital nomad, if you commute very far (looking at you, dad, Mr.-I-Sit-On-A-Train-For-Two-Hours-One-Way-Every-Day), and the coverage you have, let’s say, in your home versus your office is better with very different providers, you can manually change if you are at work versus at home
Then there is the auto switch option, which does everything for you without you having to make a switch. This can be better for people who travel and people who commute, but is basically ideal for anyone who doesn’t want to manually change and instead simply wants better coverage from phone call to phone call or mile to mile based on their location.
*This option requires your phone to have a dual-SIM capacity with two SIMS for two of the three providers (AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile), but not all three.
US Mobile: Best for Flexible Coverage
Visible: Best for Unlimited Verizon Coverage
Visible vs. US Mobile: Customer Service
Finally, in the event that something goes wrong, I like to know what my options are. Admittedly, I’m old enough and stodgy enough that I prefer talking to an actual person, mostly because I don’t tend to have basic customer service requirements or requests, so I usually have to repeat myself to three different people before they finally connect me to the person I knew I needed originally.
That said, Visible primarily offers digital support through the app or the chat function on the website. Unlike Verizon, you won’t actually get phone support or in-person support.
US Mobile, though, has considerably better customer service options with a live chat function, email function, and phone support.
US Mobile: Best for Phone Support, Live Chat, Email
Visible: Best for Simple, Uncomplicated CS Needs (Has that ever existed, though? Like, ever?)
Summing Up
I like both companies, but for very different reasons. US Mobile really stands out if you are a low-data user and you want to pay as little as $8 per month for 2 GB per month. They also stand out because of the flexibility in their coverage providers, with the higher-tier plans.
However, for overall price point and unlimited Hotspot usage, as well as clean-cut speed and reliability, Visible is the best option.