Boom Mobile Restructuring

I've been on Verizon's own-branded prepaid service for years, and it's been fine for me. https://www.verizon.com/prepaid/plans/phone-plans/

Verizon also operates Simple Mobile as a subsidiary. https://www.simplemobile.com

I've been happy with Visible for years now. I've only ever had one problem, during international travel, and they have taken steps to address the issue I had.

Here's a second vote in favor of vanilla Verizon branded prepaid service. I have no particular loyalty to Verizon, but it seems hard to beat their prices and I've never had a problem with coverage. I've been on a "$40" per month plan with 5 GB of mobile data per month for years. "$40" translates to "$25" with $15/month discount for longevity of account and having autopay on, which then translates to a real $30/month after all the taxes and fees.

It doesn't look like my particular plan is available anymore, but their "$45" per month plan with 15 GB of data per month probably translates to a real $40/month after discounts and adding in taxes and fees (not sure if new accounts can get a full $15/month discount anymore, the website seems to say $10/month).

Visible customer for several years. Very happy with the service. It's wholly owned by Verizon, less worry about it going away.

Last time I checked they don't offer iPad plans though if that is something you need.

@Simone Have you looked at other options recently? Verizon’s Visible is currently charging $25/month (including taxes/fees) for “unlimited” data (I guess they throttle video) and hotspot. Several of the others seem to be in the range of $15/month for 5 GB.

+1 for Visible

I hadn't really shopped around but I looked at some because of the comments here. I've never seen a plan that includes taxes and fees so that's kind of surprising, but Visible's plan does seem to be a great deal. Simple Mobile also seems to have a "$25" per month plan for 15 GB of monthly data, but taxes and fees are on top of that, though this too seems slightly better than Verizon. Mint Mobile's deal is "$15" per month for 6 GB of monthly data, also better than my current Verizon plan.

Though, in practice I've never gone above 5 GB of data usage per month, so it's only really the price that matters, but it does look like there are some better options.

I've never really understood why the top brands have other brands though, and that's weirded me out a bit.

> I've never really understood why the top brands have other brands though, and that's weirded me out a bit.

Prepaid users are a very different customer base but in many ways, just as lucrative. MetroPCS was one of the first really big MVNOs and when T-Mobile acquired them in the early 2010s (at the same time John Legere was making a push to distinguish as a real competitor to AT&T and Verizon) they realized they could have both upmarket and downmarket customers.

What’s changed in the last few years is that there are often fewer restrictions or caps on the MVNO plans, with regards to prioritized data and caps and speed, but the price is often much, much lower.

The downside is that you usually have to judo around a bit or prepay a year in advance to get the best deals.

I have two phones in a post-paid Verizon account and I pay over $200 a month. But for my work phone, I did a $15 a month promo on Mint Mobile but it’ll be up in January. So if I want to stick with Mint and not pay like more than double in price (which defeats the whole point), I’ll have to port out to Visible or Total Wireless or someone for a month, then port back in to get the $15 a month if you pay a year in advance promo. If I wasn’t more affronted by having been forced to get a work device that work won’t pay for, I wouldn’t bother and would probably just give Verizon another $40 a month. But because I’m angry, I’ll go through the hoops to save a few hundred dollars.

But I’m (and most of us in this comment section) aren’t the target audience for prepaid plans anyway.

It would be great if you could get prepaid pricing on a post-paid cadence, but with the exception of Visible who I think will let you lock in for two years at the start, it’s not really a thing.

Don't risk another fly-by-night operation, stick with Verizon proper or the Verizon subsidiary (Visible).

I was curious about Visible so I took a look, comparing to my current Verizon prepaid plan ($45, but actually $35 with auto pay):

- Visible plans all have “unlimited” data vs. my fixed amount. Not really an issue for me since I rarely come close to using my 15 GB anyway. And I generally distrust the “unlimited” framing, because it always seems to come with some sort of catch.
- Both have throttled video. Annoying since I paid for 15 GB so I feel I should be able to use it however I want. But I’m not really interested in watching video on my phone anyway, so I don’t really care.
- All Visible plans have significantly throttled personal hotspot. I just tested and I’m getting the same speeds on my tethered laptop as on my phone itself; the 200 Mbit down in my testing seems much better than Visible’s 5-15 Mbit.
- “Ultra Wideband” (UWB), which I’ve learned is a Verizon marketing term that encompasses mmWave (basically only available in big sports stadiums) and C-Band (available in many 5G areas, does not increase coverage, but might sometimes increase speeds). My plan doesn’t have UWB at all, although it is available on a higher-priced Verizon-branded prepaid plan.

So, for a similar price, I guess it comes down to which of these things is more important to you. C-Band seems like it would be nice, but it’s not really solving any problem I currently have, and I’m reluctant to take the hit on personal hotspot speeds (which I use rarely, but when I need it, I really need it). So I guess I’m staying put for now. Verizon gets my money either way, of course; for them, it’s purely an exercise in market segmentation.