The Best Prepaid Unlimited Plan?

Visible Wireless unlimited plan

You’ll get a cheap plan with tons of data. Just watch out for those slowdowns.

Visible Wireless Unlimited plan

What we like

With Visible’s mobile plan, you’ll get unlimited talk, text, and data for $40 a month. That’s pretty awesome. But what we like most about this plan is not what it has, but what it doesn’t have: no data speed caps, no extra taxes or fees, and no major coverage gaps.

No data speed caps

Plenty of phone plans will give you unlimited data. But not all data is created equal. There’s 3G data, 4G data, LTE data, and now, depending on where you live, there’s even 5G data. These terms refer to the speed of the data, and speed matters when you’re watching Netflix or about to get fragged in a PUBG Mobile match.

Many MVNO’s (and even traditional carriers, like AT&T) will throttle your data after you use a set amount. That could mean you’ll be getting data at 1–3 Mbps, instead of 5–10 Mbps, even with your unlimited data plan.

While Visible Wireless does limit the quality of your video streaming to 480p, the rest of your data won’t be throttled (at least for those who sign up right now—the company has suggested this policy could change in the future). So go ahead, listen, browse, and game to your heart’s content.

No extra taxes or fees

Sales tax, who needs it? Fine, schools, roads, and fire departments do. But let’s be honest: our hearts still sink just a bit when we see that our $4 coffee is actually going to cost us $4.26.

This is why we like Visible’s “baked-in” price. That $40 a month includes everything: taxes, fees, and any other possible charge you could think of.

No major coverage holes

You might lose service with Visible Wireless if you’re off camping in Yellowstone National Park (in which case, you shouldn’t be checking your email anyways—c’mon, now). But you’ll be covered in most other areas of the country.

That’s because Visible Wireless runs on Verizon’s network.

Being on Verizon’s network doesn’t just mean good coverage. It’s also the overall speed and quality of the network that makes Verizon the best overall cellular provider.

Say yes to mobile hotspots

There’s no limit on the amount of hotspot data you can use, but the speed is capped at 5 Mbps (which should be plenty for streaming and browsing) and you can only have one tethered device at a time.

What we don’t like

As the ‘80s hard rock band Poison taught us, “Every rose has its thorn.” Visible’s biggest thorn is that users’ data can be deprioritized.

Data deprioritization

Remember before, when we talked about data throttling? Well, data deprioritization is similar, but instead of having your data speed reduced for using too much, you can have your speeds reduced during times of “congestion.”

No, this doesn’t mean your phone will slow down when you’ve got a nasty head cold. It means that Visible’s network owner (in this case, Verizon) will prioritize certain customers’ data speeds over others when too many people are connected in one area.

So if you sign up for Visible, you may notice that your phone has a hard time streaming Disney+ during your evening commute.

Lower quality video streams

We only have one more bone to pick with Visible’s mobile service, but it’s not a big one—maybe just like a distal phalange. (Anatomy jokes, anyone?)

With Visible, your video streams will be stuck at 480p (so-called “DVD quality”). But, honestly, most people won’t notice much of a difference between watching His Dark Materials at 480p and 720p when it’s being displayed on a 5-inch screen.

Alternative picks

We’re pretty stoked on Visible’s Unlimited offering, but it’s definitely not the only plan worth considering.

If your aim is to have the highest quality plan out there, regardless of price, then you’ll want to look at some more traditional unlimited plans. If, on the other hand, you can live with less—and slower—data, then you might want to look at TracFone or Simple Mobile.

But as far as unlimited prepaid phone plans go, we’ll recommend Visible Wireless ‘til the cows come home.

Unlimited plans comparison

Sure, there are a couple of unlimited plans that are slightly cheaper than Visible’s. But these plans don’t have the benefit of truly unlimited, unthrottled data. They also run on smaller, less reliable networks, like Sprint.