I was a T-Mobile customer for 10 years. Here are 5 things I learned after switching to Visible

In early May, I began the process of switching myself (and my partner and family members) away from T-Mobile. After being T-Mobile subscribers for 10 years and being fed up with price hikes and worsening service, we decided we’d had enough and were ready to move on.

I chronicled that experience in an article I wrote last month, explaining why I left T-Mobile and all of the things that pushed me over the edge to finally switch. But at the time, I wasn’t sure what carrier I’d be switching to.

Following a lot of Googling and research, I ultimately chose Visible as my new cell phone service provider. The pricing was right, the plans had everything my family and I needed, and I’d heard nothing but good things from friends and colleagues.

It’s been about a month since I made the switch, and it’s been a pretty eye-opening experience. After being a T-Mobile customer for so long, here are a few things I’ve learned after my first month with Visible.

Prior to my Visible switch, the last time I subjected myself to the cell phone number transfer process was a decade ago — and I don’t have fond memories of how it went. As such, I was pretty apprehensive about how things would go transferring six lines away from T-Mobile.

Amazingly, it all went as smoothly as I could have asked for.

When you’re setting up your Visible account and indicate you want to transfer a phone number, all you have to do is enter the phone number you want to move, your current carrier’s account number, and a transfer/port-out PIN from your carrier. Once that’s entered, Visible submits the transfer request, alerts you when your number transfer is approved, and then prompts you to complete activation.

All told, the entire number transfer process took all of 10-15 minutes for every number I ported to Visible — all except for one. I accidentally entered an old port-out PIN when transferring my partner’s number, which strangely locked their Visible account for the rest of the night. However, we were able to get their number ported the following day without issue, so it all worked out fine in the end.

Switching from one of the nation’s largest carriers to a much smaller MVNO, my primary concern was that my cell service was going to take a hit. It’s well known that many MVNOs are deprioritized during heavy network congestion, and going from T-Mobile to Visible (a Verizon MVNO), I was worried my service wouldn’t be as fast or reliable as I’m used to.

Thankfully, that worry has been for nought. After a month with Visible, I’ve not noticed any degradation in service quality compared to what I had with T-Mobile, nor have my parents or my partner.

If anything, my service has actually been a bit better. In the laundry room and gym at my apartment complex, which were virtually dead zones for T-Mobile, I’ve had no issues getting a strong signal with Visible. Your mileage will obviously vary depending on where you live and your local Verizon coverage, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how well Visible has performed so far.

Compared to T-Mobile, one of the most significant differences about Visible (other than it using Verizon towers) is that it doesn’t support family plans. That means everyone is in charge of their own account and bill, and after being on the same account with my partner, parents, and grandmother for so many years, I wasn’t sure how this would go.

Once again, it’s been a smoother transition than I anticipated. Visible’s autopay system means no one has to worry about accidentally missing a bill, and unlike T-Mobile, I can set up autopay for my partner and myself with a credit card — no need to link our bank account.

And should any of us ever leave Visible for something else, everyone having their own account (and, therefore, their own port-out PIN) will make things easier, too. I made the mistake of transferring my phone number first to Visible, and as the primary account holder for our old T-Mobile account, that resulted in a headache-inducing evening of working with T-Mobile’s (very bad) customer support to make my partner the new primary account holder so we could continue transferring other numbers. I’m really glad that won’t be an issue with Visible if/when we ever switch to something else.

Ever since T-Mobile launched its T-Life app in 2023, trying to access and manage my T-Mobile account from an Android phone has been a nightmare. The app is slow, unresponsive, and unbelievably buggy.

While Visible’s Android app isn’t perfect, it’s been significantly better than T-Mobile’s. Account settings are easier to find, bill/payment information is easily accessible, and it’s not overloaded with heaps of unnecessary fluff — something T-Life is notorious for.

Although the Visible app isn’t the prettiest to look at (or the fastest), I appreciate how much better organized everything is compared to T-Life. If I want to switch my plan or access features like Global Passes or HD video streaming, they’re just a couple of taps away. T-Life, by comparison, likes to hide almost everything under a mountain of convoluted menus. I’m very happy not to be dealing with that any longer.

This last point isn’t specific to Visible itself, but rather a more general point I learned throughout the carrier switching process.

Especially when you’ve been with one cell carrier for multiple years, the idea of switching to something else is daunting. You’re familiar with the carrier you currently have, you don’t want to go through the headache of transferring numbers, you’re worried about what another provider’s coverage will be like — the list goes on and on.

I’d been unhappy with T-Mobile for about a year before I decided to leave, and I stayed with the company largely out of familiarity and convenience. I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of changing carriers, and even though I wasn’t thrilled with T-Mobile, I toughed it out anyway.

If you find yourself in a similar position, whether with T-Mobile or another company, my advice is to go for it. Switching carriers isn’t the most entertaining thing to do, but it’s also far simpler today than it’s ever been, especially now that eSIMs are more widely adopted and easier to use.

I was hesitant about leaving T-Mobile after 10 years, but I’m happy I finally did — and I wish I’d done it sooner. You don’t owe your current carrier any loyalty, so if you’re unhappy with your monthly bill, service, or something else, go ahead and leave. You’ll be glad you did.