Verizon's Visible forcing users to upgrade to new phones to access Visible+ network, but there's a potential workaround

‘Visible’ is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) that takes advantage of Verizon coverage. An MVNO usually offers services at more competitive prices compared to traditional carriers.

That said, it appears that Verizon’s Visible is forcing users to upgrade to newer phones to maintain access to the Visible+ network.

On Visible, users receive more affordable prices for mobile service, although speeds may not be as fast as on the main carrier.

The MVNO currently offers two ‘tiers’ in its catalog: Visible and Visible+. The first has unlimited data but with deprioritized network speed, while the second adds 50 GB of ‘Premium Data’ (full speed).

That said, Visible users have been receiving emails saying that they require a newer smartphone to maintain access to the Visible+ network.

Is this legit or bait and switch from Visible?

Just received an email from Visible stating that a phone upgrade is mandatory to continue service since they are doing an upgrade to their network. Anyone else get this? I bought my Samsung a few years ago and it works just fine – not interested in forking over another $500 for a new phone at this time. 🙁
Source

Keep getting emails that I “Need to upgrade”, but says phone is not compatible

I keep getting these emails about how I “Need to upgrade”, but it won’t let me since for some arbitrary reason my phone is not compatible (though worked fine on Verizon, it was originally a Verizon phone after all). I don’t want to buy a new phone over this, but the service happens to be good
Source

The situation is causing frustration among users who were happy with the prices and quality of service, but now they will have to spend a considerable amount of money on a new ‘compatible’ phone.

That said, the user community has discovered a workaround that reportedly allows you to maintain access to the Visible+ network even on ‘unsupported’ phones.

The workaround consists of manually changing or adding new APN info in the phone settings. For instance, a Redditor managed to get a Galaxy S10+ to maintain Visible+ network access using these two APNs:

Name: Visible Internet New

APN: VZWINTERNET

MMSC: http://mms.vtext.com/servlets/mms

APN Type: default,supl

APN Protocol: IPv4/IPv6

APN Roaming: IPv4

Bearer: HSPA, GPRS, EDGE, eHRPD, UMTS, LTE, HSPAP, IWLAN, HSDPA, HSUPA

Name: Visible CBS New

APN: VZWAPP

MMSC: http://mms.vtext.com/servlets/mms

APN Type: cbs,mms

APN Protocol: IPv4/IPv6

APN Roaming: IPv4

Bearer: HSPA, GPRS, EDGE, eHRPD, UMTS, LTE, HSPAP, IWLAN, HSDPA, HSUPA

In case the previous APNs do not work for you, you can also try with the following ones:

We will update this story as events unfold in the future.

Featured Image: Visible

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.