Family Plan for Family of 5

[zapjb]

I am trying out Hello Mobile as a possible provider. I received the SIM card today and activated it, and went I went online to make sure the account was set up, it showed I had already used 15 minutes of airtime. Now it is unlimited minutes so I am not concerned about an overage, but I was curious about the dozen plus calls that were "received" by my number while the SIM card was in transit.

Their "support" is conducted via Facebook Messenger. I messaged with a support person, who told me that the numerous calls were to "test and validate" the SIM card. When I questioned that, it was repeated. Draw your own conclusions about the quality of support when that's the kind of answer you get.

Separately, it has only been a few hours, but the service seems solid and data speeds are respectable so far. Since we are on wifi most of the time, this may be the route we go. I had never heard of Hello Mobile before, so thanks (so far) to the poster who suggested it.

FYI porting in numbers might be a different experience vs just activating new lines.

[offthegrid]

That's not accurate.

The Party Pay groups are completely anonymous, and easily joined/filled using the thread on here or Reddit or other forums. It's VERY easy to pay only $25/mo for any number of lines on Visible.

My son is the only one we know using Visible, but he filled his Party Pay group in under an hour in March, 2020, and has only ever paid $25/mo all inclusive (it was also $25 for the 1st month when he signed up). He also got $100 for porting in.

Sorry Boz I had somehow misunderstood your post.

Overall though Visible from everything I can gather is not for someone who needs any kind of speeds during the day time. I see people write they have speeds like .2mb etc during the day and better at night.

[robbyrobby]

Sorry Boz I had somehow misunderstood your post.

Overall though Visible from everything I can gather is not for someone who needs any kind of speeds during the day time. I see people write they have speeds like .2mb etc during the day and better at night.

if you could take the risk for a month i would suggest trying it.

i have never used Visible personally and have read the complaints from users here and on reddit. on the other hand i have few friends who use Visible and are very happy. i doubt they run speed tests or make deliberate tests of networks quality but they would likely mention if they were having significant trouble with reliability. it is likely also that experience can vary location to location and may work well for you.

[Boz1]

Sorry Boz I had somehow misunderstood your post.

Overall though Visible from everything I can gather is not for someone who needs any kind of speeds during the day time. I see people write they have speeds like .2mb etc during the day and better at night.

Yes, there have been reports like that. That's why I said:

...I'd suggest starting with 1 line to make sure Visible's performance is acceptable in your area.

My son had a short period of noticeable slow data with Visible, and he thought about moving to AT&T Prepaid UT&T&D for $50/mo+taxes/fees, but in the end, he decided to stick with Visible at $25/mo TOTAL, and it's much improved for him since. He's more able to afford $50/mo+taxes/fees for AT&T than many people, but he decided that Visible works well enough for the savings not to make a change.

[David Walcott]

Family mobile is not that bad. I have a associate discount so it takes alot off. It can have up to five lines. They are powered by TMobile. Lines start at $24.88 and up.


Sent from my iPhone using HoFo

[jw530]

Did you port in or get a new number? I've read half of the headaches with Hello Mobile is the porting process where they port your number before they send the sim card and some have waited weeks to receive their sim card while their number is tied up. That would be a showstopper for some right there.

[bobdevnul]

Sorry Boz I had somehow misunderstood your post.

Overall though Visible from everything I can gather is not for someone who needs any kind of speeds during the day time. I see people write they have speeds like .2mb etc during the day and better at night.

Depends on where you are. My speeds vary wildly from <1 to 50 Mbps from one moment to the next. It is no different at night.

[kgjulie]

Did you port in or get a new number? I've read half of the headaches with Hello Mobile is the porting process where they port your number before they send the sim card and some have waited weeks to receive their sim card while their number is tied up. That would be a showstopper for some right there.

I got a new number since I am just trying it for a month. It took about a week for the SIM card to arrive, but supposedly your account doesn't start until you put the SIM card in and activate.

I too have read a few horror stories of SIMs never being delivered. I have wondered if the way around it is to order SIMs with new numbers, and then port your actual numbers once the SIMS are received and active. Is that even possible? Otherwise you're right, that is a showstopper to lose your number and service for weeks (or forever) while waiting for the SIM to show up. I personally use Google Voice so it is less of a concern for me, but the whole rest of my family would need to port.