You can now try Visible's low-cost phone service for free — here's how

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A 15-day free trial of Visible is open to iPhone users

Visible
(Image credit: Future)

Visible may offer one of the best cheap cell phone plans out there, but it's hard for some people to commit to a wireless phone service outside the major phone carriers. That's true even if Visible is owned by Verizon and uses its parent company's cell towers for service.

So Visible is creating a free trial where you can use Visible as your phone provider for 15 days. Best of all, you don't even have to give up using your current phone.

Under Visible's free trial program launching today (January 6), the carrier will hand out trial phone numbers to potential customers who have an eligible device and sign up on Visible's website. That way, you can continue to use your existing phone and its assigned phone number alongside Visible's trial phone number.

After 15 days, you can opt to keep that number or port in your existing phone number if you've decided that Visible is the right phone service for you. Or you can walk way from Visible at no cost and with no disruption to your regular phone service.

Visible phone service

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

It's that requirement about having an eligible device that could be a roadblock for some people taking advantage of Visible's free trial. Right now, only the iPhone XR and later Apple phones (including 2020's iPhone SE) are eligible to test out Visible's service. Android devices can't test out the service at this time (though Visible does support Android phones with its regular service).

Visible is particularly appealing as a phone service because its single plan delivers unlimited data for $40 a month for a single line. That's a fraction of what you'd pay for an unlimited data plan at a major carrier, such as Visible parent Verizon, where unlimited data plans start at $70 a month.

Add extra lines and you can reduce the per-line cost of your Visible service. A four-line account would pay $100 a month or $25 per line. Visible's multi-line accounts are open to friends living at different addresses as well as families.

I've given Visible's service a try, both to test out phones on Verizon's cellular network and to review Visible itself. I found that download speeds occasionally lag behind what a Verizon customer might experience in the same area at times of heavy congestion, but generally, Visible's service is equal to what you'd get from a major carrier.

Of course, with Visible's free trial now in place, it's not like you have to take my word for it.

Visible is a Verizon MVNO, or mobile virtual network operator. MVNOs provide cellular service using another carrier's towers — in this case Verizon's. That also means Visible customers can take advantage of Verizon's 5G service if they're living in an area where 5G is available and they've got a compatible phone.

Make sure you check our Visible promo codes for the latest offers. 

Philip Michaels
Philip Michaels

Philip Michaels is a Managing Editor at Tom's Guide. He's been covering personal technology since 1999 and was in the building when Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone for the first time. He's been evaluating smartphones since that first iPhone debuted in 2007, and he's been following phone carriers and smartphone plans since 2015. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics, old movies and proper butchery techniques. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.