I love Visible, but I wish I knew one thing before I joined

A bit over a month in the past, I made an enormous change in my cellphone world; after 10 years of being a T-Cellular buyer, I jumped ship and joined Visible. Not completely positive what to anticipate with such a dramatic transition, I’ve been more than happy with Seen up to now. The sign-up course of was straightforward, my service has been nice, and I’m actually pleased with the value I’m paying.

In addition to issues have gone, there was one hiccup that I wasn’t anticipating. It’s removed from a dealbreaker, but it surely’s one thing I didn’t understand till after my first month with Seen — and I want somebody had advised me about it sooner.

Seen has three plans you’ll be able to select from: Seen, Seen Plus, and Seen Plus Professional. The final two plans are Seen’s extra premium choices, providing options like quicker 5G speeds, higher hotspot efficiency, and extra intensive worldwide protection. The plan you select additionally dictates the sort of video streaming you are able to do on Seen’s community.

In case you join the essential Seen plan, video streaming is capped at simply 480p SD. Nevertheless, you probably have Visible Plus or Visible Plus Pro, video streaming high quality will increase to 1080p HD or 4K UHD, respectively. Easy sufficient, proper? You’d suppose so, however that’s not all there’s to it.

Whereas digging by means of the Seen app in the future, close to the tip of my first month of service, I stumbled throughout one thing fascinating. On the Account web page below the Get essentially the most out of Seen part, you’ll be able to swipe by means of to see your numerous advantages, equivalent to any International Passes you have got and your smartwatch service. On the finish of the listing is an choice for HD Video.

I assumed this may simply be an informational web page concerning the 4K UHD max streaming high quality that comes with my Seen Plus Professional plan, however lo and behold, there was extra to it — particularly, an choice to allow stated streaming high quality.

By default, Seen plans with HD/UHD video streaming high quality apparently don’t have this characteristic enabled by default. As an alternative, you need to manually allow it your self … in a sub-menu buried deep within the Seen app … one which the corporate by no means tells you about.

I began digging round on-line to see if I had one way or the other turned this off by mistake when organising my account, however that’s not what occurred. Because it seems, a number of customers within the r/Seen subreddit have additionally reported needing to allow HD streaming for his or her accounts.

It looks as if one thing Seen added pretty not too long ago (throughout the final six months or so), and as grateful as I used to be to seek out that Reddit thread, I actually want Seen had knowledgeable me about this itself. One of many major causes I selected the Seen Plus Professional plan is for its 4K UHD video streaming, and to have gone a month with out that as a result of I didn’t faucet a toggle Seen by no means advised me about is simply foolish.

In Seen’s protection, it isn’t the primary service or MVNO to tug one thing like this. T-Cellular had an identical setting for my outdated ONE Plus plan, and Verizon and AT&T do that, too. It’s annoying and pointless, however from the carriers’ perspective, that’s why they do it. They’re nonetheless offering you with the high-quality video streaming you signed up for; they simply aren’t turning it on for you, they usually’re banking on the truth that you’ll overlook to do it or received’t understand how — thus saving them community sources and cash within the course of.

I suppose I shouldn’t be shocked that Seen additionally does this (it is owned by Verizon, after all), but it surely feels at odds with Seen’s in any other case consumer-friendly strategy to nearly every thing else it does. I’d count on an annoying hoop like this from one of many massive carriers, however a part of me thought Seen could be higher. However hey, possibly that’s what its proprietor, Verizon, is banking on. If that’s the case, you bought me.

Going a month with out the very best video streaming high quality is finally only a small bump within the street, and as soon as I spotted what I needed to do, it took all of 5 seconds to activate my plan’s HD video capabilities. No hurt, no foul.

Nonetheless, I might have preferred to have identified about this sooner. In case you’re enthusiastic about becoming a member of Seen or have not too long ago signed up, at the least I can provide the heads up I want I had gotten.