Visible is offering a $5 bill credit to customers who lost service during a recent Verizon network disruption, an apology that immediately drew comparisons to Verizon’s larger $20 credit for affected postpaid subscribers. The discrepancy has sparked frustration among some Visible users, particularly because the low-cost carrier is wholly owned and operated by Verizon and experienced the same underlying outage.
What Visible Is Offering to Affected Subscribers
According to messages sent to subscribers and noted by industry reports, Visible is texting eligible customers to acknowledge the downtime and provide a $5 credit toward their next prepaid bill. The credit is applied during the next payment made online with a credit card, and it appears to be targeted to accounts that showed service disruption during the incident.
Visible positions the gesture as a goodwill move, not a refund. The language emphasizes recognition of the inconvenience rather than an admission of service-level liability, a distinction that is common in carrier responses to outages. As with most prepaid services, credits post to the next cycle rather than being issued as direct refunds.
How It Compares to Verizon’s Credit on Postpaid Plans
Verizon offered a $20 account credit to impacted subscribers on its flagship brand. On a simple value basis, the Visible credit is smaller, though the optics are complicated by plan pricing. Visible’s unlimited plan starts at $25 per month, so a $5 credit equals 20% of the baseline bill. Verizon’s entry-level Unlimited Welcome plan is $75 for a single line (or $65 with automatic payments), making a $20 credit roughly 27% of the sticker price or about 31% of the autopay rate.
Percentages aside, customers tend to react to absolute dollars, not ratios. Many Visible subscribers point out that the outage affected them just as directly as it did Verizon’s postpaid base, yet the remediation feels unequal. That tension is amplified by the ownership structure—this isn’t a third-party mobile virtual network operator negotiating with a host network; it’s Verizon’s own budget brand offering materially less.
Why the Disparity Stings for MVNO Users on Visible
MVNOs depend on a major carrier’s infrastructure, so when the host network falters, customers on both sides feel it. In this case, Visible subscribers saw the same core network disruption, but the make-good diverged. From a business perspective, MVNO economics are tighter: lower-priced plans, leaner margins, and prepaid billing that limits flexibility. From a consumer perspective, equal impact should mean comparable consideration—especially when the MVNO and the network owner are the same company.
There’s also precedent shaping expectations. After a high-profile outage last year, AT&T offered a $5 credit to its customers. While that figure became a lightning rod for debate at the time, it set a modern baseline for small “we’re sorry” credits. By offering $20 on the main brand here, Verizon implicitly raised the bar—making Visible’s $5 feel stingier by contrast.
Regulators typically don’t mandate consumer credits for outages of this nature; carriers operate under terms of service that disclaim guarantees. But public sentiment, churn risk, and social media visibility often push operators toward goodwill gestures. The challenge is aligning those gestures across brands so they don’t inadvertently create a second-class experience for budget customers.
What Visible Customers Should Do to Receive the Credit
- If you were affected, look for a text message from Visible outlining eligibility and how the credit will apply. Make sure your next payment is processed in the manner described in the message (Visible specifies credit card payment online) to avoid missing the credit window.
- If you didn’t receive a message but experienced a loss of service, contact Visible support through the app or web chat and request a review. Keep basic details handy, such as the time your service went down and when it resumed. If you feel the remediation is inadequate, you can also file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission; while the FCC doesn’t set compensation, complaints often prompt carrier follow-up.
For Verizon and Visible, the episode is a reminder that transparency and parity matter as much as technical fixes. Customers generally understand that outages can happen; what they remember is how a company makes them whole. In that respect, the $5 credit may save Visible a few dollars today, but the longer-term cost will be measured in trust.
