A new cell phone carrier offers the quality of the Verizon network for just forty bucks a month unlimited.
What's going on on rich Demiro.
This is Rich on Tech and today we're talking to Miguel ki Roga.
He is the CEO of Visible.
This is a brand new startup that is basically an mv and O on the Verizon network. So imagine getting the Verizon network with that great signal, but for forty dollars a month, all included. Miguel, let's talk about this. Welcome to the show, right, thanks for having us so visible. Yes, this is basically a company that's owned by Verizon, that's right, but it's a startup carrier.
Yeah, what does that mean. That's yeah, we're owned by Verizon but independently operated. And it's interesting you use the word mv and oh because that's an often used term
in the industry. We actually aren't an mv and O because we are what's called a facilities based carrier therefore a network facilities based so we have essentially Verizon's network facilities at our fingertips of the ability to use that that we're essentially orchestrating and building the type of experience simply use experience, one price, one plan, direct to consumer, and that's essentially the difference that we're providing and using the best of both worlds.
Interesting, So an mv and O is more of like someone who leases the network from a company and like kind of runs their own exactly.
That's not what we are. We don't lease the network in that example because we're owned by Verizons, So therefore we have a different relationship altogether.
Interesting.
Okay, so explain to me what Visible is. I mean, I already said the forty dollars, but I want to hear from you forty bucks a month.
What do I get for that?
Yeah, So it's basically forty dollars a month unlimited data, voice, and minutes basically on Verizon's nationwide four GLT network. It's one price, one plan, all taxes and fees included. And the focus for us and our business model is to have the simple, most easiest use experience in the wireless carrier industry.
So with forty dollars a month, now, immediately, whenever you hear something like this, you hear Verizon, you hear forty dollars a month.
You hear a carrier name that you haven't really heard before.
You just think, okay, there's obviously some catch so just everything out there. The one thing that I do know that's different than the typical Verizon network is a speed limitation of five megabits per second. That's correct down, which you can explain that in a second, but that's basically it, right, that's correct.
Yeah.
And the other thing too is to recognize is we're an all digital carrier, so therefore we don't actually have stores. We actually believe that by providing the ability for a customer to order this type of experience from their couch, get it delivered to their home, ultimately get up and running very quickly and very seamlessly, is the type of
experience we believe that customers want to have. We did two years of extensive research, co creation, serving, talking to customers directly of like, what exactly do you actually want in your wireless carrier, and what we realized was that customers really want simplicity. They want a carrier that's going to value their time and make it easy to use
and understand. And so we've built from the ground up a business, a tech stack, a team of employees who are focused on customer centric based building of prop like this, and essentially that's what we've delivered to our customer.
And the reality is there are a lot of customers out there that are pretty much overpaying on their bill because now, for me, I feel like every single month I get every single penny out of my bill with Verizon because I am using so much data.
I'm the power user.
But people like my wife, who I look at her side of the bill, just paying the same ninety dollars a month, but she's literally using less than a gig of data because she's on Wi Fi at work, she's at Wi Fi at the gym, when she's streaming Spotify in the middle, she's using maps in her car, you know. So for someone like her, you're literally going to say fifty dollars a month.
Yeah.
I think the way to think about it is we with that research we did, is we try to focus on what does the customer really ultimately need to do to use their phone on the go. They're basically doing video streaming, they're doing music streaming, they're doing surfing, email and using their apps for that type of capability. The offering we have and everything that's baked into that offering, we believe gives the customers what they need to live
their life on the go. And so that's why we think there's a white basic customers who actually do need this type of capability.
And with the network, it is the full Verizon network. So it's not like, you know, some of the towers work with Visible some don't.
You know, you're in a rural area, you're not going to get service.
Yeah, we basically are using Verizons four GLT network, So that means that our accessibility to that network would be such basically the same as what a Verizon customer is using. We're using the network experience combined with the Visible tech stack, and those two things combined essentially is what we offer to customers.
And is throttling a thing when it comes to you know, let's say I use ten gigs a month, am I going to be throttled down to one hundred and twenty eight?
Yeah, we don't have the concept of throttling. We focus more on having the unlimited data, voice in minutes.
And what about hot Spot?
Yeah, we actually have mobile Hotspot as part of an early access program as well.
And that's something that you don't see now you said early access. So these are people that are signing up right now.
That's correct. We're still in an early access mode and predominantly because we're really focused on listening to customers. So this is our opportunity to really listen to our customers tailored experience, continue in the tune, and grow the features that they're going to need to essentially be satisfied with the quality, the high quality experience we want to provide to our customers.
Now, when this service first launched, it seems like there's a lot of mystery surrounding it, and I think even with your current marketing scheme, which we'll talk about in a moment, there's still you're adding to that mystery.
This is a.
System that you literally you order your sim from you you know, you go online, you order the SIM. I guess make sure your phone works. Let's talk about that process. So signing up for Visible, I don't go into a Verizon store. They'll probably look at you like you're crazy, Like what are you talking about? I don't even know what this is? Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
We Basically the idea is you go online on the web you download the Visible app. So you go to Visible dot com or you go to download the app in the iOS app Store today. We're iOS only, and really the focal point for that is to say, you order it and you basically put in your information. We have digital payments. You can use Venmo, you can use PayPal, and essentially we'll ship you the sim.
Can use a regular credit card, yeah, red card, yeah, read credit card as well.
Yeah, absolutely, And you know, obviously you want to do a quick kind of check on make sure your device compatibility on the iOS works, you know, and then we'll ship you the SIM and the next day you'll have the SIM in your hands. You basically take the SIM in, you plug it in, you activate it using the app, and you're good to go.
And you know, that.
Allows you to either port a number in or that allows you to start a new number if you prefer. And basically that's all you need to do. It's pretty simple, easy to check out and easy to use.
So tell me about what phones work on here? You said iOS only. How do I know if my iPhone works with Visible?
Yeah? You actually just go to our checkout process and in the checkout process will give you the opportunity to check to make sure your phone is compatible with our network. Is it most iPhones at this point, Yeah, buy and large pretty much all iPhones are. But there's a few kind of variations that we know that we don't have the right compatibilities. We want to make sure that that's clear to our customers.
Now, there's going to be some people who try to pop the sim into an unlocked Android.
Not gonna work, Not gonna work.
At the moment. Why not, Well, because we started with iOS really to focus our attention around our experience with that bunch of customers. Clearly where we're looking at the Android community of users. That's something we have a lot of customers and members asking us about. It's like, hey, when is Android coming? We're working closely on that, and you know that's something to stay tuned on.
So Verizon obviously has this giant network of stores, personnel people to help you when you have a problem, whatever. How do you guys do that And talk a little bit about your current kind of marketing plan where you literally have these stores that you've painted your color, that's right, and it's like a four or four store not found that's right.
Yeah, Yeah, it's the four or four store campaign for us, and you know, we're doing a little bit of tongue in cheek. Look, we're establishing a new brand across the country, and when you do that, you have to get people's attention. So, yes, it's our brand blue, but it's also kind of a way to grab people's attention in a physical space and
kind of bring them into our digital experience. Yes, it's a little eye catching, but it is trying to make the point that we took everything that you would normally find in a store and we packed it into the app, so that way you can go to your app, do everything you need to do to basically take care of your service and order the service in one clean, simple, easy use way.
Are you selling phones as well? That's not something we're looking at at the moment, but it's something that you know, we're looking at all customer opportunities in terms of the feedback we're getting. So right now it's iOS only, and like I said, Android would probably be something that comes fairly soon after as well.
So who do you see is sort of your biggest competitor in all this?
Yeah, you know, I don't. I don't think we see ourselves of having a very specific competitor in this example, because like the offering we have because we're digital only, because we're owned by Verizons, we are have basically a facilities based career. It's completely different. It's a completely different type of approach. And you know, building things from the ground up from a blank sheet of paper allows you to do things that many others cannot. It allows us
to be more agile. It allows us to also take the best of some of the best infrastructure in the world, which is Verizons for GLT network. And I think the combination of those two is a really compelling offering. That's why we're able to do what we can with our experience today.
So AT and T has Cricket, T Mobile has Metro or I think they just renamed it. Maybe it's Metro still, and I don't know what Sprint has, but they are similar and people would probably comparing them to you what sets visible apart.
Yeah, Ultimately, it's our experience and it's simplicity of our offering. We're basically giving customers exactly what they're looking for based on all that research we did, and that's why we believe that ultimately is a winning combination for us.
And I still feel like there's got to be a catch because I mean, people have listened this long and they're sitting there, they're going, I don't understand. I'm paying ninety dollars a month on average for an unlimited plan, Right, how is Visible giving me Verizon's network, which by the way is probably the best network in the US at forty bucks a month?
Right? Yeah, this is this is geared towards a very specific type of customer. We're gearing towards customers for digitally savvy or single line accounts essentially, and want the type of simplicity and offering that this provides. That's not for everybody, and that's okay. You know, we're really focused on the type of digitally savy customer or customer value simplicity on a single line basis. So we believe that's why it's super interesting.
What about fees, you know, activation fee, thirty five bucks for that, Do you have any of those things?
Nope, it's forty dollars. Yeah, it's all forty dollars all in, basically all taxi fees. And again that's like part of what we're trying to accomplish is like what does a customer actually want? Like I don't want to think about all the little line items on a bill. I just want to say, here's my price, I get my thing. I allow me to do the thing that I want the service to do. Like what is wireless character's supposed to do. It's supposed to connect you with other human beings.
That's the whole point. And so we believe that eliminating that friction allows us to be a better experience.
And the name Visible, Yes, where did that come from? That was also part of our market research. We just felt that it was a good way to kind of emphasize what do we stand for as a brand.
We focus on transparency. We focus on providing value to our customers in a collaborative and co creative way. And we believe that by being Visible, we can showcase how we're really providing the type of simplicity we believe that customers really want.
So explain to me a little bit more about the relationship between Visible and Verizon. So you guys are independently sort of operated, that's right. Do you meet back with like this Verizon CEO and kind of tell them what your plans are and you know, talk with him. I mean, because some of the things that you're doing are directly in competition with them.
Yeah, you know, it's interesting the way we operate. We are independently operated. Obviously, we have a very strong partnership with all the things that we need to be successful. And really that's why we get the best of both worlds. You know, we're we're in close contact and collaboration with all the different communities that we leverage and tap into.
But what this relationship structure allows us to do is give us that access to the large capital infrastructure, the best and brightest of you know, network engineering combined with the best and brightest of kind of newer thinking and modern tech. That's how essentially we believe innovation can happen. And it's a huge bet on innovation how we think modern businesses can continue to evolve.
Can you talk a little bit about the new iPhones have a e SIM capability. It's rumored or it's supposed to be active this year, maybe next year, and here in the US kind of a different concept for people to be able to activate align by scanning a QR code with their camera on their phone. So will Visible take part in that? And that actually offers a big opportunity for you guys as well.
Absolutely, Yeah, I mean the way you're.
Putting a SIM in a phone is something and I've done a million times, but not everyone has.
Not everyone wants to, or knows or even understands what that means.
Absolutely, Look, you know, we've built the Visible experience, We've built the Visible techs doc to be future proof. We want to capitalize on every single move that happens from a technological landscape, whether that's a network level, whether that's the phone and OEM level, whether it's e SIM or anything else like, those are things we want to capitalize on.
So absolutely, there's things like that that we're closely focused on, and as things come to market, we're going to definitely take advantage.
Miguel ki Roga, CEO of Visible, thanks so much for joining me today. If you want to learn more about Visible, go to the website it is rich on tech dot tv, or you can check the show notes as well. If you like the show, go ahead and share it with your friends. Take a screenshot of you listening to it and share it on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram Stories. That's the best way to let your friends know that you're learning something here. All right, I'm Richidmiel, Thanks so much for listening.
Bye bye,