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Seen Wi-fi is Verizon’s shot on the low-cost cellular digital community operator (MVNO) market, offering entry to Verizon’s 5G and 4G LTE networks for as little as $25 a month.
Each Seen’s base plan and premium plan, Seen+, include limitless knowledge topic to deprioritized speeds, although Seen+, one of the best low cost cellphone plan for limitless knowledge, affords 50GB of assured high-speed knowledge for an added month-to-month price. Each plans additionally include limitless hotspot knowledge utilization.
I examined the efficacy of Seen’s base plan in New York Metropolis via a median week, trying into the MVNO’s protection consistency, knowledge reliability, and name high quality, amongst different components. In the event you’re trying to make the change, I additionally define the setup course of as a brand new consumer and evaluate plan choices so you’ll be able to choose whether or not Seen has a plan that fits your wants.
Seen Wi-fi Plans
For $25/month, Seen’s fundamental plan affords limitless speak, textual content, and knowledge with cellular hotspot on Verizon’s customary 5G community, whereas the Seen+ plan ensures 50GB of high-speed knowledge for $45/month.
Plan choices and adaptability
The baseline Seen plan is available in at $25 a month and contains limitless knowledge (topic to deprioritization), limitless speak and textual content to Mexico and Canada, and limitless hotspot knowledge.
The premium Seen+ plan prices $45 a month. Along with the bottom plan’s choices, the premium plan ensures a 50GB allotment of high-speed knowledge, and provides extra worldwide perks together with a reduction supply on Verizon dwelling web.
*Seen’s limitless hotspot is capped at an information velocity of 5Mbps, and your hotspot can solely accommodate one gadget.
Separating itself from Seen’s base plan, Seen+ contains worldwide calling from the US to over 30 international locations and texting to over 200 international locations, which together with limitless knowledge and hotspot knowledge make for a superb deal relative to big-budget cellphone plans that provide comparable advantages with a a lot increased price ticket.
Whereas each the Seen base plan and the upgraded Seen+ program embrace limitless knowledge, Seen+ clients are assured 50GB of premium high-speed knowledge month-to-month. That is essential to notice when it comes to deprioritization, as Seen+ clients will not be subjected to slower knowledge speeds in congested areas so long as they’re inside their high-speed knowledge allowance.
Seen’s base plan has entry to limitless knowledge that’s topic at any time to deprioritized speeds, and it does not have entry to the newer 5G Extremely Wideband networks.
Eve Montie/Insider
With both Seen plan, clients are capable of carry their very own telephones so long as they’re appropriate with Verizon’s community. Seen has a compatibility checker obtainable on their website, and in case your cellphone is not discovered to be appropriate you’ll be able to commerce it in for credit score towards a brand new cellphone or swap it without spending a dime with an Android cellphone. You may also elect to maintain your earlier cellphone quantity via a “porting-in” course of on Seen’s web site or cellular app.
There is not a lot in the way in which of setup steering past the articles on Seen’s assist website, and as soon as your SIM or eSIM is activated the setup course of is totally full. Total the expertise as a brand new buyer is barebones — significantly compared to a competitor like Mint Cell, which gives the brand new consumer with a setup help equipment, guided walkthrough of the app and its capabilities, and an simply navigable Help website.
New Seen clients can decide to check the service with a free 15-day trial — and if outcomes are lower than you’d hoped for, it is simple to cancel the trial via Seen’s app.
Protection space
An attractive cause for switching from one in all Verizon’s pricier premier plans to a Seen plan is that you will get to maintain the identical community protection at a decrease month-to-month price for a single line.
Working underneath Verizon’s community, Seen gives sturdy 4G LTE, 5G, and 5G “Extremely Wideband” connections throughout a lot of the United States, with some gaps in protection in much less populous areas. Seen+ affords 5G Extremely Wideband protection in lots of city areas, which signifies that your knowledge speeds would be the quickest {that a} 5G connection can present.
Earlier than signing up for Seen, checking in on their offered protection map will affirm whether or not Verizon covers your space to start with.
Seen Wi-fi
Service reliability and speeds
One of the best function of Seen’s limitless knowledge plans is that your knowledge is really limitless within the method of one of the best cellphone plans from main carriers, in that speeds aren’t capped after you employ a certain quantity of information, not like another nominally limitless plans.
Granted, Seen clients are prioritized after Verizon’s higher-paying clients who use the identical community and will theoretically encounter slower speeds at any time on the Seen baseline plan. However in areas with much less community congestion, it is potential chances are you’ll not expertise any significant disruption from deprioritization.
Even conducting my testing in New York Metropolis did not go away me disillusioned. On the baseline Seen limitless plan, I might load movies and social media apps with virtually no buffering time, which implies so much in an city space, the place everyone seems to be utilizing knowledge on the similar time in shut proximity. My texts despatched from nearly anyplace, calls went via completely wonderful, and the audio high quality was fairly good.
Video calls got here with combined outcomes, nonetheless. I discovered that whereas on a 4G connection, I might see and listen to the individual on the opposite finish of the road completely wonderful. The reverse connection was not so clear, although, and my name accomplice famous that my audio and video had been skipping to the purpose of incoherence (regardless of their being related by way of a high-speed WiFi community). After I tried one other name whereas related with 4 bars of 5G knowledge, the problems went away totally.
This disparity wasn’t totally a shock to me, as a 4G connection can be usually much less dependable than a 5G (or a 5G Extremely Wideband) connection. It is value noting that I had a 4G connection in any respect versus a 5G one, as my testing areas had been totally lined by Verizon 5G protection in accordance with Seen’s protection map, so the slower connection means that I used to be topic to deprioritization in a congested space.
One con of being on Verizon’s protection community in a populous space is that they are a fashionable community for a cause, and lots of people make the most of their providers. Thus, Seen clients might encounter deprioritization extra regularly.
Buyer assist
So far as in-app and on-line assist is anxious, Seen affords a usually distant degree of buyer care that you could usually count on from a wi-fi service (significantly a bigger community or an MVNO working on one), with a fundamental assist web page that refers the consumer to a information base of assist articles to assist resolve any points you will have in setup, activation, or account info.
Seen’s app contains the identical assist middle information base as its desktop web site, and moreover features a store tab that you should use to buy sensible watches or improve your cellphone.
Eve Montie/Insider
From a consumer expertise standpoint the store tab within the app is not terribly helpful — you solely buy a brand new cellphone or sensible watch each as soon as in an extended whereas, so the store tab is not probably the most helpful useful resource to incorporate within the cellular app. It does not assist that the app requires you to log in each time you employ it, which is a little bit of a chore.
You may also handle your plan within the Account tab, view your plan specifics, and improve your plan from the app in case you select. The entire most pertinent consumer info lives within the Account tab, and you may chat there with a digital assistant to entry fast assist.
Total, relative to the excellent buyer assist supplied by competitor Mint Cell, Seen’s app and website assist are lackluster and never significantly user-friendly.
Must you join Seen Wi-fi?
Seen Wi-fi’ reasonably priced limitless plans make it a gorgeous cellphone service in case you use lots of knowledge every month and know that Verizon’s community adequately covers your space.
In my testing, Seen’s base plan had persistently dependable protection and allowed me to ship texts, make calls, and cargo apps seamlessly. Although I encountered disruptive, slower knowledge speeds when taking video calls in a congested space, the impact of this deprioritization was momentary, and it was finally a minor blemish on an general constructive expertise with the service.
In the event you do not use large quantities of month-to-month knowledge, nonetheless, Seen is probably going not definitely worth the month-to-month worth, as different funds carriers like Mint Cell and Tello Cell present tiered knowledge plans that price lower than Seen’s base plan.
FAQs
Who owns Seen Wi-fi?
Seen Wi-fi is owned by Verizon, and it runs utilizing Verizon’s 4G LTE and 5G networks.
Whereas because of this customers have entry to Verizon’s community at a significantly decrease price than Verizon’s base plans, it does imply that base Seen clients can be prioritized after Verizon clients in congested areas.
Which means Seen knowledge speeds might decelerate with a purpose to accommodate the higher-paying Verizon clients, who’re finally paying for comfort and top-tier knowledge speeds.
Does Seen work overseas?
In the event you’re a Seen buyer from the US going overseas exterior of Mexico and Canada, you may want to select up an area SIM card with a purpose to use knowledge whereas abroad.
Each Seen and Seen+ present limitless calling and texting to Mexico and Canada from the US. Seen+ provides limitless knowledge roaming in each international locations, however neither plan contains worldwide knowledge roaming in international locations exterior of Mexico and Canada.
Clients with Seen+ can even make calls to over 30 international locations and ship texts to over 200 international locations, and WiFi calling ought to work anyplace you probably have entry to a WiFi community.
How do Seen’s limitless plans work?
Seen’s limitless plans are pay as you go month-to-month and embrace limitless knowledge and hotspot knowledge in addition to limitless speak and textual content on Verizon’s community of protection. Below Verizon’s umbrella, Seen customers can benefit from 4G LTE speeds persistently, and even 5G (or 5G Extremely Wideband for Seen+ customers) if there is not a lot community congestion.
The service is meant to be a low-cost various for purchasers trying to make use of Verizon’s community, however who aren’t within the funds for one in all their extra premium plans. Seen strips the method of community administration right down to the fundamentals, with no annual contracts or hidden charges, simply pay as you go knowledge service.
The caveat is that whereas your knowledge is limitless, the velocity of the info might decelerate attributable to Verizon community site visitors at any time on the bottom Seen plan or after the assured 50GB of high-speed knowledge on Seen+.
Does Seen supply a household plan?
Sadly, Seen solely affords limitless plans for one line at a time and doesn’t supply a standard “household” plan. When you’ve got a number of base-subscription traces in your plan, for instance, every will price $25 a month.
Seen used to offer a “Celebration Pay” choice that added reductions for a number of traces on the identical plan, however the service ended as of January 2023. For households trying to save on a number of traces, Seen will not be the service for you.
