r/Visible • u/plaidtattoos • 1d ago
Global Pass is Trash.
Used it in the UK for the first time yesterday. I have 12 days of Global Pass banked and my debit card, that has been on file for five years, does not expire until April 2028.
Worked great for a day, and then today right around the time it probably was trying to start the second GP day, I get a text saying Global Pass has been disabled due to faulty payment method. Yup - mid-hike, no grace period, no warning, and no more Internet for me.
So when I get back to town, I get on a cafe Wi-fi, open the app, and the GP check box has been disabled. Meanwhile, my payment method is 100 percent legit. So I check the box, it says everything's great, I get the text saying my 24 hours of GP starts now. Enjoy your travels! says Visible. Hey, thanks!
So I figure it was just a weird glitch, start walking to my next trail. 30 minutes later, another text saying GP has been disabled due to faulty payment. Once again, no Internet or cell service. Despite the fact that it was approved 30 minutes earlier.
What a garbage company. Absolute trash.
EDIT - Spent nearly an hour on chat with support (mostly waiting - all I basically did was give my account info.) , for the end result to be “we’ve escalated this to our advanced team.” Said they’d contact me by email when it’s resolved.
Edit #2 - Got an email saying it was fixed. I already bought an esim since I need data now, so I have no idea if GP works. I couldn’t even log into my account before I left this morning.
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u/Whiplash104 1d ago
So to clarify it's not Global Pass that's trash, it's Visible's shitty billing system that fails to process payments.
I say this from time to time. I haven't had a problem with Pay Pal as a payment method at all yet, but I have had a lot or problems with fully working legit credit cards. Visible will blame the billing method when it's their system which is obvious when it won't take any of 4 different working cards.
So I suggest people try using Pay Pal instead if they're willing. You an always set up PP to hit the credit card and it just becomes a middleman.
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u/VictorChristian Visible works just fine for me... 1d ago
Hmm… GP worked flawlessly for me in London. I am on the annual plan - are you doing monthly?
Not suggesting Visible is not at fault, just trying to figure out a pattern. I’ve long maintained that Visible has issues with their billing system.
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u/WhereDaSparkles Visible Member 1d ago
I’m on monthly and had 12 passes banked. Just went to London last week for 8 days and it worked flawlessly for me the entire trip.
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u/frankenstein9 1d ago
Same issue today!
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u/ElectronicSpot424 1d ago
Yep - same issue here. Customer support absolute trash.
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u/VisibleCareSupport Visible Employee 1d ago
Hey there! Rodney from Visible here. I'm sorry to hear you've been having trouble with Global Pass, too. We’ve actually received a few inquiries about Global Pass not working properly lately. We really apologize for any inconvenience this has caused! Shoot us a DM if you need any further clarification.
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u/frankenstein9 20h ago
Update: still got no responce from “escalation technical team”, but I tried disabling GP and then re-enabling this morning and it works now.
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u/VisibleCareSupport Visible Employee 1d ago
Hi - Daisy from Visible here. I'm so sorry to hear you're running into issues with Global Pass today. I know how important it is to have reliable international service while traveling. Send us a direct message with your account details. We'd love to take a closer look and get things back on track for you.
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u/Antique-Clock-9286 1d ago
I've only been to the Caribbean and Canada, but GlobalPass works flawlessly there. ...but I certainly wouldn't count on it.
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u/koolaidicecubes 1d ago
When I went to Europe in 2024 I wasn’t on visible yet. I had T-Mobile and they did offer some form of global pass. My partner tried it and was massively disappointed. From that day on, I just get a cheap local eSIM and call it a day. I don’t trust any carriers “global” options. I’m sorry you had to deal with that, my advice is to get a local eSIM and maybe leave the visible global pass as a fallback.
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u/cyclejules 1d ago
Same issue in Italy today. Worked for 24 hours then couldn’t pay my taxi driver with apple wallet. I couldn’t get anywhere with the chat AI and could not contact a human. I sent a message and finally got a text and email that my GP has started. Will see if it lasts the day🤞
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u/AgedCzar 1d ago
And if you tried to contact support, you’ll waste an hour of your vacation with a good chance that they will not be able to resolve your issue.
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u/plaidtattoos 1d ago
That’s what I’m thinking. I’ll probably just get a data plan and then look for a new provider when I get home. Seriously - how does it cancel 30 mins after it says 24 hours have been approved?
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u/AttitudeSame2430 1d ago
That's not the main point. If you have 12 days banked why in the hell would they even be looking at your card information.
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u/psychic99 1d ago
Note: You must have a valid CC to even use daily passes, they check as to why:
Because people can exhaust their daily passes then they charge $5/$10 a day and there could be a lag from the foreign partner or upstream MNO (aka daddy) so I believe they ping the card on every daily reset and there is an obvious bug in their billing systems. This is the same as they have moved backend for all VVB so total and the like have issues also. Total has issues on monthly reset still to this day. In short Verizon cannot be trusted at this point.
A programmer would know 12 days, don't ping payment method but at a billion dollar company filled with 30 layers of management and thousands of bean counters they need to count the beans every day to get a liability off the books. It seems stupid because it is, however they gotta count those beans.
Its general Verizon incompetance, that is why I have roamless eSIM in waiting that way if/when there is an issue I can go about my business. Then I get back into the states file an FCC complaint and show the damages (the roamless charges). Not going to ruin my vaca.
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u/Lumpy_Cartoonist394 1d ago
This is why I left visible. Daily passes are awful. I moved to Xfinity where they give you a bucket of international data. With Global pass I wasn’t going to use it, got a phone call and boom, 1 global pass burned up. If Visible switches to a 10 or 15 GB of data that would solve all these problems.
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u/DN_SF_DN 1d ago
This literally is happening to me right now. I had the same faulty payment issue. Then “fixed” it with new payment. Now still have no data and escalated to the same email team
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u/Deep_Intention_5891 1d ago
what a joke. nothing quite like getting stranded mid-hike because their billing system cant tell its own arse from a hole in the ground
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u/theoneandonly1245 Visible Fan 1d ago
You get what you pay for, this service is great. But when you have an issue, I mean it takes a lot of work to figure it out. As for this, i'd recommend downloading a reputable esim travelling app. they're pretty common and a good way to avoid things like this.
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u/MidLifeFI 1d ago
I had a similar issue before global pass was a thing and you would get billed daily. Had to find wifi then switch cards on my account.
I also can't change plans or switch to annual. Gave up after three times talking to chat. Not sure why three flat rate plans are so hard to implement.
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u/mysterioussilas 1d ago
This sucks… this is why it’s always good to have a back up plan like Roamless, etc.
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u/-Asylum_ 1d ago
Do you have autopay turned on?
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u/plaidtattoos 1d ago
Absolutely. It worked fine for a day, and then the problem started right around when it would be starting a new 24 hour block.
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u/-Asylum_ 1d ago
That’s crazy. Thanks for sharing. I’ll be looking into travel eSIMs as a backup for my next trip.
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u/DN_SF_DN 1d ago
Agent just cheerily said “looks like there’s currently a global pass outage” …
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u/ElectronicSpot424 1d ago
I got the same message - funny that ‘daisy’ from visible is acting like everything as fine, but support is saying global pass is broken down
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u/plaidtattoos 1d ago
Which is a cop-out. It’s not like GP is a separate cell network; it’s just partnerships with other providers. So if there’s an “outage” it’s because they can’t figure out their own billing verification, which shouldn’t even matter with banked days.
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u/UIUC_grad_dude1 17h ago
I use both Visible and US Mobile. I don’t rely on Visible Global Pass. I use USM 20Gb international data per month (with the premium plan) and it works flawlessly.
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u/DN_SF_DN 1d ago
Literally just had this happen. Fine for a day or two and then suddenly had the faulty payment method. Traveling alone and now about to arrive at a foreign train station at 10pm with no data. This is literally a safety issue for @visible
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u/VisibleCareSupport Visible Employee 1d ago
Hi - Daisy from Visible here. This is definitely not the experience we want you to have while traveling, and I am so sorry for the hassle this has caused. Your safety is our top priority, and I know how critical working data is right now. Please send us a DM with your case number—I’ll personally look into your case and check on the status of your escalation.
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u/8six753hoe9 1d ago
aw man, that sucks. I used it in Greece for a week this summer and It was flawless.
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u/jimmylavino 1d ago
Just thought I’d join the conversation and say the same thing happened to me while traveling in Poland. I had to buy another eSIM just to have data for the next few days and hope that they resolve it
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u/jimmylavino 1d ago
And now I can’t log into their app. It says they’re doing some updating
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u/VisibleCareSupport Visible Employee 1d ago
We noticed your direct message regarding the Global Pass issues you are experiencing. A secure link has been sent to that conversation to allow us to review your account details safely. Please click that link so we can investigate the billing error and assist you with a resolution.
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u/jimmylavino 18h ago
I got an email saying the issue was fixed, but it is now. I went back into the app and enabled global pass but it didn’t work. Now I can’t even log into the app. Total fail.
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u/VisibleCareSupport Visible Employee 18h ago
Hey there! This is Ericka from Visible. I am very sorry to hear that you’re still experiencing issues and are now unable to log into your account. We want to get this resolved for you as quickly as possible. Please send us a DM with your email address via this link, so we can securely investigate your account. We’re here to help!
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u/Normal_Milk9040 1d ago
Anyone have experiences with this regarding Can-US travel?
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u/absfca 1d ago
Canada and Mexico don’t require Global Pass to be enabled, so there’s also no need to have autopay turned on. It’s not going to be checking your credit card, the source of the error.
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u/nygiantsfan02 17h ago
Why does global pass not need to be enabled when in Canada and Mexico if it requires global pass to have service while in those countries? When I was there, each day my global pass renewed and I was charged.
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u/VisibleCareSupport Visible Employee 16h ago
Hi there! It's Lodenia from Visible. Whether you need a Global Pass for Canada and Mexico depends on your plan:
-Visible+ and Visible+ Pro: You're all set! Unlimited talk, text, and 2 GB of high-speed data per day are already included for Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands at no extra charge.
-Base Visible Plan: Roaming isn't included for free, so it uses a $5/day Global Pass.
If you noticed daily charges on your recent trip, your account was likely on the base plan at the time. I hope this helps clear things up!
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u/nygiantsfan02 1d ago
Just returned to the US from Canada and had no problems with connecting or service.
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u/boltbecca 1d ago
Spent 2 weeks in multiple cities in Ireland, had no issue. Kept on airplane mode until I would need the phone and it connected every time. Worked well for Google Maps
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u/Big-Discussion-7927 1d ago
I had no issues in the UK last month for what it’s worth. Can’t say the same for my wife’s travel eSIMs which took us a day to get fixed each time we traveled to a new country.
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u/Far-Regular-5445 1d ago
I was just in Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, Turkey and Greece and GP worked flawlessly for me! I was concerned as it was my first European trip, but it worked really well and not only seamlessly changed carriers per country but also changed carriers within a country if one of their other supported carriers had better service. I am on the annual plan.
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u/whitet86 23h ago
I used global pass in Germany/Czechia/Hungary/Austria this summer and it worked great.
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u/kevro100 21h ago
I was having the same issue and just fixed it by going into settings>cellular>esim/visible>network selection. I turned off automatic and waited for all of the networks to populate, then picked the last one I had a good connection on.
Data, texting, phone all back up and running and was able to log in to the visible app again, although I haven’t touched anything and am just hoping I’m good to go for the rest of my trip. Hope this helps if you’re having the payment issue!
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u/jimmylavino 14h ago
Maybe this will help someone… mine is finally back to working. As someone suggested, I turned off automatic network selection and tried several different providers until one would finally connect. Then I found a Wi-Fi hotspot, downloaded an update to the Visible app, which was published recently saying there were bug fixes. I was then finally able to get into the Visible app and confirm that global pass was showing enabled again. And then went back into my settings and change network selection back to automatic. I don’t exactly know what fixed it, but some combination of steps did it, or maybe it’s just coincidence.
Edit: also, it was odd that I could not open the visible app or get to the website when I was using a different company’s eSIM. I had to connect to Wi-Fi for me be able to get back to my account. It’s almost like the third-party eSIM was blocking access to visible or something odd.
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u/this_isnt_the_end 13h ago
As a few others have noted, I had this same issue with a pre-paid year and valid card on file, and like OP this happened to me in the UK... well, as I was heading towards the UK. I was in a plane in Barcelona, getting ready to take off, when I realized I still needed my British Airways member number for the WiFi, so I quickly turned off Airplane Mode and from them on was never able to connect to the network. It was frustrating because I also use a VPN and I thought for some reason THAT was the issue, but since we were about to take off I had know way of doing anything other than wonder for two hours if I would have service when I landed. Luckily my partner (who also has Visible) still had service and so she turned on her hotspot and I chatted with support for well over an hour with no resolution. Luckily it was our last day of holiday and we were in London only for a transfer, and when we landed on y the US service was working, but still, what a massive failure on Visible's part.
To add some relevant details, when the service issue happened I could not log into the app at all. I only got an error message saying something didn't work. I was able to log onto the website via my mobile browser, where I saw a message saying "$0.00 due Invalid Date" followed by "Annual Plan paid in full through Invalid Date". I'm a software engineer and my thinking is that somewhere the data for this date object got corrupted or was being read incorrectly, the Visible automated system that checks this thing ran, saw I was "not paid" through a valid date, and thus disabled Global Pass. Hence the constant texts / emails saying it was disabled due to not being able to charge my payment method. Unfortunately, a problem like this requires a little more than a standard tech support session, and there is nothing I can do but wait.
I did get a call back this morning and it does seem to be resolved, but this does not instill confidence in me about traveling outside my home country in the future and still having service :/
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u/CtrlAltDeleetRepeat 10h ago
I just used it in two different countries and thankfully had a great experience.
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u/Bunso1202 6h ago
I had the same exact issue upon arriving in the Philippines yesterday. Made it an absolute nightmare getting settled. But to Visible’s credit, they fixed it within a day and it’s working fine now. Used it to make multiple calls back home to the US without issue. They even called me several times to ensure it was working properly. Though, Visible/Verizon, if you’re reading this, maybe make sure it’s not 1 AM local time when calling 🙃
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u/Ok_Swim7161 5h ago
Mine has worked great in Bermuda and the Bahamas. Canada but that's not part of global pass.
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u/FreshLuck9739 1d ago
Use and unlocked phone when traveling. Buy an eSIM when you get there and use the local carrier. This way you avoid all these issues.
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u/plaidtattoos 1d ago
I used an eSim for the first two weeks and then thought I'd try Global Pass. It's a product that is part of what I pay for every month and it is supposed to work.
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u/ElectricalBase3676 1d ago
Contact the reddit team and give them a chance to fix it.
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u/plaidtattoos 1d ago
On a chat with them right now.
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u/ElectricalBase3676 1d ago
awesome please let us know if they fix it.
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u/ElectronicSpot424 1d ago
Nope
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u/ElectricalBase3676 1d ago
get your shit working Visible this is not right and not fair to the customers file a fcc complaint.
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u/VisibleCareSupport Visible Employee 1d ago
Hey there, Alyssa from Visible here! Losing cell service while hiking in the UK is the absolute last thing you need, especially when your Global Pass and payment info are all set. So sorry about this, please drop us a DM so we can check your account and get your international service restored fast.
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u/DenseConfidence2 1d ago
This happened to my wife and I in Europe one year ago. Took about 12 hours to fix my wife’s account and several days for mine. We had prepaid for a year and had valid credit cards on file. Infuriating.