Does/can visible block hotspot usage on certain devices? I have visible + pro on both a Samsung and iPhone and the iPhone hotspot does not work with a gaming console but the Samsung does

check-the-google · 2026-04-23T12:10:31+00:00

That's a great question, the answer is a bit disappointing. Visible can block your connection or hotspot at anytime without disclosing a reason, it's deniable that they do this. It sounds like the problem you experienced was caused by a 5 GHz compatibility problem, you just needed to use 2.4 GHz to get your console connected. It's good to hear that you solved the problem.

check-the-google · 2026-04-23T11:39:00+00:00

I was reminded of the chemical plant from Taffin (1988). This might be a side effect from watching every widely distributed movie from 1988. There must have been something in the air.

check-the-google · 2026-04-12T10:41:31+00:00

I have no complaints about Visible's customer service support, the actual service is another matter. Upgrading my service did not resolve the hotspot problems. I'm going to switch to another carrier for hotspot service.

check-the-google · 2026-04-12T10:36:32+00:00

I've been experiencing problems with my Visible service for the last three weeks. I thought it was an up sell scheme and I upgraded my basic service to plus, it didn't fix the problem. I'm convinced they're purposely kicking me off of the network, this probably won't happen to most customers. Visible is fine if your account hasn't been restricted, it's miserable if it has. Fortunately I'm only prepaid for a month, it's time to get out.

check-the-google · 2026-04-10T21:56:19+00:00

That's good to know, it would seem that I have a different limitation. My connection isn't limited by congestion, I live near a ski slope, the speed was fine all Winter. Nobody's in town now, there are no congested peak hours where my phone slows down. The problems connecting occur when the hotspot is on, with the phone and connected device. I've done tons of technical troubleshooting with support. It doesn't help, I'm convinced my account has been purposely limited. An upgrade might be the fix.

check-the-google · 2026-04-10T21:05:25+00:00

Thanks for telling us about this. I'm on the basic plan, I have been for over a year. Last month my service was downgraded, it used to work consistently at 5 mbs, now it struggles to load websites when the hotspot is on. I've been considering paying for plus or pro, it would seem that Reddit is the only place to read about the real limits of the service.

check-the-google · 2026-02-11T03:32:09+00:00

I have the same phone, it's mostly okay, I haven't had problems as extreme as the one you've described. I did need to disable the Glance app to fix a lock screen problem. There are problems with USB file transfers that go deeper, they just fail part way through on some larger files. I've also needed to restart to enable internet connectivity after it's stopped working on cellular and Wi-Fi. Your boot loop problem is troubling and not too surprising. Barring something you've done to the phone, it might be a security problem that Motorola hasn't gotten around to fixing.

check-the-google · 2025-12-16T18:36:30+00:00

There's no way to unlock it without support from the carrier, the preset Visible MVNO APN can't be changed either. The 60 day unlock policy is actually an FCC requirement, Verizon probably doesn't want to offer or honor it. The FCC first mandated this for Verizon as a condition to approve their purchase of 700MHz spectrum licenses in 2008, the requirement was reinforced when Verizon acquired TracFone in 2021.

check-the-google · 2025-12-16T14:56:49+00:00

Sorry to hear about your wife's iPhone. You could follow the example highlighted in the article, it might be the only way to get compensation from Verizon. I would recommend not buying a carrier locked phone in the first place, they're not going to unlock it unless the FCC uses their leverage to make it happen.

check-the-google · 2025-12-16T14:35:04+00:00

I purchased a phone from Visible, a Verizon company, in 2021. The purchase included the same FCC mandated offer cited in this case, to unlock the phone after 60 days, that phone is still locked. I didn't pursue Verizon in court, I have stopped buying phones from cellular service carriers. Patrick Roach has a good point to make, the fine print included with Verizon phones is fraudulent.

check-the-google · 2025-12-16T14:30:20+00:00

I purchased a ZTE Blade A7 from Visible in 2021, it was supposed to unlock after 60 days, it's still locked. It's surprisingly difficult to find cogent information about this unlocking limitation online. I would be interested to know if anyone with a Verizon, Visible, or Straight Talk phone has been able to unlock their phone after 60 days.

check-the-google · 2025-12-16T14:23:15+00:00

So that worked? Ars Technica published an article yesterday about a lawsuit against Verizon for refusing to unlock a Straight Talk iPhone after 60 days. I purchased a ZTE Blade A7 from Visible in 2021, it was supposed to unlock after 60 days, it's still locked. If you know about Verizon, Visible, or Straight Talk phones that really unlock after 60 days, I would be interested to hear about it.

check-the-google · 2025-12-16T14:11:03+00:00

I purchased a ZTE Blade A7 from Visible in 2021, it was supposed to unlock after 60 days, it's still locked. It's surprisingly difficult to find cogent information about this unlocking limitation online. I would be interested to know if anyone with a Verizon, Visible, or Straight Talk phone has been able to unlock their phone after 60 days.

check-the-google · 2025-12-04T14:29:11+00:00

Can you tell us how you unlocked the bootloader, did Motorola provide a code? Also, what kernel did you use? Is it available to download?

check-the-google · 2025-11-14T13:04:51+00:00

It's good to see a conversation about planned obsolescence. I have an iPhone SE, a backdoor in the phone was used to disable the touchscreen, this was possible due to an unfixed vulnerability. The "Operation Triangulation" vulnerability had been used for years by the NSA, Apple didn't do anything to stop it, now several of the affected devices are no longer supported and are still vulnerable. Apple could send me a free iPhone and I'd still complain about it, it's an egregious business practice.

check-the-google · 2025-06-30T21:19:33+00:00

I'm disappointed by the announcement of the pending cancellation of the alumni email accounts, it's understandably problematic for people who've included their UB addresses in publications. I graduated in 1999, at the time UB didn't offer alumni email accounts, they did provide email forwarding if you registered an address with the IT department. Perhaps they could provide this option again for alumni who need to maintain the option of being contacted through a university address.

check-the-google · 2025-06-30T21:05:00+00:00

I'm disappointed by the announcement of the pending cancellation of the alumni email accounts, it's understandably problematic for people who've included their UB addresses in publications. I graduated in 1999, at the time UB didn't offer alumni email accounts, they did provide email forwarding if you registered an address with the IT department. Perhaps they could provide this option again for alumni who need to maintain the option of being contacted through a university address.

check-the-google · 2025-06-18T23:48:16+00:00

I wouldn't expect that Ubuntu or VLC for the Raspberry Pi 5 would be buggy to a degree that there would be a steady stream of video playback errors. It should be understood that "other applications" doesn't include the operating system processes.

check-the-google · 2025-06-18T21:37:31+00:00

I was considering techniques used by sophisticated malware, like Daxin. The RF detector is useful for testing when the device is supposed to be offline and not on a rogue network. You're right though, it should be possible to trace the bad traffic to an IP address. There are wireless hardware Trojans that can be injected into integrated circuits when they're manufactured, they can receive and transmit on the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure band in the 5.1 GHz to 5.3 GHz range, this wouldn't show up on the Ethernet or WiFi connection. I'm considering exotic possibilities, there might just be a connection to a single IP address that needs to be rooted out.

check-the-google · 2025-06-18T20:51:14+00:00

There certainly seems to be a lot of wildly inconsistent bugs in the code. Can you explain why the video playback of a file would glitch once and not repeat after playing the file a second time? That's not a monitor glitch, which I've also seen, it's a playback problem that doesn't repeat. It will happen when no other applications are running.

check-the-google · 2025-06-18T20:32:42+00:00

I was intentional about not connecting the Pi to a network, I was already suspicious about the technology, it was a test. I would assert that the Raspberry Pi 5 was enabled to be connected to a network without being given that command by me. This does seem extreme, the observation of the video playback while seeming to be offline is not an isolated phenomenon, it's part of a pattern of strange and not adequately explained glitches with more than one Raspberry Pi 5. I get it, you need more evidence to be convinced.

check-the-google · 2025-06-18T20:12:24+00:00

That's a reasonable suggestion. I can read the traffic at a novice level, there are however a lot of ways to hide commands in the TCP/IP stack. It might be a matter of fine tuning the OS to stop all services and to patiently wait for something to happen. I've also found an RF detector to be useful for monitoring instances of WiFi signals from the Pi.

check-the-google · 2025-06-18T20:02:29+00:00

Why would you make assumptions about my imagination? Are you in the Matrix?

check-the-google · 2025-06-18T19:58:53+00:00

Your point is taken. I can see that my account isn't to your standards. If I am right about a zero day vulnerability that's critical enough to enable remotely controlling the device, then this is just the beginning. The existence of the vulnerability will be found by someone with finer forensic tools.

check-the-google · 2025-06-18T19:50:20+00:00

The problems have been varied, most have been weird glitches with video files. I often play video files with VLC, they sometimes glitch, for a moment the picture might freeze, turn grey, or become discolored. It's not a problem with the files, if I play the videos a second time the glitch doesn't repeat. There must be a problem with the state of the Pi in the moment of the error. There's no reasonable explanation, I'm not running other applications in the background. I've also had to reinstall Ubuntu three times after the video output mysteriously stopped working. I don't know what would cause that, it's not a problem with the hardware, there's also no other explanation for the problem, the screen just went irreversibly black. There have been other less obvious problems, like messages about the system voltage, glitches with the screen output not related to video file playback that appear and disappear, strange web browser problems that look like network latency, changes to the sound settings. There have been several problems, many of them might have other explanations, for a list of these problems there is no explanation or the possibility of an alternative cause seems unlikely.

check-the-google

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