Finest Cell Cellphone Provider for Van Life –

As a van lifer who works from the highway, having dependable web in my van is essential. A typical work day in my van would possibly embrace Zoom calls with my van teaching purchasers, sending dozens of emails, updating my web site, and importing pictures to my weblog and movies to Instagram. These are data-heavy actions, and a gradual web connection means glitchy video calls and quite a lot of wasted time whereas I sit round ready for pages to load.

I’ve a Starlink for after I’m tenting in my van and out of cell vary, however the Starlink dish isn’t completely put in on the roof of my van. So except I’m parked someplace for an prolonged interval and take the time to arrange my Starlink, it signifies that I’m as a rule utilizing my cellular phone as my main supply of web.

I’ve been a Verizon buyer for almost 20 years. When evaluating service whereas tenting with my van life mates, it’s clear that Verizon has the very best protection, particularly in distant areas across the US. Nevertheless, a couple of years in the past, considered one of my Bearfoot Concept contributors (Courtney Stephenson) switched to a service I’d by no means heard of: Seen. As a full-time van lifer who was working remotely (together with from down in Baja), Courtney was so proud of the service that she wrote a Seen evaluate right here on the weblog.

This yr as my contract with Verizon was up, I made a decision to modify to Seen too. With Verizon, I used to be paying $115 a month, and now with Seen+, my plan is barely $45 a month (or $395 for a whole yr when paid yearly). Switching to Seen was quite a bit simpler than I anticipated, and I’m sooooo glad to be saving almost $1,000 a yr on my cellphone invoice, particularly when the service is comparable.

Seen is definitely owned by Verizon and operates on Verizon’s 5G and 4G LTE networks. Aside from having the identical protection as Verizon, Seen additionally provides limitless knowledge, discuss, textual content, and cellular hotspot utilization. It virtually appeared too good to be true, however I had nothing to lose giving Seen a attempt. Seen requires no annual contract, so I knew if I didn’t prefer it as a lot as Courtney did, I may simply swap again to Verizon or one other service.

I’ve been testing Seen for a couple of months now – and I’m satisfied it’s the very best cellular phone service available on the market for van lifers. It was so easy to modify over, billing is simple, and there aren’t any hidden taxes or charges. Additionally in evaluating my service to my accomplice Ryan’s (who continues to be with Verizon), I haven’t seen any distinction in velocity or protection, and I’ve achieved velocity exams to show it.

On this up to date Seen evaluate, I break down Seen plan choices and pricing, the professionals and cons of Seen, and my private expertise utilizing Seen to work remotely on the highway.

What Is Seen?

Seen is a low-cost cellular phone service that’s owned by Verizon and runs off of Verizon’s 5G/4G LTE community so anytime there may be Verizon protection, Seen must also have protection. Even should you’re not a van lifer, Seen might be an amazing service choice should you stay in an space with sturdy Verizon protection.

I discussed above that Ryan continues to be on Verizon. This has given us the chance to check Seen in opposition to Verizon each at dwelling and on a latest highway journey to Arizona. There hasn’t been anyplace the place Ryan has had protection with Verizon that I didn’t have the identical variety of bars with Seen.

Seen has two easy plans – the Seen plan ($25/month) and the Seen+ plan ($45/month). Each plans provide limitless knowledge, discuss, textual content, and cellular hotspot utilization. I’ll get into the small print and variations between the 2 plans beneath.

Seen is a pre-paid service that requires no credit score examine except you’re financing a brand new cellphone. There aren’t any required annual contracts or activation charges, so there’s higher flexibility than different cellphone corporations. Billing is dealt with by their app the place you’ll be able to simply arrange month-to-month auto-pay or handle your funds. It’s also possible to pay yearly for even higher financial savings.

Seen’s plans are designed for single-line customers as an alternative of households, and there aren’t any multi-line reductions. This makes it particularly good for solo van lifers and vacationers. Even with Ryan and I, if we each had the costliest Seen+ plan ($45/month), it could nonetheless be cheaper than if we have been on a household plan with one other service.

Seen Execs

Seen Cons

Seen Pricing and Plan Comparisons

There are presently two plans accessible, Seen ($25/month) and Seen+ ($45/month). There are some apparent advantages of the Seen+ plan and a few key variations to think about when selecting a plan.

Seen vs Seen+

The most important variations between Seen vs Seen+ are:

I personally selected Seen+ as a result of excessive speeds are vital to me, particularly after I’m working remotely, so my Seen evaluate is concentrated on the Seen+ plan. Even after I’m not engaged on the weblog, I depend on my cellphone for thus many issues. I take advantage of my cellphone to seek out campsites, potable water, climbing trails, instructions, grocery shops, and extra. To reduce my frustrations with day by day planning on my cellphone, I wished the quickest community accessible.

What I like about Seen is that I’m not locked right into a plan and might change my service at any time. For instance, if there’s a stretch of time after I’m not touring, I can downgrade to the Seen plan with the clicking of a button, saving myself $20 a month. Or if I’m on the Seen plan and am headed to Baja or Canada, I can immediately improve to the Seen+ plan.

Plan Pricing and Comparability

Under is a breakdown of what every plan supplies and the associated fee when paying month-to-month. You possibly can take a look at the small print of the two Seen plans on their web site. The ultimate worth is what you see right here. There aren’t any hidden taxes or charges tacked on to your invoice.

Paying Yearly

Just lately, Seen began providing the flexibility to pay yearly which comes with further financial savings. When see the annual price in comparison with what you’d pay for a yr with one other service, it actually places it into perspective.

My Expertise Switching to Seen

I used to be a bit nervous about switching from Verizon to Seen. It looks as if each time I get a brand new cellphone, it’s all the time a problem coping with my cellular phone supplier. I didn’t anticipate this expertise to be any totally different.

I used to be pleasantly stunned by how straightforward it was. All I needed to do was join on their web site, obtain the Seen app to my cellphone, come out my previous SIM card, and enter some info like my cellphone’s IMEI quantity (which might be present in your settings). The app walks you thru the step-by-step course of that typically was fairly straightforward to comply with.

There have been a few occasions throughout the course of after I had questions, and I used to be in a position to begin an internet chat. It took a minute to go from the bot assistant to getting an actual particular person within the chat. After that, the particular person stayed within the chat to stroll me by your entire course of, ensuring my cellphone quantity was transferred correctly, and I used to be in a position to obtain and ship texts and calls earlier than we stated goodbye.

One of many causes Seen is so cheap in comparison with different carriers is that they don’t have a cellphone quantity you’ll be able to name or brick-and-mortar shops. As an alternative, you can begin an internet chat with a Seen Rep any time of the day or week both on their web site or proper within the app.

One factor you’ll must do earlier than you turn over is to verify your cellphone is suitable. You should use Seen’s compatibility checker to make sure your machine is supported, and if it’s not, you will get a brand new cellphone by Seen. As well as, if you wish to convey your present cellphone with you, you’ll want to verify your cellphone is unlocked. You possibly can often discover that data in your cellphone’s settings or you’ll be able to name your present supplier to seek out out.

In case you’re feeling skeptical, you can too attempt Seen without spending a dime for 15 days. I did this to verify I appreciated it earlier than making the swap. Mainly, they set you up with a trial cellphone quantity that you need to use to make calls, textual content, and browse cyberspace utilizing your current cellphone.

It doesn’t have an effect on your current service or cellphone quantity, and it was principally straightforward to arrange. It took about an hour, and I did want some help from the Seen Rep within the chat, however it made me really feel extra assured about switching and was additionally an opportunity to see what their customer support is like.

How Quick is Seen’s Knowledge?

The most important distinction between the Seen plan and the Seen+ plan is knowledge speeds. Here’s what you’ll be able to anticipate:

To see simply how briskly Seen+ is in follow, I ran a velocity take a look at on my iPhone 12 Professional max with Seen+, in addition to on Ryan’s iPhone 13 Professional with Verizon. Listed below are the outcomes.

I ran the take a look at a number of occasions on each telephones and bought fairly related outcomes each time. You possibly can see that the Verizon cellphone had barely increased obtain speeds, however the Seen+ cellphone had increased add speeds. Total although, there isn’t an excessive amount of distinction in knowledge speeds between Verizon and Seen+.

The 306 Mbps obtain velocity on the Seen+ cellphone may be very quick. For a Zoom assembly at 1080p decision, you want 3.8 Mbps (add velocity) and three.0 Mbps (obtain velocity). For 720p decision, this requirement drops to 1.2 Mbps. For Netflix 1080p streaming (which is all you actually need if you’re watching on an iPad), Netflix recommends a minimal of 5 Mbps obtain velocity.

I did this velocity take a look at at my dwelling within the mountains outdoors of Park Metropolis. Clearly in a extra distant space the place there isn’t a 5G community accessible, knowledge speeds are going to be slower. The purpose of this velocity take a look at although is to point out there there’s a negligible distinction in knowledge speeds between Verizon and Seen+.

Whereas on the Seen plan, BFT Contributor Courtney Stephenson reported that she hardly ever had any points with gradual web speeds in areas with protection. In her authentic Seen evaluate, she wrote, “When working web velocity exams from my cellphone, my obtain speeds with the Seen plan are sometimes 60Mbps or higher, typically even topping 100Mbps. With these speeds, I’m in a position to browse the web, stream Netflix, and use my cellphone with out lag or a lot thought in any respect about knowledge speeds.”

Courtney added, “I’ve solely seen slower service twice – as soon as at a music pageant in San Francisco and as soon as having no cell reception within the small city of Stanley, Idaho whereas my mates with Verizon had a gradual connection. I chalked this as much as the city itself having tremendous spotty protection, and so far, that’s the one time I’ve ever not had any reception when Verizon clients had sign.”

Seen Cell Hotspot

What units Seen other than different carriers is its limitless cellular hotspot. Utilizing a cellphone as a hotspot is a quite common means for van lifers to get web on the highway, however it’s fairly unusual to have a plan that gives really limitless cellular hotspot knowledge utilization. Most different carriers will cap knowledge utilization and severely decelerate your web speeds when you’ve hit your knowledge restrict for the month, making your hotspot unreliable and unusable when you’ve hit the cap.

As an alternative of capping knowledge allowance, Seen caps your knowledge speeds. Utilizing your cellphone as a hotspot, the Seen plan provides limitless knowledge at 5 Mbps and 10 Mbps on the Seen+ plan. This implies you’ll all the time be capable to use your cellphone as a dependable hotspot, regardless of how a lot knowledge you’ve used every month.

For the typical particular person, this shouldn’t trigger many points. Courtney used Seen’s cellular hotspot as her main web supply for engaged on the highway for two+ years with no complaints. She was in a position to do all of her pc work with no points and be part of our BFT workforce video calls with minimal to no disruption.

I additionally used my Seen+ plan as a hotspot whereas in Arizona lately and located it greater than ample for primary duties. I used to be in a position to write my weekly publication, add pictures, and make some updates on my web site with none frustrations.

Nevertheless, if you’re somebody who often downloads/uploads giant recordsdata, is on video calls all day, or requires extremely quick web speeds, you might discover 5-10 Mbps hotspot speeds limiting. Nevertheless this is able to be the case whether or not it’s Seen, Verizon, T-mobile, or another cellular phone supplier. On days after I must do data-heavy work (like importing a YouTube video), I’ll both arrange my Starlink or I’ll head to the closest city with a espresso store or library.

Seen Worldwide Service

If you wish to go to Mexico or Canada in your van, you’ll want the Seen+ plan for the reason that Seen plan doesn’t embrace any worldwide service. On the Seen+ plan, you get limitless discuss, textual content, and roaming in Mexico and Canada (in addition to Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands).

This lets you make native calls or to name again to the US or quite a lot of different nations. It additionally consists of 2 GB of high-speed knowledge per day. After you employ the two GB, speeds are lowered to 3G, which if I’m being sincere is frustratingly gradual.

So as to make the two GB final, you’ll need to go to your settings and switch off “background app refresh” for all your apps. That means apps like Instagram and Fb aren’t refreshing within the background losing your knowledge. It’s also possible to flip off mobile knowledge for all your apps that you simply aren’t utilizing repeatedly (like Zillow, Amazon, or no matter they might be), so these apps received’t work except you’re on wi-fi.

Whereas I haven’t gone to Mexico in my van, BFT Contributor Courtney made an annual van life journey to the Baja Peninsula each winter. She relied on the Seen+ plan to keep up a correspondence with individuals within the States, in addition to to work remotely.

Courtney upgraded her plan to Seen+ proper earlier than crossing the border. The improve took lower than 10 minutes and might be achieved proper within the Seen app with none help. The change happened instantly, and she or he didn’t have to attend for one more billing cycle.

After utilizing Seen+ in Baja for a whole winter, in her Seen evaluate she reported, “I’ve been actually impressed with Seen’s service down right here. In areas with cell protection, I’ve been in a position to name and textual content household and mates again within the US as regular and use my cellphone minimally for Google Maps, social media, and lightweight web looking. The speeds are quickest within the morning and decelerate over the course of the day, as knowledge utilization is capped at 2 GB a day and slows down considerably after that. So long as you handle your expectations (you’re not going to see the identical web speeds roaming in Mexico as within the US), it’s an amazing perk and the service is akin to different main carriers’ worldwide companies.”

Now, there are limitations to Seen’s worldwide capabilities – most notably that worldwide discuss, textual content, and knowledge are restricted to Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands, except you buy a World Go which works in over 140 nations.

Seen+ Members get 1 free World Go per thirty days. In any other case, the World Go is $5/day in Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Virigin Islands or $10/day for protection in over 140 nations. World Go consists of limitless discuss and textual content and a couple of GB of high-speed knowledge per day earlier than it’s lowered to 3G speeds.

In case you’re solely touring for per week, that’s positive, however if you’re going overseas for any prolonged time period and counting on World Go, $10/day can actually add up. Alternatively, in case you have Seen and your cellphone is unlocked, you should purchase a pay as you go native SIM card within the nation you’re touring wherein is usually cheaper than paying for worldwide service on any service.

Conclusion

Total, I’ve been tremendous proud of Seen+. I actually can’t imagine how less expensive it’s than the competitors whereas offering a majority of the identical advantages. It’s lots quick, I don’t have to fret about any additional charges or prices, and it’s month to month, so there isn’t a long-term dedication.

Regardless of having no customer support quantity, within the few on-line chats I’ve had throughout the sign-up course of, I’ve discovered the customer support brokers to be useful, responsive, and genuinely concerned with discovering options.

The limitless cellular hotspot knowledge is a big perk, and since many of the journey I’m doing proper now’s home I’m not too frightened by the shortage of worldwide protection. I’m hopeful that Seen will broaden its worldwide roaming protection sooner or later, and the truth that it’s month-to-month means I can all the time swap to a different service if want be.

In case you’re concerned with giving Seen a whirl, bear in mind you will get $10 off any Seen month-to-month plan for the primary 3 months. Use code MOOLAH throughout check-out.

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Have you ever heard of Seen or have you ever tried it? I’d love to listen to about your expertise within the feedback.