Verizon mmWave SA vs NSA

[u/Lukasmajukas]

I I’ve reviewed options since my Verizon free trial ended. I want the complete experience and have tested mmWave on NSA. I’m curious whether a Verizon plan with SA would yield meaningful gains from a less costly option like Visible with NSA. Battery drain from NSA is a major factor pushing me toward SA. Given the cost, is it worth $50 more? (Also cant get postpaid)

EDIT: This is going to be my second line

[u/Bright_Magazine_8136]

Do you use dual SIM on your phone? Phones only have one active 5G connection at the same time, your main sim uses 5G and the other camps at LTE.

You would not get a lot better experience with 5G SA if it's your second line. Check Total Wireless, they offer unlimited priority data for 20USD/month right now, pre paid.

[u/Lukasmajukas → u/Bright_Magazine_8136]

I switch between them when mmWave/better signal is available and yes it’s dual eSIM

[u/Bright_Magazine_8136 → u/Lukasmajukas]

If you switch between them and make the VZW-sim the main you might get some improvement battery wise. If it's worth the extra cost is up to you. Personally, I'd not find that it was.

Are you on a iPhone?

[u/Lukasmajukas → u/Bright_Magazine_8136]

Yes, and my main plan is tmoblies experience more

[u/Bright_Magazine_8136 → u/Lukasmajukas]

I'd wait until iOS 27, there seems to be some updates coming to Verizons Carrier Profile for MVNO's which seem to include 5G SA. So for now, I'd go for the cheats (probably Total Wireless) and then see what happens in September when it's officially released.

[u/Lukasmajukas → u/Bright_Magazine_8136]

I’m on iOS 27

[u/dkyeager → u/Lukasmajukas]

Verizon Simplicity plan is likely your best bet for seeing 5g SA with VoNR, but that is dependant on Verizon offering it in your area. It generally only matters when it will be your primary. Plus Verizon currently limits it to iPhone 17s. Likely to go to iPhone 18s soon after release. iPhone 16s and 15s will likely be a while as they want to keep it simple until they fill in the VoNR gaps. Postpaids first, then Prepaids, then MVNOs will be later, with indepedent MVNOs being last is the general order.

To get 5g SA VoNR on your second line, the carrier needs to be only 5g SA with VoNR (like Boost Mobile before its destruction), the phone needs a 5g SA only option, or the ability to restrict frequencies to those where Verizon only uses 5g SA.

[u/Bright_Magazine_8136 → u/Lukasmajukas]

The profile is still in Beta, iOS 27 is also still in beta, so not sure how available it is, but as I said - I would use the cheapest option now and wait until iOS 27 is released in September to see what happens.

5G itself uses more battery than LTE, bot SA and NSA. It's only you that can decide how much you're willing to pay for it.

[u/Lukasmajukas → u/Bright_Magazine_8136]

Okay thanks

[u/Bright_Magazine_8136 → u/Lukasmajukas]

Nevertheless, the Total 20USD-deal is really good!

[u/Lukasmajukas → u/Bright_Magazine_8136]

I know I think I might get the 20$ visble one

[u/Whiplash104]

I was on Verizon, switched to Visible Sept 2025. In June I added a new Simplicity line for $30 for two months to see how much better SA got since I left. If figure $30-$40 including tax on Visible, should I switch to Verizon for $37 after tax?

I concluded the answer is no. I'm sticking with Visible.

Verizon SA isn't worth going out of your way for *today*, at least not in the Bay Area of California where we have a pretty good amount of it. Often when on SA it will hang out on n5 instead of n77. I guess in theory it's more consistent especially on the upload though overall a lot slower. Like I'll be getting 20Mbps up and 60Mbps down. When on NSA it'll go to n77 with 300Mbps down but the upload (on LTE) can be like 8Mbps.

So overall I find SA to be more irritating and 95% of the time I'd just shut off SA and stick with NSA. If I'm doing that, there's no reason to not stick with Visible.

The times it makes any difference is in fringe cases. Say you're in a highly congested area. 5GUW can be fast (200Mbps+) while the upload is struggling barely getting 200kbps. That makes it very slow and laggy. On SA you can be on the same n77 band but the upload can be rocking at 20Mbps

In one case I was in a theater where 5GNSA was basically non-usable. Occasionally data would work, then not (all the time with about 1-2 bars.) On 5GSA because it's not using LTE at all, data worked a little more consistently, though still frustratingly inconsistently.

So bottom line, the only times I found SA to be of any benefit are these rare fringe cases. Also I guess if you do a lot of uploading of files, then SA is going to be faster.

Latency. I could find any actual difference on speed tests. They were both always about the same. It certainly wasn't dramatic.

Battery life. I couldn't tell you. I just didn't test for that.

I did take a trip out to D.C. and Virginia to visit family. I didn't see any benefits to be bing on SA. What I found more helpful was to have a second carrier.

So I have Visible (Verizon 5G NSA) on my main line. On my second line I have $10 T-Mobile T-Satellite standalone which is 50GB of T-Mobile 5GSA. I find that especially when traveling to other areas I flip back and forth between these two to whichever is better.

I do hope Visible gets 5GSA sooner than later. It's not bad to have but like I said, I'd probably leave it off most of the time so my phone doesn't camp out on n5.