*By Tracey Cheek*
Visible wants to make signing up for a phone service as easy as calling a Lyft.
The digital-only wireless carrier backed by Verizon offers unlimited text, talk, data, and hot-spot for $40 a month. CEO Miguel Quiroga, a telecom industry veteran, says that this is the phone service that consumers want.
"Visible is basically designed to be a simple, easy to use phone service that you could basically sign up and manage your entire experience from the comfort of your couch," Quiroga told Cheddar.
According to the company, over 60 million customers switch phone carriers every year due to pain points like hidden fees and poor customer service. Visible set out to take the complexity out of the mobile experience, and bring it directly to the consumer in an easy to understand way.
"If you're able to get experiences through Netflix ($NFLX) or Lyft, you're able to go and sign up for services for Visible," said Quiroga. "It's no different, it's exactly the same, and we're trying to tap into that type of behavior."
The cloud-based wireless carrier, which has been live for seven months, has no physical stores ー which means customers will never have to wait in a line for service. It has just started to sell its own devices, including several iPhones and Android Samsung models, to further ease the phone-buying process.
"It's zero percent financing, yes it's zero percent down, but there's also no hidden fees," Quiroga said. "So we take the guesswork out of trying to understand what the customers are really looking for."
The digital-only wireless carrier offers a protection plan called "Visible Protect" for $10/ per month. The plan covers loss, theft, and damage. If repair is needed, customers don't have to worry about bringing their device to a Visible location (because there aren't any).
"We don't have physical stores but we also do have the ability for customers to go into an Apple Care or Android face-to-face environment if they are in need of specific kind of troubleshooting with that device protection program."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/visible-ceo-says-it-wants-to-be-the-netflix-and-lyft-of-phone-carriers).
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
At the core of the ongoing government shutdown is a fight over the decision to end subsidies that let some 12 million Americans get health coverage.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
