Its good to see them expanding the networks, if only a little. I've been on Project Fi for ~6 months or so and its been a fairly mediocre experience so far, but it works well enough for the price point I suppose.
Can you expand on your experience? Is there just not enough coverage or is it something else that makes it mediocre? Where are you located? I was thinking of switching from Verizon (bay area) and would be interested to hear from someone who's already using it.
As someone from the bay area who has also had a mediocre experience, I can maybe answer: Speeds have been fine, but there are areas where it'll show full bars but provide no data (like in BART stations, my hunch is that those use femtocells that don't handle FI users properly). Additionally, occasionally it'll swap networks (I think, goes from LTE/HSPA/3G) and the 'swaps' have like 30 second switchover times. Then there's the annoying app that tries to connect you to open wifi networks, but usually connects you to something that requires login which means your data just breaks (it's an app you can turn off, just an annoying experience). The price isn't actually competitive, Cricket would be cheaper for the amount I use (~3GB). Also, the benefits of being on multiple networks don't really matter in urban/urbanish areas, since TMo/Sprint both are trying to reach the same dense areas -- and despite having two networks, both lack significantly outside major urban areas. For instance, I lose coverage on the drive from the Bay Area to Sacramento.
But the worst is shortcodes and SMSes -- some weird configuration at FI meant that no shortcode texts came or went. I got error messages when I tried to use Magic (the texting startup). I never received 2FA texts while logging to to my bank or to github. I contacted support and they told me it was because those services used an http gateway, and that Fi just did not support that. I later found out that the support person was just wrong, and I escalated up support to a tech who 'reset' specific shortcodes on my account, which means I now can use 2FA for my banks/github, but I had to specifically find the shortcodes they used to get them whitelisted.
I've had a little bit of a different experience (not in CA but still southwest)
Regarding price: I don't use my 3GB, usually under 1GB due to Wifi at home/work/public transport so project fi is nice because it takes the amount I didn't use and refunds me at $10/GB for the next bill.
I get sms's from shortcodes fine and haven't had any issues but maybe its because of the companies (apple, amazon, google, github) are whitelisted from other peoples bug reports.
I haven't run into the auto public wifi-connect issue that much, it seems to work well for public transport and seems to fallback to lte when a login screen is required, but maybe I just haven't experienced as many login page wifi networks.
I think I would go with tmobile if I had multiple people on my bill though because you get discounts for that which isn't there for fi.
Data service is great, voice is terrible, at least in my experience in the Bay Area. I can even use my phone under the Transbay Tube (which I couldn't when I had AT&T). I also have problems with shortcodes taking forever to arrive (but they usually do show up). Voice however is horrible. All kinds of fade outs and drops happen when talking for more than a few minutes. Overall though I'm way happier with them than I was with AT&T.
Another anecdotal piece of evidence, my wife switched to Fi from ATT, I stayed on ATT. It's extremely common for my calls not to register on her phone, it just rings through to voicemail and she gets nothing showing on her Nexus. We've also had issues where text messages were delayed by hours, with no indication that it didn't go through.
It's cheap, but I guess you get what you pay for, we're in a major metro area.
I'm quite excited to try it. Unfortunately (or fortunately) i'm on T-Mobile, with a no contract $30/m Unlimited text/data plan (very few minutes), and that's just really hard to beat.
Note that this plan might not be available anymore.. not sure really, but i know i often get flack for being on this plan from tmo. It clearly isn't making them enough money, but my god, i love it.
It's 100 minutes a month if I'm not mistaken. Can't say for sure if the plan still exists, but it's almost impossible to find any advertising regarding it. You have to specifically ask for it like those quesadillas at Chipotle. I was happy with it for a couple years but switched to google Fi when I got my Nexus 6P and I'm perfectly happy with it.
Yep, 100 minutes per month with unlimited text+data (the first 5GB at 4G speeds). You can find the details here: http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/other-prepaid-plans . I activated online and have been using it for over a year now, been pretty pleased. I've had to use the Personal Hotspot feature on my iPhone 6+ when my internet has been out and I've went through multiple GB in one sitting without any issues or additional billing, which has been nice.
As my tmo plan may suggest, i rarely use minutes. Fi only offers a minutes oriented plan, and i hate that pricing. Feels like i would be wasting money.
Oh, question for you if you don't mind: Since you were on Tmo, can you compare the reception/coverage for Fi vs Tmo? In theory Fi would have better reception due to more networks, but i'm not really sure how much Tmo and Sprint differ in network size/locations. Thoughts?
I'm in USA-WA and the hills/mountains really cause reception issues. So the reception coverage is important to me. (Nothing beats Verizon, unfortunately)
Total Wireless offers a plan with unlimited talk and text and 5GB of data for $35 on Verizon's network. It is throttled at 5Mbps, but if you use little enough data to make Fi worthwhile I don't think that will be an issue for you.
Well, i'm more concerned about the data than talk or text. Most of the calls i make are done via Google on my laptop (free minutes), so i almost never need minutes on my phone. It's not the data price of Fi that bothers me, it's the flat $20 charge for Unlimited Talk/Text that i don't want to pay.
If they gave me $5 or $10/m for reduced talk, i'd be in heaven
Probably best summed up with "Nothing beats Verizon, unfortunately". I primarily use WiFi calling as I live in a gigantic concrete building facing the lake so I get literally zero cellular reception in my apartment.
You can stick an activated Fi SIM in an iPhone if you want. It's undocumented, but it works fine. The only thing I lost was smooth switching between cellular and wifi, but otherwise I've been quite happy with it.
$10 per gigabyte is not "reasonable metered data prices" or "the true cost". In practice, the price per gigabyte of data delivered by any network operator in any given region past the first byte is magnitudes cheaper than the first byte, by the nature of coverage.
Someone using, say, 100GB on any network operator is not using $1000 worth of electricity / tower uptime costs / etc. They might, in the most ludicrously expensive regulatory environments, be costing a hundredth that.
Why not use one of the newer phones? I've had the 6p (Huawei) since release, and it's pretty nice (although I wish I'd gotten 5x (LG) and waited a while to save money.) The 6p has been aggressively discounted the past few weeks, and I imagine the 5x is in the same boat.
It'll be good for truly last mile users, I imagine SF bay area has plenty of options (although I know they want Google too), this seems to provide a possible broadband ISP option for those that would otherwise have none.
I think what is meant by a non-last mile user is someone who tends to stay in cities and suburbs, and rarely, if ever, ventures into rural areas, where cell phone service is still often non-existent or limited to one carrier that may or may not have a roaming agreement with your own carrier.
Fi is great in the SFBA because, even though all the major players operate here, none of them have comprehensively high quality service without significant dead spots.
While it doesn't impact me, I spent a few years in Iowa, which has pretty junk coverage from every carrier except US Cellular. I was surprised by how many people used them in Iowa (and that they had the most store-front stores around). While you'll get coverage along the major highways (which means all the major cities have coverage from AT&T and Verizon), when you start driving into farmland, US Cellular is the only option.
There are definitely places where this US Cellular is the only option, and this is an awesome addition for those people.
Agreed. This is interesting in the midwest. To date we've stuck with Verizon to have both nation-wide coverage and coverage in rural Iowa. It looks like we could save significant money by switching.
Yeah, this is pretty exciting for me. I've been using Fi since Republic became nearly unusable about nine months back. I have a 50-something hour drive coming up later this month, and before this happened I was planning on buying a month of Verizon prepaid so I could call people while I drove. Now I should be able to avoid all the inconvenience of having a different number for a month!
Huh, I did not know until just now that US Cellular owned their own network. I could've sworn that Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint were the only four network owners in America and US Cellular was an MVNO. Guess that says something about either the quality of their network or the quality of their marketing.
US Cellular really is a regional carrier, though they use roaming for nationwide coverage. They specialize in blanketing areas that have little or no coverage from the majors (SW Wisconsin being a good example).
On the other hand, one irony is that even though they still have naming rights for the White Sox' ballpark, they pulled out of the Chicago market and sold what spectrum they had in the area to Sprint.
Yep, US Cellular seems to be the only cell phone towers I can get on roaming when an area is "middle of nowhere" and I'll see a small dealer/shop in small towns. Like you said, they seem to specialize in markets that other carriers wouldn't bother with, like remote parts of Alaska, or small mountain towns.
As far as the Rockies are concerned, Verizon seems to have the best coverage by far. I've had a cell phone since '96, and ~99% of the resort towns have the big 4, but VZ is in the most remote places I've seen.
Edit: Here is an interesting chart of wireless providers in the US [0]; lots more providers w/ 10K-1M subcribers than I realized.
Which part of the Rockies? AT&T has hands-down the best coverage at the ski resorts in Colorado. They even have coverage in A-Basin, which is a dead zone to everyone else.
I am talking about CO, but mostly more off the beaten path resorts such as T-Ride, Butte, and the Boat. I started with Voicestream (now T-Mobile) back in '96 and it was quite bad. Back-country has always been best with VZ, and that is the same today.
I'm from SW wisconsin and it's terrible down there. Verizon is now decent, but ATT still sucks. They both cost about the same so you have to gamble.
Now that I only visit there a couple times a year I use Tmobile which can roam for voice/text in case of an emergency. It's not worth my money to have coverage when I'm never there anymore.
US Cellular expanded in the Midwest (starting in their home market of Chicago) while other networks focused on the coasts. They still do partnership agreements though - so although I'm a US Cellular customer, I get roaming coverage in the Bay Area.
This is great news, as we have quite a bit of coverage by them here (Midwest). I feel like I see a lot of people mention issues with Fi on the web, I must be one of the lucky few that have not only had no issues, but stellar performance all around.
If this extends in/through northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan, I may indeed switch to Fi.
Actually, I recently took advantage of the Fi discount on a Nexus 5x ($250 @ 32 GB), but after some days dinking with it on Fi, I swapped in my Verizon SIM as planned, to have Verizon service with Nexus quality/timely system updates. (Needed an additional reboot for LTE to kick in, but since then -- as reported in numerous places -- it has worked just fine.)
But, I'm increasingly unhappy with Verizon Wireless.
Next up would be to see whether Google Fi's adverstised real/actual/person support is for real and helpful, and to ask them whether, hey, after all, I'd like to port my Verizon number to a Fi SIM / service and use that instead of the Fi SIM that's currently idle.
(I wanted to try it before committing.)
The other is to see whether, now that I'm out from under my 2 year phone "contract" with Verizon, I can coerce better pricing/capacity out of them.
In any event, I will NEVER again use a phone that is dependent upon Verizon for updates. So, that means Apple, or my unofficial/"not supported" Nexus, or...
P.S. If anyone from Google happens by, "pinch to zoom out" on the Nexus 5x is horrible -- the camera app dies about 50% of the time when I use this feature on it. PLEASE for the love of deity fix this! (Your error reporting systems should have about a bazillion and a half incident reports from one particular device ID. Stock Nexus 5x with only a few big-name apps installed.)
> Next up would be to see whether Google Fi's adverstised real/actual/person support is for real and helpful
I'm a google fi customer and requested support. For me, the support was fantastic. They were very helpful and did their best to make sure everything was handled. Sample size of 4-8 requests, though, so YMMV.
I've contacted them ~ 5 times for minor issues with multiple accounts (getting a discount when they dropped the nexus 5, minor number porting issues, a billing question etc) and it has been fantastic. I've never had to wait, always had someone who was knowledgeable and could quickly resolve my issue.
Unless they offer LTE in Canada, this doesn't compare well to my T-Mobile plan, other than diverse networks. That's the one thing that definitely put me off trying it.
I haven't been to Canada with Project Fi, but I got LTE all over London, Madrid, Copenhagen, Berlin and Málaga with them. I'd think that Canada has similar infrastructure in place :)
I switched from tmobile's $30 unlimited (5gb lte) plan. I'm definitely paying $10-15/month more now, but I also travel frequently. The international coverage makes it worthwhile for me.
As far as phone expenses go, I think I'm still doing pretty well though.
This is cool and all, but I'm worried that Google will just pull the plug during one "spring cleaning" event. Plus T-Mobile's $100/4 lines/2 GB per line is just unbeatable right now... cheaper and more data.
Yep, I actually have a $20/mo (2GB/mo) data-only T-Mobile SIM that I've used extensively for international travel the past year that's worked great (anything longer than a couple days I'll tend to pick up a local SIM for my primary phone, but I leave it in a secondary phone and have never had any issues either way. Speed is perfectly cromulent for messaging and navigation.)
It's just their "Simple Choice" postpaid plan. The basic plan starts with 2 GB per line. First line is $50, second is $30, third through six are $10 each. Just go to their website then go to Plans -> Phone plans.
If you're going to switch - if you don't mind, email me at j(at)fej(punto)io so I can send you my referral information. Disclosure: I would make $80 in T-Mobile stock, and currently have a share of the company. Of course, I don't want to pressure you at all, and even if you switch you don't have to credit me.
This is their new referral program which you might have heard about recently.
I regret getting a T-Mobile postpaid plan. Unlike their pre-paid plans, they tack on the following mandatory bullshit charges to their monthly plans:
Federal Universal Service Fund, State Telecom Excise, County Telecom Excise, MCTD Surcharge, Regulatory Programs & Telco Recovery Fee, State & Local Sales Tax, Public Safety Communications Surcharge, County 911
That's $10+/mo of pure BS for a single line. Would love to hear from Google Fi users if they also do this, if not I'll probably switch.
On a recent $49.55 bill, I had $2.48 in taxes and fees.
Taxes & government surcharges
State 911 Tax $0.08
Telecomm Relay Systems Surcharge $0.06
California Teleconnect Fund Charge $0.13
California High Cost Fund Surcharge $0.04
California Advanced Services Fund Charge $0.06
Universal Lifeline Telephone Service Surcharge $0.67
Other fees
PUC Fee $0.03
Federal Universal Service Fund $1.29
Federal Regulatory Assessment Fee $0.12
Oh, US Cellular... Somehow I can be near line-of-sight to one of their towers, and barely get two bars of service.
At least its cheap, although I am still grandfathered into my parents' family plan for around $20/month. I think an equivalent individual plan from ATT or Verizon in this area would run over $100, which would be ridiculous for the 3-4 phone calls a month I make.
That seems more likely to be a phone issue than a US Cellular issue. Perhaps the handset you have doesn't support all of their bands? I had that on my original One+ 1 on t-mobile.
I must say Project FI has worked out really nice for me. I'm usually in Wifi range, so my data usage is very low. Works out to around $27 each month. And the service is really good.
BUT, I live in the constant fear of Google shutting down the service. In fact I'm slowly finding myself skeptical of adopting new Google products because I'm worried it will go away.
I hear you on the fear of Google shutting it down but I wouldn't with Project Fi. This is a communications product. They need people to get fast access to their products. This product will never go away, just like their Fiber efforts.
They purchased Grand Central like 10 years ago and never killed it.
And it is specifically excluded from Google Fi (you may import your number, but no going back).
My biggest gripe with Fi is that there is no way to check voicemail or handle SMS through the web interface. That was the most useful aspect of Voice for me.
"Once you do this, your text messages and voicemail will sync across Hangouts everywhere, including: Gmail chat, Google+ Page or profile, Chrome desktop app, Android or iOS device, Inbox by Gmail, or the Chrome extension."
- You need a cellular data or Wi-Fi connection to send and receive text messages, even on your Project Fi phone
- You will no longer receive SMS messages in your default SMS app, instead you will receive SMS and voicemail in Hangouts on the web and all of your devices
"Google Voice’s number availability changes regularly, so even if your number was previously on Google Voice, it can’t always be transferred back. If you’d like to keep this number, we recommend transferring it to another carrier that supports it."
You can send/receive SMS and get transcribed voicemails through Hangouts. I think you have to enable it in the options somewhere. Possibly my favorite thing about Fi
Android is so core to Google's business that I don't think they will kill it. It's become something of a selling point on their Nexus phones. I'll be disappointed if I have to switch.
Yeah it's definitely not perfect, but it's still better than the next best thing, which is probably Virgin Mobile. And it's definitley better than using one of the major providers!
I love Project FI, but nobody who tries to call me ever gets through. Not nobody, but really like %75 of the calls don't go through. The data and international roaming are wonderful.
How does it work? Is this VOIP via LTE and Wi-Fi? How it wakes up to receive a call? Does phone constantly have Wi-Fi on? Would it drain battery quickly? Any good write up about tech detail? I have read some reports from people switched their phones to data only and having VOIP over that LTE. Somewhat doubtful how reliably can VOIP work on Wi-Fi while phone is locked.
I don't know that it works any differently than the others in the handling of calls. I'm not aware that they're doing VoLTE (I suspect not because my phone behaves like my Verizon phone did -- dropping LTE data when I'm on a call -- on the occasion that I've had to look).
It differs in handling of WiFi calling in that "it actually works really well"[1]. Calls started on WiFi switch (mostly) seamlessly to cellular when you go out of range or the call quality dives. It attaches to some public access points automatically (with a little "key" icon at the top when it does so).
On the cellular front, it uses T-Mo and Sprint (and, now US Cellular). Their networks are quite different[2] and it is able to bounce between them and does so in a manner that maximizes 4G and overall coverage. There were dead zones for me on T-Mo that have perfect coverage on Project Fi.
[1] I had T-Mo with WiFi calling previously and even at the time that I left it barely worked. I'd not receive calls when attached to one of my access points (or drop them if my phone jumped over to it) and call hand-off to cellular never worked for me. It always works on Fi and my phone won't even try to use the other AP for calling (which it figured out on its own).
[2] I believe their 4G technology is similar enough, but below that its CDMA for Sprint and GSM for T-Mobile, I believe. My information may be out of date, though. When I signed up there weren't any MVNOs that used those two networks.
I was using Google Voice for a few years. When I got Project Fi, I had to release my old number and get a new one. It was disappointing, but less annoying than I thought it would be (since I don't use my phone much).
Currently you don't have to give up your google voice number. You can even use it as your google fi number if you like, and you can undo that choice and get it back as google voice later.
This is fantastic. The statements they're making about multiple networks providing superior coverage have rung true for me, personally. I've been a Project Fi user in Michigan since shortly after they announced its availability (I was in a well covered area for T-Mobile and Sprint and got in early on the invite list, I guess).
My parents have a home "up north" (the thumb area of Michigan) and I've had service with both T-Mo and Verizon since I've been spending a lot of time up there. Coverage from VZW/T-Mo, despite being vastly different networks, suffered from a large dead spot in Fort Gratiot and coverage on the property was also terrible (low lying, beach front property results in a very obstructed situation). I switched to T-Mo because I'd pick up Canadian towers on the property with Verizon which would cause me billing problems[1].
The statements they're making about choosing the best provider from multiple providers is not marketing. I get 4G coverage all the way up to through the most rural areas and can pull a signal on the property (2G, sometimes Canada, but it's there if I need it). T-Mobile and Sprint's network is different enough that no other MVNOs that I know of support both. Because Project Fi does, I get excellent coverage -- where T-Mo lacked, at least in the areas I travel, Sprint has a great signal and my 4G performance is so consistent that I haven't had occasion to even look to see if I'm in LTE or not (that would only happen when the music would stop or a browsing session would die -- "oh, I'm 2G/3G, no wonder!").
Nobody in my family has reliable service except for my wife and I (she's on Fi, now, too). The Wi-Fi features work seamlessly and are much more intelligent than I experienced on T-Mo. Due to one of my APs being wonky at home, Project Fi automatically uses 4G for calls when I'm attached to it. When I'm connected to my properly functioning AP, it uses WiFi (internet works on both, but no VoIP service from mobile phones has ever worked on the one). With T-Mo, I had to turn WiFi calling off because I'd just stop being able to make/take calls when connected to the broken router. It hands off calls without issue, as well (there's a brief period where audio is dead when this happens but I usually don't notice it).
It's a well thought out service and the pricing was perfect for me. I'm on WiFi 99% of the time and my mobile data is often below 1G/mo, however, with the work I do I can have a month or two a year where my data goes well beyond 6GB, so I always kept my plan at that level and just donated that money to T-Mo/Verizon. The prices aren't the lowest in the area when pre-paid offerings are included, but with the service being what it is, I'd pay more for this kind of reliability.
[1] T-Mo doesn't charge for Canadian data or texts and allowed WiFi calling (I'm not sure if Verizon does, yet, or not) so this resolved the problem for me. Coverage wasn't as good, especially a few years ago with 4G, but it was good enough.
I'm not a google chat/hangouts/mail/etc user... or current Android phone user.. so please excuse my ignorance
if I switch to Project Fi am I going to be expected to signup and use all of these things? As in, is it significantly cheaper because now I'm the product? Or am I getting a legitimate Android handset I can root and go about my way like I would with any other carrier?
Google Fi is amazing. The free international data roaming is like nothing else I've ever experienced. Land in Japan and my phone just works. No extra charges, it just works.
I use Google Voice as a landline replacement with an Obihai device and effectively get free service, minus E911, but I have a cell phone for that. The costs for wireless must be much higher for Google to be charging, although I manage to get service on Sprint through Ringplus that is effectively free too. There are limits, I am charged for overages and I do not get roaming, but I have real SMS and can use any CDMA capable device. I see no reason to pay for Google Fi as long as I am in an area where Sprint's network is good. Their network was terrible on Long Island in 2014, but as of 2016 it seems decent.
If anyone is in an area where Sprint is decent, I suggest trying Ringplus. You can use an old phone to test it. In my case, I gave a neighbor who did not have a cellphone an old phone and set it up for him on Ring plus. I heard a few months later that the coverage was good, so I switched and found that it is indeed better than it was in 2014. Consequently, I can put the money saved from not paying a monthly fee into something tangible, like equipment.
It would be nice if Google could offer a similiar service for everyone, but until either then or Ringplus decides to stop providing free service, I am sticking with Ringplus. There is no point in paying for a service that a competitor offers for free.
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[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 182 ms ] threadBut the worst is shortcodes and SMSes -- some weird configuration at FI meant that no shortcode texts came or went. I got error messages when I tried to use Magic (the texting startup). I never received 2FA texts while logging to to my bank or to github. I contacted support and they told me it was because those services used an http gateway, and that Fi just did not support that. I later found out that the support person was just wrong, and I escalated up support to a tech who 'reset' specific shortcodes on my account, which means I now can use 2FA for my banks/github, but I had to specifically find the shortcodes they used to get them whitelisted.
Regarding price: I don't use my 3GB, usually under 1GB due to Wifi at home/work/public transport so project fi is nice because it takes the amount I didn't use and refunds me at $10/GB for the next bill.
I get sms's from shortcodes fine and haven't had any issues but maybe its because of the companies (apple, amazon, google, github) are whitelisted from other peoples bug reports.
I haven't run into the auto public wifi-connect issue that much, it seems to work well for public transport and seems to fallback to lte when a login screen is required, but maybe I just haven't experienced as many login page wifi networks.
I think I would go with tmobile if I had multiple people on my bill though because you get discounts for that which isn't there for fi.
It's cheap, but I guess you get what you pay for, we're in a major metro area.
The only downside is having to use a Motorola phone. They seem to always break within 1.5 years of purchase.
Note that this plan might not be available anymore.. not sure really, but i know i often get flack for being on this plan from tmo. It clearly isn't making them enough money, but my god, i love it.
Oh, question for you if you don't mind: Since you were on Tmo, can you compare the reception/coverage for Fi vs Tmo? In theory Fi would have better reception due to more networks, but i'm not really sure how much Tmo and Sprint differ in network size/locations. Thoughts?
I'm in USA-WA and the hills/mountains really cause reception issues. So the reception coverage is important to me. (Nothing beats Verizon, unfortunately)
If they gave me $5 or $10/m for reduced talk, i'd be in heaven
Had to go to prepaid plans > Individual plan > Talk and text only Link underneath (even though the plan is the opposite, good labeling).
(Screengrab of how I got to it in case they're doing cookie/referer checks and the direct url doesn't work: http://paste.click/VSgPVD )
And may I ask which iPhone you have? I have an iPhone 5.
Someone using, say, 100GB on any network operator is not using $1000 worth of electricity / tower uptime costs / etc. They might, in the most ludicrously expensive regulatory environments, be costing a hundredth that.
Looking at US Cellular's coverage map (https://www.uscellular.com/coverage-map/coverage-indicator.h...), this news won't benefit the sf bay area, but help users in the northwest, northeast, and midwest.
Who isn't a last mile user?
There are definitely places where this US Cellular is the only option, and this is an awesome addition for those people.
It isn't dead yet, and I can't really justify the cost.
On the other hand, one irony is that even though they still have naming rights for the White Sox' ballpark, they pulled out of the Chicago market and sold what spectrum they had in the area to Sprint.
Edit: Here is an interesting chart of wireless providers in the US [0]; lots more providers w/ 10K-1M subcribers than I realized.
[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_wireless...
Now that I only visit there a couple times a year I use Tmobile which can roam for voice/text in case of an emergency. It's not worth my money to have coverage when I'm never there anymore.
Actually, I recently took advantage of the Fi discount on a Nexus 5x ($250 @ 32 GB), but after some days dinking with it on Fi, I swapped in my Verizon SIM as planned, to have Verizon service with Nexus quality/timely system updates. (Needed an additional reboot for LTE to kick in, but since then -- as reported in numerous places -- it has worked just fine.)
But, I'm increasingly unhappy with Verizon Wireless.
Next up would be to see whether Google Fi's adverstised real/actual/person support is for real and helpful, and to ask them whether, hey, after all, I'd like to port my Verizon number to a Fi SIM / service and use that instead of the Fi SIM that's currently idle.
(I wanted to try it before committing.)
The other is to see whether, now that I'm out from under my 2 year phone "contract" with Verizon, I can coerce better pricing/capacity out of them.
In any event, I will NEVER again use a phone that is dependent upon Verizon for updates. So, that means Apple, or my unofficial/"not supported" Nexus, or...
P.S. If anyone from Google happens by, "pinch to zoom out" on the Nexus 5x is horrible -- the camera app dies about 50% of the time when I use this feature on it. PLEASE for the love of deity fix this! (Your error reporting systems should have about a bazillion and a half incident reports from one particular device ID. Stock Nexus 5x with only a few big-name apps installed.)
I'm a google fi customer and requested support. For me, the support was fantastic. They were very helpful and did their best to make sure everything was handled. Sample size of 4-8 requests, though, so YMMV.
If you are currently paying the contract rate, you should be able to get ~20/month off.
As far as phone expenses go, I think I'm still doing pretty well though.
Except you don't have worldwide roaming included in your plan, which you have to pay extra for.
That's a reason why I'm not changing from Fi. Also the fact that data I don't use is reimbursed.
> PLUS use your monthly 4G LTE data in Mexico and Canada like in the U.S., at no extra charge
It doesn't seem to be worldwide...
If you're going to switch - if you don't mind, email me at j(at)fej(punto)io so I can send you my referral information. Disclosure: I would make $80 in T-Mobile stock, and currently have a share of the company. Of course, I don't want to pressure you at all, and even if you switch you don't have to credit me.
This is their new referral program which you might have heard about recently.
Federal Universal Service Fund, State Telecom Excise, County Telecom Excise, MCTD Surcharge, Regulatory Programs & Telco Recovery Fee, State & Local Sales Tax, Public Safety Communications Surcharge, County 911
That's $10+/mo of pure BS for a single line. Would love to hear from Google Fi users if they also do this, if not I'll probably switch.
Taxes & government surcharges State 911 Tax $0.08 Telecomm Relay Systems Surcharge $0.06 California Teleconnect Fund Charge $0.13 California High Cost Fund Surcharge $0.04 California Advanced Services Fund Charge $0.06 Universal Lifeline Telephone Service Surcharge $0.67
Other fees PUC Fee $0.03 Federal Universal Service Fund $1.29 Federal Regulatory Assessment Fee $0.12
At least its cheap, although I am still grandfathered into my parents' family plan for around $20/month. I think an equivalent individual plan from ATT or Verizon in this area would run over $100, which would be ridiculous for the 3-4 phone calls a month I make.
BUT, I live in the constant fear of Google shutting down the service. In fact I'm slowly finding myself skeptical of adopting new Google products because I'm worried it will go away.
They purchased Grand Central like 10 years ago and never killed it.
Grand Central -> Google Voice -> Project Fi.
My biggest gripe with Fi is that there is no way to check voicemail or handle SMS through the web interface. That was the most useful aspect of Voice for me.
"Once you do this, your text messages and voicemail will sync across Hangouts everywhere, including: Gmail chat, Google+ Page or profile, Chrome desktop app, Android or iOS device, Inbox by Gmail, or the Chrome extension."
- You need a cellular data or Wi-Fi connection to send and receive text messages, even on your Project Fi phone
- You will no longer receive SMS messages in your default SMS app, instead you will receive SMS and voicemail in Hangouts on the web and all of your devices
On the plus side, you almost never pay for data roaming charges. Even when abroad.
https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6079398
However, it's not guaranteed:
"Google Voice’s number availability changes regularly, so even if your number was previously on Google Voice, it can’t always be transferred back. If you’d like to keep this number, we recommend transferring it to another carrier that supports it."
It differs in handling of WiFi calling in that "it actually works really well"[1]. Calls started on WiFi switch (mostly) seamlessly to cellular when you go out of range or the call quality dives. It attaches to some public access points automatically (with a little "key" icon at the top when it does so).
On the cellular front, it uses T-Mo and Sprint (and, now US Cellular). Their networks are quite different[2] and it is able to bounce between them and does so in a manner that maximizes 4G and overall coverage. There were dead zones for me on T-Mo that have perfect coverage on Project Fi.
[1] I had T-Mo with WiFi calling previously and even at the time that I left it barely worked. I'd not receive calls when attached to one of my access points (or drop them if my phone jumped over to it) and call hand-off to cellular never worked for me. It always works on Fi and my phone won't even try to use the other AP for calling (which it figured out on its own).
[2] I believe their 4G technology is similar enough, but below that its CDMA for Sprint and GSM for T-Mobile, I believe. My information may be out of date, though. When I signed up there weren't any MVNOs that used those two networks.
My parents have a home "up north" (the thumb area of Michigan) and I've had service with both T-Mo and Verizon since I've been spending a lot of time up there. Coverage from VZW/T-Mo, despite being vastly different networks, suffered from a large dead spot in Fort Gratiot and coverage on the property was also terrible (low lying, beach front property results in a very obstructed situation). I switched to T-Mo because I'd pick up Canadian towers on the property with Verizon which would cause me billing problems[1].
The statements they're making about choosing the best provider from multiple providers is not marketing. I get 4G coverage all the way up to through the most rural areas and can pull a signal on the property (2G, sometimes Canada, but it's there if I need it). T-Mobile and Sprint's network is different enough that no other MVNOs that I know of support both. Because Project Fi does, I get excellent coverage -- where T-Mo lacked, at least in the areas I travel, Sprint has a great signal and my 4G performance is so consistent that I haven't had occasion to even look to see if I'm in LTE or not (that would only happen when the music would stop or a browsing session would die -- "oh, I'm 2G/3G, no wonder!").
Nobody in my family has reliable service except for my wife and I (she's on Fi, now, too). The Wi-Fi features work seamlessly and are much more intelligent than I experienced on T-Mo. Due to one of my APs being wonky at home, Project Fi automatically uses 4G for calls when I'm attached to it. When I'm connected to my properly functioning AP, it uses WiFi (internet works on both, but no VoIP service from mobile phones has ever worked on the one). With T-Mo, I had to turn WiFi calling off because I'd just stop being able to make/take calls when connected to the broken router. It hands off calls without issue, as well (there's a brief period where audio is dead when this happens but I usually don't notice it).
It's a well thought out service and the pricing was perfect for me. I'm on WiFi 99% of the time and my mobile data is often below 1G/mo, however, with the work I do I can have a month or two a year where my data goes well beyond 6GB, so I always kept my plan at that level and just donated that money to T-Mo/Verizon. The prices aren't the lowest in the area when pre-paid offerings are included, but with the service being what it is, I'd pay more for this kind of reliability.
[1] T-Mo doesn't charge for Canadian data or texts and allowed WiFi calling (I'm not sure if Verizon does, yet, or not) so this resolved the problem for me. Coverage wasn't as good, especially a few years ago with 4G, but it was good enough.
if I switch to Project Fi am I going to be expected to signup and use all of these things? As in, is it significantly cheaper because now I'm the product? Or am I getting a legitimate Android handset I can root and go about my way like I would with any other carrier?
(As long as that handset is a Nexus 5x, Nexus 6, or Nexus 6P, because those are the only phones that work with Google Fi right now.)
If anyone is in an area where Sprint is decent, I suggest trying Ringplus. You can use an old phone to test it. In my case, I gave a neighbor who did not have a cellphone an old phone and set it up for him on Ring plus. I heard a few months later that the coverage was good, so I switched and found that it is indeed better than it was in 2014. Consequently, I can put the money saved from not paying a monthly fee into something tangible, like equipment.
It would be nice if Google could offer a similiar service for everyone, but until either then or Ringplus decides to stop providing free service, I am sticking with Ringplus. There is no point in paying for a service that a competitor offers for free.