Google’s Wireless service, “Project Fi,” is official, but invite only

Unused data is credited back to your account at the end of the month.

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[theoilman]

The price is average and lack of byod kills it. The dual network thing is cool, but I'm not going to buy a new nexus 6 and pay more money for the same number of GB just to use it.

 

[athlon11]

Cricket still seems like a better deal to me but the amount of countries this works in is pretty nice.

 

[Mitlov]

I thought coverage was bad here in Oregon. And then I looked at Montana.

 

[thelee]

Using best of Sprint/T-mobile network would be perfect for me since almost everywhere outside of my home T-mobile (current carrier) tends to have great coverage, but near my home and near certain frequently visited parts of town, Sprint is better (older carrier).

Also, the refunding of unused data is A+. Their cost estimator says I would only pay 27/month O_O. T-mobile is cheap, but the refund is what clinches the deal. EDIT: also I think Google Fi has a lower base cost for the core non-data service. How do MVNOs pull this kind of trickery off?

Just Nexus 6? Not a problem for me. I wouldn't get a non-nexus android anyway.

 

[nehinks]

I certainly don't have an N6, but the network sounds interesting. Hopefully it'll expand in the future.

Is there a better/zoomable version of that Google coverage map? Doesn't have the resolution to actually check my area (since not in a major city).

Edit: Found it! For those interested:
https://fi.google.com/coverage

 

[Dilbert]

$20 a month for unlimited talk and texting

There goes the incumbent market! Older Arsians, remember when you were paying for long distance, long after long distance didn't cost the telcos any more than local calls? Today they are doing something similar by charging few tens of dollars for a huge amount of data, and then few tens of dollars more for a tiny amount of data generated by voice calls but metered in a nonsensical unit of measurement called "a minute"? Huh? Telcos? Anything to say?

One could yap on the phone for hours and it'd use less data than browsing Ars for 5 minutes.

 

[theoilman]

athlon11[/url]":x8fjvb1i]Cricket still seems like a better deal to me but the amount of countries this works in is pretty nice.

Downside of cricket is its throttled for all your data. I believe there are att mvnos which don't throttle for the allotted data.

 

[duncansil]

Especially great for someone who does a lot of international travel.

 

[PvtDeth]

$20 a month is incredible, but I couldn't live with $10 per GB. I if they had unlimited data for a reasonable price, I'd jump on it in a second.

 

[gigatexal]

In my experience T-Mobile and Sprint have terrible coverage in the areas I frequent most in Oregon. This is confirmed by the map in the article. Still, glad to see Google shaking up the industry a bit. First we got Google Fiber, now Google Fi.

 

[Ianal]

Fee for Fi - ho hum.

 

[bigstrat2003]

thelee[/url]":25ca0lgv]
Just Nexus 6? Not a problem for me. I wouldn't get a non-nexus android anyway.

I prefer Nexus devices, but the Nexus 6 requirement is a dealbreaker for me. With how absurdly large that phone is, it's definitely not for me - and I'm not going to switch to a device I don't like just to get in on this service.

 

[ghstd4303]

I pay $30/month for Virgin mobile with 2.5gigs a month. I only get 300 talk minutes a month, but thats not a problem for me. Seems like its a bit overcomplicated service.

 

[MustangFTW]

Sprint/T-Mobile is an amazing combo, T-Mobile is far superior in terms of network speed and good old GSM reliability but you cant beat Sprints reception, They have service in the weirdest places.

 

[JustBreathe]

PvtDeth[/url]":4vvtrfc7]$20 a month is incredible, but I couldn't live with $10 per GB. I if they had unlimited data for a reasonable price, I'd jump on it in a second.

As someone who only uses about a gig and a half a month... This is tempting. I might have to see if I can lay hands on a used Nexus 6 or something; chop my cell bill by 5/6s.

 

[macemoneta]

$20/month for calls and texts, and an additional $30/month for 3GB data.

Google Project Fi is offering essentially the same service as Republic Wireless - but for about twice the price.

 

[Philippe23]

nehinks[/url]":17kh3i18]
Is there a better/zoomable version of that Google coverage map? Doesn't have the resolution to actually check my area (since not in a major city).

Try: http://fi.google.com/about/network/

 

[thelee]

ghstd4303[/url]":ldii9yqn]I pay $30/month for Virgin mobile with 2.5gigs a month. I only get 300 talk minutes a month, but thats not a problem for me. Seems like its a bit overcomplicated service.

I had virgin for a while but their customer service is _absolute crap_.

It was totally worth paying more to not deal with that anymore.

 

[solomonrex]

duncansil[/url]":37m92gh7]Especially great for someone who does a lot of international travel.

Speaking as someone who regularly vacations in/around Canada and turns my phone off completely, this looks great. Reacquainting myself with paper maps was fun, but I'm not exactly hooked on that analog experience.

Giving the money back for unused data is the killer feature, and it's already cheaper than the big guys. Is the second tier coverage as good as VZW/AT&T? I just might find out, the Nexus is an interesting phone and after all, I can cancel this contract (once I pay upfront for the phone of course.).

And it's the sort of thing that Google should do well. Not customer service - but they can't be worse, right? Running a network service, I mean. Clearly someone thought this through, though I wish they had thought harder about releasing a more 'normal' Nexus phone.

 

[David Crowell]

If they can roll out cheaper devices that are compatible then this would work. A Moto G variant seems promising.

 

[logic_88]

theoilman[/url]":1xnlqkb1]

athlon11[/url]":1xnlqkb1]Cricket still seems like a better deal to me but the amount of countries this works in is pretty nice.

Downside of cricket is its throttled for all your data. I believe there are att mvnos which don't throttle for the allotted data.

8Mbit/sec for data doesn't sound so bad. At least I haven't seen too many complaints.

 

[docH1987]

swholliday[/url]":1033l43l]Judging by the project name, I calculate a 99.0% chance that the service will be annoying and overexplanatory.

They should probably rename Maps to Google Navi at this point.

 

[ChaoticUnreal]

Dilbert[/url]":4nsoh41v]

$20 a month for unlimited talk and texting

There goes the incumbent market! Older Arsians, remember when you were paying for long distance, long after long distance didn't cost the telcos any more than local calls? Today they are doing something similar by charging few tens of dollars for a huge amount of data, and then few tens of dollars more for a tiny amount of data generated by voice calls but metered in a nonsensical unit of measurement called "a minute"? Huh? Telcos? Anything to say?

One could yap on the phone for hours and it'd use less data than browsing Ars for 5 minutes.

I'll be the first to admit I haven't shopped around but I thought unlimited talk/text was fairly standard at this point. I know I've had it on T-Mobile for 4-5 years now (and I have the cheapest smart phone plan). Granted Google is doing it cheaper but the unlimited aspect has been around for awhile.

A quick look at the big 4 carriers show they all have unlimited talk/text

 

[theoilman]

logic_88[/url]":jqq9x6fq]

theoilman[/url]":jqq9x6fq]

athlon11[/url]":jqq9x6fq]Cricket still seems like a better deal to me but the amount of countries this works in is pretty nice.

Downside of cricket is its throttled for all your data. I believe there are att mvnos which don't throttle for the allotted data.

8Mbit/sec for data doesn't sound so bad. At least I haven't seen too many complaints.

It's not bad... Just not great. I mean, even T-Mobile HSPA is much faster. Cricket is LTE in name only. It does work OK for basic stuff though.

 

[Eddy Current]

If you don't use the data, you get that money back! What a crazy idea?!

That's MUCH better than AT&T's "deal" where your unused data rolls over for one month only AND isn't used first (it's only available AFTER you've used all your regular data for that following month).

 

[The Quick & The Read]

Dilbert[/url]":9chire5h]

$20 a month for unlimited talk and texting

There goes the incumbent market! Older Arsians, remember when you were paying for long distance, long after long distance didn't cost the telcos any more than local calls? Today they are doing something similar by charging few tens of dollars for a huge amount of data, and then few tens of dollars more for a tiny amount of data generated by voice calls but metered in a nonsensical unit of measurement called "a minute"? Huh? Telcos? Anything to say?

One could yap on the phone for hours and it'd use less data than browsing Ars for 5 minutes.

I see your point, but that $20 also gets you wi-fi tethering, something that isn't wrapped into most carrier packages.

 

[krimhorn]

Dilbert[/url]":1ay0vch5]

$20 a month for unlimited talk and texting

There goes the incumbent market!

Not really. It's Ting but with TMobile as well instead of just Sprint. The pricing is ok but nothing amazing (it can't be considering they're paying fairly flat rates just like every other MVNO). While they'll certainly get some marketshare (and the marginal cost of being an MVNO is low so there's no reason that they won't simply stick around making a few bucks here and there) but they're highly unlikely to get enough marketshare to make TMobile and Sprint change anything. Nevermind the two that control around 80% of the market.

 

[Ggggggggg]

I'm guessing this is a work in progress on their part, but $20/m for unlimited talk and text seems decent when using Wi-Fi for data. I know a ton of people who would benefit from this.

If they could get cheap, decent phones similar to the Moto G series going, it'd be spectacular for people in that type of market.

 

[isparavanje]

Google is amassing a dangerous amount of vertical monopolistic power. They have been relatively benign but they are a public company after all, we should not jump on the bandwagon too quickly.

Edit: I know Google is awesome and all and many of you instinctively want to downvote this into oblivion but how can one trust a company as the gateway to the Internet, provider of the most popular OS and one of the most popular browsers, and a service provider via fiber and now wireless? If you can refute my points, fair enough, but closing your eyes and trying to censor me won't help.

 

[afidel]

The pricing is actually $1/100MB since they give you a credit for unused data, perhaps interesting for folks who don't use much data. Also AFAIK this is the first pre-paid/MVNO to offer the T-Mobile international roaming.

 

[theoilman]

The Quick & The Read[/url]":1pmidfbj]

Dilbert[/url]":1pmidfbj]

$20 a month for unlimited talk and texting

There goes the incumbent market! Older Arsians, remember when you were paying for long distance, long after long distance didn't cost the telcos any more than local calls? Today they are doing something similar by charging few tens of dollars for a huge amount of data, and then few tens of dollars more for a tiny amount of data generated by voice calls but metered in a nonsensical unit of measurement called "a minute"? Huh? Telcos? Anything to say?

One could yap on the phone for hours and it'd use less data than browsing Ars for 5 minutes.

I see your point, but that $20 also gets you wi-fi tethering, something that isn't wrapped into most carrier packages.

Which really does need to be challenged in the FCC. Blocking tether apps so you can charge extra for tethering is a clear conflict of interest in the same vein that got the FCC to sue Verizon for blocking apps.

 

[athlon11]

theoilman[/url]":iqxu4i98]

athlon11[/url]":iqxu4i98]Cricket still seems like a better deal to me but the amount of countries this works in is pretty nice.

Downside of cricket is its throttled for all your data. I believe there are att mvnos which don't throttle for the allotted data.

At 8mbps which is plenty fast, and for $55/month I get 20GB of high speed and unlimited everything else. While there are other unthrottled ATT MVNOs from what I've found you only get 3-5GB at high speed from them.

 

[kansanian]

Pricing doesn't look like it'll match Republic Wireless' new plan(s).

What they're talking about -starts- at $10, instead of $20, and will (eventually) also switch between Sprint & "another carrier" (likely T-Mobile, but who knows. They're also working on the "payback" piece very soon, which is interesting. Might still be a "better deal" for some folks to jump on the $25/mo plan, but it's 3G only, and it seems like their newer plans won't care - data will probably be "fastest available" from whichever carrier, though possibly still defaulting to Sprint in many cases (perhaps not though, we won't know until that's live).

RW *also* has CDMA roaming for voice/text with Verizon, due to Sprint's agreement), but VERY LITTLE data roaming. That might change when RW gets "both" carriers working, but it looks like Google isn't factoring in roaming on anything, which is one potential difference. The roaming between Sprint / Verizon is also due to sunset soon, I believe, which may be yet another reason both carriers are looking at a "secondary" cell network partner, as a "just in case" sort of thing.

Carrier redundancy on a single device is really, really interesting to me no matter who's doing it.

 

[ev9_tarantula]

Nice features, but the tariff itself is not so hot. Unlimited minutes and texts when calls and SMS are in decline in most developed markets seems almost pointless. And $30 to get any data at all is a bit steep. And as it is Nexus 6 only I doubt that this is going to be anything more than a trial.

I suppose the big question is what effect it might have on the incumbents like Google Fibre has had.

 

[Ancaritha]

macemoneta[/url]":11y8fdst]$20/month for calls and texts, and an additional $30/month for 3GB data.

Google Project Fi is offering essentially the same service as Republic Wireless - but for about twice the price.

My thoughts exactly. I pay $25 a month for 5GB of 3G data and unlimited voice and text. That is only on the Sprint network though, so this does have a slight advantage since you are using Sprint and T-Mobile.

The international usage is a killer feature though. If I traveled abroad frequently I would be extremely interested in this.

 

[theoilman]

athlon11[/url]":2p50i1nl]

theoilman[/url]":2p50i1nl]

athlon11[/url]":2p50i1nl]Cricket still seems like a better deal to me but the amount of countries this works in is pretty nice.

Downside of cricket is its throttled for all your data. I believe there are att mvnos which don't throttle for the allotted data.

At 8mbps which is plenty fast, and for $55/month I get 20GB of high speed and unlimited everything else. While there are other unthrottled ATT MVNOs from what I've found you only get 3-5GB at high speed from them.

Good points. speed vs cap size, pick your poison

 

[athlon11]

theoilman[/url]":hpvglyrc]

logic_88[/url]":hpvglyrc]

theoilman[/url]":hpvglyrc]

athlon11[/url]":hpvglyrc]Cricket still seems like a better deal to me but the amount of countries this works in is pretty nice.

Downside of cricket is its throttled for all your data. I believe there are att mvnos which don't throttle for the allotted data.

8Mbit/sec for data doesn't sound so bad. At least I haven't seen too many complaints.

It's not bad... Just not great. I mean, even T-Mobile HSPA is much faster. Cricket is LTE in name only. It does work OK for basic stuff though.

It works OK for everything, don't have any problems with even Netflix or Hulu.

 

[Gawain Lavers]

What happens if you order, say, 1GB of data and go over that? I'm not finding any reference to that on their site.