It’s now over a year since Google Project Fi was first heard of, however, it seems many are continuously, albeit gradually, falling in love with the great pricing, fast-responding customer support that is also available 24/7, excellent coverage as well as simplicity of this service.
Of course, there are many things one will want to look at before deciding the carrier they want to use. Many will look at the best coverage, an area Verizon Wireless and AT&T are known to be the best in the country. One major problem with the former is that it is based on CDMA technology, meaning many phones that are sold in most retail shops are not compatible. In addition, some have also shied off the carrier due to the relatively high prices for data plans. Another CDMA-based carrier is Sprint, which is considered poor in terms network coverage, even though it has some enticing plans. In fact, it seems many Americans are slowly forgetting the existence of Sprint.
T-Mobile has some of the best offerings around, be it unlimited data plans, free streaming of music and videos as well as a bunch of free giveaways, however, the coverage is not as strong as what both Verizon and AT&T offer. Speaking of AT&T, it probably is the best carrier around thanks to the fact that it falls somewhere between Verizon and T-Mobile as far pricing is concerned. Given that it promises great coverage all over the country and has a wider selection of phones than Verizon, it is easy to fall for this carrier. Enter Google Project Fi.
Launched last year, Google Project Fi is slowly gaining followers all over the country. It is true to say that Project Fi is not for everyone, just like there are those who will remain loyal to Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile, for instance. However, if you are one of those people who use less than 3GB of data per month, you need to check out this carrier, especially when simplicity and great pricing are also high on your shopping list.
As at the time of this writing, there are thousands already using Google Project Fi and so far, so good. A look at the Project Fi by Google app reviews via the Play Store reveals that the carrier has a rating of 4.7 out of 5. This could only mean one thing – that Project Fi consumers are happy with what they are currently getting.
With Google Project Fi, you still get to enjoy unlimited calls and SMS like what you get with other carriers. All of these can be done over Wi-Fi as well, but it gets even better as Fi comes with a Wi-Fi Assistant feature that helps with data saving, especially if you spend most of your time in public areas with free Wi-Fi hotspots. The Assistant scans for the best hotspots offering a better connection and automatically connects your phone to the network through a Google VPN.
The strength of the connection you get from the public Wi-Fi hotspot is weighed against three carriers that Project Fi works on – Sprint, T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular. As noted earlier, Sprint and T-Mobile come behind Verizon and AT&T in terms quality network coverage in the country, thus, Project Fi will give you the best connection from the three (including U.S. Cellular) depending on where you are.
As for the charges, Google Project Fi costs $20 per month. But this only takes care of unlimited calls and SMS. For data, the basic offering is 1GB for $10 (1MB/$0.01). This fee might drop or rise depending on your data usage. If you use 600MB per month, Project Fi will only deduct $6 for this month. To get another 1GB of data the following month, you will only pay $6 as the carrier will still be owing you $4 for the 400MB you did not use. On the other hand, if you use 1.8GB in a month, Project Fi will charge you an extra $8 for the additional 0.8GB used. This means that you get to pay $18 for data alongside $20 for unlimited calls and SMS – a total of $38 per month. Not bad, huh!
Just recently, Google added support for group plans. The first line costs the usual $20 per month, but you can add up to 5 lines at a cost of $15/month per line. This, in addition to the $10/GB of data, means you only part with $25/month per line for unlimited calls and SMS alongside 1GB of data.
Google Project Fi allows its users to keep using this data even when visiting other countries, with a list of over 130 countries already in the mix. There is also room for unlimited international texting but calls when abroad are charged at a flat rate of $0.20 per minute, which is still not bad.
Despite the fact that many are slowly falling in love with Google Project Fi, the fact that the service is only available on a handful of devices hinders its growth. Other than the new and pricey Google Pixel and Pixel XL, you only get to choose from last year’s Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P as well as 2014’s Motorola Nexus 6.