Today is the day many if you have been waiting for as Google officially announced the details and launching of its MVNO service which it has dubbed "Project Fi."
It turns out many of the previously leaked details are true. The service will start off at first with availability limited to the Nexus 6. It will run on the Sprint and T-Mobile networks and also use Wi-Fi to place calls and texts. Software on the phone will allow it to seamlessly connect to whichever network is offering the best signal switching between Wi-Fi and 4G LTE networks.
Google also says your phone number will live in the cloud, so if you ever lose your phone you can still place and receive calls and texts via your pc or tablet. This of course means the service is likely powered by Google Voice/Hangouts.
Service will cost you $20 a month and that will get you talk, text, Wi-Fi tethering, and international coverage in 120+ countries. There is a flat fee of $10 per GB for cellular data while in the U.S. and abroad. Similar to what Republic Wireless recently announced, any unused data in your account at the end of your billing cycle will be refunded in the form of an account credit on your next months bill.
Service like with all new products Google offers is by invite only. You can request an invite with this link, Project Fi.
Although they were not able to significantly undercut all competitors, all in all Google's new service seems to offer excellent value to the consumer. The service will be a welcomed addition to the cheapest cell phone plans list.
So what do you think of Google's new service? Did it meet or beat your expectations or leave you wanting for more?
@bestmvnocom:disqus
I’ve been reading up more on the Project Fi from service in order to deduce whether or not customers are forced into using Hangouts for all calls and sms.
From reading a bit more today it seems that Hangouts is only used if “consumers opt-in” to call/ receive calls and send/receive sms via Nexus 6,PCs, Macs & Tabs at the same time while signed into one’s google/gmail account. (Guessing here)!!
So if I don’t have the need to receive calls or send and receive sms via other smart devices I can still use the default dialer app and sms app or sms app of my choosing correct???
And if I decide to not opt into Hangouts I will still be able to seamlessly go from cellular networks (T-Mobile & Sprint) and or Wifi, which is accomplished “automatically selected” by the Project Fi app installed on Nexus 6?
Am I interpreting this right? Could you share your expertise/your opinion of how this works?
*If I don’t need to use hangouts then jumping ship might be worth it.*
Unfortunately I don’t have an exact answer for you, and I don’t think I was as clear as I intended to be in the article.
While Hangouts may be optional to use, I had meant the technology Google is using (provided by a company called Bandwidth) for Google Voice/Hangouts is likely the same technology that’s going to be used for the MVNO service.
It’s my understanding your phone number is going to reside with Google in the cloud and therefore be routed by Google regardless of if you opt in to hangouts or not. Hangouts will only allow you to make and receive calls etc on all of your devices.
It also appears, and I could be wrong, that based on how this service works, all calls and texts are going to be routed over data networks. With all of these things in mind I don’t think you’ll be able to use any old app to make calls and texts unless Google opens up an API to allow developers to do so. I think to start you’ll be restricted to a Google app one way or another.
If google is using a stock dialer and sms app I can sorta live with it. I didn’t want to be forced in using hangouts for calls,sms,gchat and video chat.
There’s other apps for video chat out there.
Since everything can be seemlessly switched between cellular networks and wifi it might be worth it to try the service.
And if i can still disable hangouts like I do on my Xperia Z phone then I would surely disable it on Nexus 6.
A lot of people are griping about the fact that only the NEXUS 6 is supported, but if you consider they are seamlessly handing off your call between 3 possible networks. I can could count on 1 hand the number of devices that carries radios for GSM and CDMA. Aside from NEXUS 5 and 4 the iPHONE is the only other device I am aware of that has both radios. Apple is probably not gung ho about having iphones on a GOOGLE only network, so I bet the NEXUS 5 might be the next logical device to be added.
This is actually not true anymore. I’ve heard most new phones now have all radios however they are made inactive or locked. In the case of Verizon however, I believe all of their new phones are required to have GSM radios unlocked as per agreement with FCC. As an example I have two people running LG G2 VS980’s on ATT with no special modifications required. The caveat is they rarely have LTE, but rather HSPA . The phone supposedly is very LTE capable with T-mobile.
Kudos to google for creating waves in the cell market like they are doing with google fiber internet service. While for some using google hangouts for all calls and messages is not an issue; it will be for others.
There is definitley a privacy concern involved and this will keel me from jumping ship. I prefer not to use hangouts and it is disabled on my android phone, it’s just too intrusive IMO.
Again for some this will not be an issue and since Project Fi has partnered with both T-Mobile & Sprint, users should have a better cell coverage experience. I would love to sign up now but google hangouts is not for me.
The Nexus 6 has no slots for sdcards so this is would keep me from jumping over as well.