Google Fi: What Are the Pros and Cons?
- Free domestic roaming on US Cellular
- International roaming data billed at same rate as domestic data, no extra charges
- Free text messaging while traveling internationally on Premium and Flexible plans
- High end phones typically sold with large discounts
- Family plan discounts are available
- Single lines more expensive than other providers
- Customer support is questionable
- Plans with limited amount of data are expensive
Prepaid Phone Plans – No Credit Check
Data Only Plans
How Google Fi Plans Work
Google’s Project Fi launched in 2015. In 2018 the service got renamed to Google Fi.
What’s particularly unique about the network is that service is simultaneously provided through T-Mobile, and US Cellular. Google Fi automatically switches to whichever network provides the strongest signal to the customer at any given location and time via roaming.
Google Fi sells three unlimited data plans, with pricing starting at $35/month for a single line. They also offer a pay as you go plan called the Flexible plan.
Google Fi’s Flexible Plan – Bill Protection And Group Rates Explained
Google charges its Fi Flexible plan customers $20/month for unlimited talk and text, and $10 per GB data. Single line customers are only charged for their first 6GB of high-speed data used. Consumers who go over that 6GB data limit will not be charged further. Google considers this “bill protection.” Consumers with a single line that go over 6GB will still be allowed to use a maximum of 15GB of high-speed data before data speeds are throttled to 256 Kbps. You can use your phone’s data while traveling abroad with this plan and you’ll be charged the same $10/GB wherever you go.
Group Plans
Google Fi allows for up to 6 people to share a Flexible phone plan. It costs an additional $15/month per line added. So if you have two lines you’ll pay $35/month before you are billed for any data. Data is also shared between all lines and priced as follows:
- 2 lines – billed for the first 10GB of data used and a price cap of $135
- 3 lines – billed for the first 12GB of data used and a price cap of $170
- 4 lines – billed for the first 14GB of data used and a price cap of $205
- 5 lines – billed for the first 16GB of data used and a price cap of $240
- 6 lines – billed for the first 18GB of data used and a price cap of $275
If you purchase a group plan with a price cap, each individual line can use up to 15GB of high-speed data before that line has its data speeds reduced to 256 Kbps. Hotspot is included with the Flexible plans, and draws from your on-device data allotment. Customers on a Flexible plan can also order data-only SIMs that are billed at the same rate. A maximum of 4 data-only SIMs can be added to a plan.
Unlimited Data Group Plans
Google Fi does offer three “unlimited” phone plans although they aren’t truly unlimited. Data speeds still slow to 256Kbps after you consume a specified amount of data during a billing cycle. Below are price and feature comparison tables of Google’s unlimited plans.
| Feature | Unlimited Essentials | Unlimited Standard | Unlimited Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price 1-line | $35 | $50 | $65 |
| High-speed Data | 30GB* | 50GB* | 100GB* |
| Mobile hotspot | 0GB | 25GB* | 50GB* |
| Data Only SIMs for latops/tablets and more | No | No | Yes |
| 100GB Google One Cloud Storage | No | No | Yes |
| Free International Calling To 50+ destinations | No | Canada & Mex Only | Yes |
| Texts & calls while traveling outside US, Canada & Mexico | No | No | Free texts, 20¢/min for calls |
| High-speed data use while traveling outside US, Canada & Mexico | No | No | Free in over 200 locations |
*Throttles to 256Kbps for the remainder of billing cycle after allotment reached.
Data-only SIMs will draw from the main line’s high-speed data allotment. All plans allow connectivity for Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy Smartwatches.
| Lines | Unlimited Essentials | Unlimited Standard | Unlimited Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | $60 | $80 | $110 |
| 3 | $80 | $90 | $135 |
| 4 | $90 | $100 | $160 |
| 5 | $113 | $125 | $200 |
Taxes and fees cost extra with all Google Fi phone plans.
International Use
Another unique Google Fi feature is that a customers data can be used in over 200 international locations. Customers on the Flexible plan will pay the same $10 per GB of data they do to use it domestically, while there is no charge to use it on the Unlimited Premium plan. International data speeds are only limited by the network that the subscriber is on while traveling. 5G/LTE data is available in many countries.
Google Fi plans include international text messaging to over 200 countries. International voice calls cost extra and in general, are priced at 20¢/minute.
Phone Unlock Policy
Google Fi phones are sold unlocked and can be taken off the network for use elsewhere at any time.
Google Fi News
By Joe Paonessa • 04/22/25
Google Fi has refreshed its wireless plan lineup with the introduction of a new, lower-...
By Joe Paonessa • 03/01/25
Google Fi has launched a new promo giving you its Simply Unlimited plan for 50% off whe...
By Joe Paonessa • 06/20/24
Google Fi has withdrawn from both Best Buy and Target stores as confirmed in the latest...
Does the quoted monthly charge(s) include Fees & Taxes, or are they added to the stated amounts to determine final charges?