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Ron asked: “Google Project Fi – it’s the new Google cell phone service. It’s a prepaid service using Nexus phones. From what I’ve read, it seems like the service is really good. it’s low cost. The only possible downside is that you have to use the Nexus phones. I’m thinking of switching to prepaid. I’d be interested in hearing your opinions on Google Fi.”
Google Fi is a pretty good deal. You pay $20 for unlimited calls and texts with 0 data. Then you pay $10 on top of that for each gigabyte of data that you use, if you end up using 3.5GB at the end of the month, you don’t pay for the 4GB, you get refunded for the 0.5GB you did not use.
The phone, including its data plan, work abroad, but data speeds will be kept at 256kb/s. You can also use your phone number on your computer or tablets, which is very handy. 90% of the time you’ll end up using your phone anyway, but that one day your phone dies and your computer rings when someone calls you, you’ll think it’s pretty nifty.
In fact WiFi is the first choice for the phone.
All calls can be routed through WiFi rather than towers, so if you’re somewhere with bad reception but good WiFi, you’ll be able to make calls. In fact, WiFi is the first choice for the phone. If it can’t use WiFi then it will try to route the call through T-Mobile’s or Sprint’s network.
You also get a discount on Nexus phones, you can get a 5X for $199.
The network is not as extensive as what you may find from other companies, not even all of California is covered, though you should be fine in San Francisco. The East Coast is mostly covered, but the Midwest is not very Google Fi friendly.
If you stick to big cities, you’ll probably be ok, but check their map before you decide if the service is right for you. Having WiFi as a call routing option is great, needing WiFi as a call routing option everywhere you go is not so great.
If you don’t use a ton of data though, it’s a pretty interesting service, and you’re likely to get better data speeds than if you go with another low cost competitor, since Google wants you to be online.
Do you already use Google Voice?
There is a potential negative, if you use Google Voice with the account you intend to use Fi with, your options become to make your Google Fi number your old Google Voice number, or to lose the Google Voice number. You can request to have it transferred to another Google account, but if you regularly use a Google Voice number that you don’t want associated with the Google Fi phone, that may be a problem to you.
Nexus phones are actually a positive
We’d like to mention that using Nexus phones isn’t exactly a downside. Although Nexus phones aren’t as heavily advertised as Samsung or Apple phones, they are quite good. They also get their Android updates directly from Google, as soon as they’re available.
For many people, using a Nexus phone would probably be an upside, in fact. So don’t let the hardware limitations make this seem like a bad deal. Of course, it will be pricey, since you pay for your Nexus phone without financing in most cases.