from Hacker News

Project Fi Is Now Google Fi

by jeremydw on 11/28/18, 3:50 PM with 220 comments

• by Someone1234 on 11/28/18, 4:14 PM

  Maybe bigger news is that they now officially support (in "beta") iPhones, Samsung's S line, and many other handsets.

  If you use a non-Fi native device it won't support Sprint (T-Mobile only) and fast switching from WiFi to cellular is disabled.

  It might have limitations but at least it is officially supported. People have already been using non-supported devices on Fi with these same limitations, it was just technically forbidden.

  Fi really is a great network, I doubt it would ever happen but I still hope that cost per GB might fall a little in time. I am pleased they added the data ceiling/unlimited after 6 GB.

• by Majestic121 on 11/28/18, 4:14 PM

  Is 10$/GB a reasonable price in the US?

  It seems completely out of whack to me.

  For comparison, I have 20GB + unlimited call/texts for 10e/month, with optional 2e/GB recharges, and that's not even the cheapest available offer

• by _underflow_ on 11/28/18, 4:14 PM

  Anyone looked into potential privacy implications? I understand my current carrier can potentially deduce things about my habits in the unlikely event that they were so inclined, but Alphabet et al seem to make a not insignificant portion of their profit from data gathering - that is, they don't need to be interesting in me particularly to sell data about me to those that are (whether for benign ad targeting or something more nefarious)

  I don't mean to seem paranoid, but with the current hype around Google's tumultuous relationship with "Don't be evil", I'm not sure I want them having that data on me too.

• by lghh on 11/28/18, 4:09 PM

  Google Fi is one of the best services that Google offers. I am trying to cut down on my Google dependence, but I don't see myself leaving Fi any time soon.

• by whitepoplar on 11/28/18, 4:37 PM

  It would be great if Apple could create their own version of Google Fi, optimized for iOS devices and, more importantly, privacy. This would also be cool for international use, where using my phone feels like playing Russian roulette. Is my Wi-Fi call billed at normal data rate? Am I being billed at $1/minute? Is my call even going over Wi-Fi? If Apple controlled the network, they could just say "This is a free call" on the call screen, or "This call is $0.20/minute." And even better, with flaky international Wi-Fi, the call could be locked into the initial rate even if it hops over to a cell tower if/when the Wi-Fi fails. All I want in a carrier is rock-solid predictability and reliability and for me to never think about it ever again. Google Fi comes really close to this, but it's still not ideal for those using Apple products.

• by epapsiou on 11/28/18, 4:27 PM

  I want to jump to Fi but is just super expensive for families. I have 4 lines. With Mint I can get unlimited talk, text and 2GB/per line for $15. So a family of 4 = $60. With Fi it would be $145. The difference is more than double. ATT offers 4 lines for $120 with 3GB per line. I remember when it was launched the price advantage was big. But since then the carriers came down and Fi did not (barring that $15 vs $20 per extra line thing)

  The only advantage I see is the use of 3 networks(for those who live in places with bad coverage).

• by caymanjim on 11/28/18, 4:38 PM

  If you're happy with your phone service in the US, and you're a moderate or large data user, Google Fi is not likely to be a great deal for you. It's in the price ballpark of other carriers, but it's not cheap.

  For me, the four major wins for Fi are:

  1. It's multi-carrier.

  It seamlessly switches to whichever carrier has the best signal. It also seamlessly switches to VoIP over wifi when in range.

  You can start a phone call on your work wifi, walk to a coffee shop, and use their wifi, walk home and use your wifi, and while you're walking, it'll hop between cell carriers to get the best signal. While my scenario is a bit artificial, it's impressive.

  The big win here is that you get a strong signal in places where other carriers fail. I had Sprint in Manhattan, and all you need to do to lose signal is walk next to a tall building. I'd get 5 bars outside my apartment and 2 bars inside. With Fi, I have a great signal everywhere.

  2. You only pay for what you use.

  I'm not a huge data user. I never stream media on my phone, and my day-to-day use consists of reading the news and some light Facebook browsing.

  If you don't use any data, your bill is $20/month. A typical bill for me is about $40/mo, which is about half the price I'd pay with any other major carrier.

  Sometimes I need more, and having the option is nice. When I was commuting a lot, I'd tether, and use 6-12GB/mo. Since the 6-15GB window is "free", the bill would max out at $80/mo, which is comparable to other providers for similar usage. But instead of paying $80/mo all the time, I only pay that much when I need it. Once, I went over 15GB. The throttling was terribly (256KB), but I was also able to opt-in and pay $10/GB beyond that. I went up to 20GB full-bandwidth for the month, and my bill was $130, but required no commitment. Other providers don't even offer the option.

  3. There's no commitment. If you own the phone, it's pay-as-you-go. You don't have to commit to a full-year plan.

  4. The data rate applies internationally.

  I travel enough that paying $10/mo for data in other countries is a godsend. I used to have to buy local SIMs and pay outrageous rates for data in other countries.

• by whitepoplar on 11/28/18, 4:23 PM

  What are the downsides to using an MVNO such as Google Fi? As far as I'm aware, carriers are prone to de-prioritizing MVNO traffic to favor their own customers during periods of high congestion or emergency, but I don't know if all MVNO traffic is treated equally, or if certain MVNO carriers are de-prioritized because they pay less for "budget/excess capacity" network use.

• by pmilla1606 on 11/28/18, 4:11 PM

  This is compelling. I like the "pay as you go" model for data. I'm on an iPhone though and do enjoy visual voicemail - I wonder how much I would miss it? I also wonder what their beta status for iOS means and what their roadmap looks like.

• by dangoor on 11/28/18, 5:17 PM

  It's cool to see this service graduate, and the addition of limited iPhone support. That said, this year I discovered Xfinity Mobile. We already have Comcast internet at home (which has actually worked quite well for us, despite Comcast's horrible customer service reputation).

  Xfinity Mobile costs nothing for talk/text for up to 5 phones + $12 per GB of shared data (or $45 per "unlimited" data per phones). After taxes, my bill has been hovering between $14-26, because I don't use a ton of data on the go.

  Oh, and they use Verizon as the underlying carrier, so the coverage has been good.

• by toast0 on 11/28/18, 8:12 PM

  I love the promise of automatic carrier switching, but the reality is somewhat lacking -- you need special firmware, and anyway T-Mobile and Sprint seem to be merging.

  I would love to consider a MVNO that actually supported roaming across carriers, using the normal stuff that's in phones already, as long as they had a reasonable data plan with some measured amount of high speed data, and unmetered low speed after that. I could live with always low speed data too, I just want better coverage than I can get with a single network.

• by gcburn2 on 11/28/18, 4:15 PM

  The biggest part of this undoubtedly has to be the ability to use phones outside the Nexus/Pixel lines. I've been a Project Fi customer for a few years now and love to wax poetic about it, but always have to add the caveat of "oh, but you can't use your current phone.". Which is a bigger deal when many of my friends are using iPhones and would never consider switching to Android.

• by ryanmercer on 11/28/18, 5:25 PM

  And it's still a steaming pile. I've been a Fi user since September of 2015 and I've had annoyance after annoyance.

  - MMS and SMS would send and the receipients would get multiple copies. In one instance someone got more than a dozen instances of a photo I sent

  - MMS and SMS would fail to show up regularly for a month

  - SMS showed up a full week after the fact in one instance

  - Visual voicemail failed to retrieve messages for the better part of a year once

  - It took them way too long to get 2fa SMS messages to actually deliver

  - People have had multiple years of issues with their phone not ringing, only ringing on hangouts on their computer, not hearing a ring when they call someone

  - People have had multiple years of people regularly being unable to hear them, people saying they sound extremely quiet, being unable to hear people, having awesome signal strength but breaking up terribly for the other person

  - Piss poor network switching over multiple years, for a solid 2 years you'd have edge and it wouldn't switch to the other one then two networks that had great signal 4g where you were

  - Unexplained mystery data usage for multiple people over multiple years

  - Terrible customer service for many when something is wrong

  - In multiple instances they allowed existing users numbers to be taken by other people

  - Countless instances of the 'hidden' number showing up when texting or calling someone

  Etc etc. The ONLY reason I'm still a subscriber is they still owe me $336.63 in referral credit from a contest over a year ago, I basically only pay taxes for my service.

• by jdeibele on 11/28/18, 5:17 PM

  My wife and I are on Xfinity Mobile, which uses Verizon towers. We're on the $12/gig plan, while texts and minutes are free.

  Our 3 kids are on Tello, which resells Sprint. They're on the 100 minutes, unlimited texts, 1GB of data plan for $10/month. With taxes, it's almost exactly $11.

  Verizon seems to have coverage in remote areas where Sprint doesn't, though sometimes it's been true that Sprint has service and Verizon doesn't. It might be that if we were using Verizon service from Verizon itself instead of through a reseller we'd have service. Given that we pay about $65/month for 5 lines of service, which is what we were paying for 1 line from Verizon, I'm not anxious to test that out.

  I've shown the kids how to adjust their phones to just use WiFi for app updates, etc. They're young enough that they're at school or home, not driving themselves around.

  Additional GB are $4/month on Tello. They get 2G speed if they hit their 1GB limit, which means they get iMessages, email, etc.

• by russdill on 11/28/18, 4:15 PM

  I was really hoping they'd bring down the data rate as part of coming out of the "project" phase.

• by dcchambers on 11/28/18, 4:19 PM

  If the non-supported phones are stuck on T-Mobile's network and don't support the seamless WiFi/Cell switching, what advantage is there to picking Fi over regular T-Mobile service? Price-wise Fi only wins if you use very little data.

• by desireco42 on 11/28/18, 8:19 PM

  I on on Fi and I love it.

  Even just for US, coverage is great and rarely you will have any issues with reception.

  When you travel internationally, it is fantastic experience and often you get fantastic speeds. My experience is with Europe and it was great.

  While it might sound that it can be expensive, overall you really have great experience and it adjusts to your usage. It is transparent and easy to look how much you used.

  The only thing that I would love to have (and not excessively pay for it) would be some kind of deal on hotspot access. If I could get a data card through them for lte device that I would getter better deal then $10/GB, I think that would be awesome.

  Overall my experience mirrors other positive experiences.

• by wnevets on 11/28/18, 4:21 PM

  Fi is still way more expensive than t-mobile's prepaid plan at 10GB for $40 with free music streaming. At these price points it's not worth taking the risk of wifi not being available.

• by iamgopal on 11/28/18, 4:15 PM

  Not even in my wildest dream I have imagine that, India could have cheaper and faster internet than most of other countries. Now for 2 USD/month I'm using 3GB data per day at 4G speed.

• by bkanber on 11/28/18, 4:43 PM

  After having service with Verizon, T-Mobile, and Google Fi, I can say I like Fi the best. I'm almost always on wifi, and when I'm not it's because I'm traveling. My monthly bill is about half what it was when I was on T-Mobile, and the coverage is much better (plus voice+SMS over wifi). It's definitely not for people who rely on LTE all day long, but if you're mostly going from home to work under a wifi cloud all day, with some traveling overseas a few times a year, it's perfect.

• by xutopia on 11/28/18, 4:15 PM

  Canada has the most expensive plans in the first world and we don't have access to Google Fi yet. It's ridiculous how expensive it can be to have data here.

• by mrdoops on 11/28/18, 4:26 PM

  The company moved into a new office for a few months that had terrible cell service inside the building. Everyone had to do phone calls outside. But having Fi meant I could do everything on wi-fi. I think it's only a matter of time before features like this become ubiquitous. Do we really need cellular networks if something like Starlink beams high speed internet to every corner of the planet?

• by AcerbicZero on 11/28/18, 10:49 PM

  I've been on Fi for ~2 years now, and while the network kinda sucks sometiems, and $10/GB can be expensive, keeping the Google Voice spam filtering/call filtering, and doing all my texting via Hangouts is amazing.

  I'm sure sooner or later Google will fuck it up, and I'd honestly much rather have an iPhone these days, but for my current setup, its perfect.

• by otterpro on 11/28/18, 5:34 PM

  I use Tracfone because it is cheaper if I don't need unlimited talk/text. I probably average around $10/month on my Tracfone for everything, as my data usage is very light, and I only use about 100 minutes of voice. I'd use Google Fi when I'm traveling overseas, since it includes roaming, which is a killer feature.

• by exabrial on 11/28/18, 4:46 PM

  I worry about Google spying on me, but I'm extremely pleased with Fi. It's followed me all over the world from the UK, France, Germany, China, and Singapore, as well as all over the USA in major cities and deserted areas as well.

  Annnnd... it's really easy to integrate with Jolly Roger Phone Company which makes for some good laughs.

• by xrd on 11/28/18, 4:23 PM

  I have a LG Sport Watch which has a Sim card. Anyone know if this is now supported? I've never been able to get it to work because you need to register the Sim card on a device that works with Fi and my current devices are sim-less.

  I've been on Fi for years and highly recommended it.

• by bubblethink on 11/28/18, 4:25 PM

  So from memory, project-fi support on phones was all blobbed up in google play services. No way to use the features on AOSP. Now that they also support iphones and other android phones, has it been merged into AOSP and/or some standard ?

• by boromi on 11/28/18, 4:30 PM

  10$/GB is way too expensive Compare: - ATT unlocked pay as you go you get 8GB with ROLLOVER for 40$ a month (autopay) - TMobile for 40$ per month you get 10GB (not sure about rollover)

  This service seems very niche and only for international travellers.

• by madspindel on 11/28/18, 4:14 PM

  I am paying $10 for 2GB data, unlimited talk and text so this looks very expensive to me.

• by reustle on 11/29/18, 5:10 AM

  Fantastic! Can I use it with my Google Apps account yet? I've been forced to have my Fi account tied with my old gmail account for years, and I can't connect that account with my phone without getting tons of garbage emails.

• by karanke on 11/28/18, 4:41 PM

  How does Fi work with family plans?

  Currently paying $140 on T-Mobile for 4 unlimited lines with unlimited international 3G roaming (good enough for maps and music) and other misc. benefits (half-off phones, free Netflix, unlimited in-flight wi-fi).

• by ForHackernews on 11/28/18, 4:19 PM

  For people interested, an alternative low-cost wifi-first carrier is Republic Wireless https://republicwireless.com/

• by novaleaf on 11/28/18, 10:35 PM

  If this kind of ala-carte plan is interesting to you, check out ting. very similar but lower price. works with cdma or gsm phones.

  https://ting.com

• by falcor84 on 11/29/18, 1:34 PM

  Is this just for Americans? The site doesn't seem to mention anything at all about availability, but the signup form just had "state" and not "country".

• by hi41 on 11/29/18, 3:32 AM

  Regarding the exceeding 15gb and throttling...

  If it is a family plan, does this affect just the user who exceeded the 15gb limit or does data get throttled for all users in the plan.

• by carlosvega on 11/28/18, 6:10 PM

  In Spain I pay 19€ for unlimited calls (no SMS included), and 23GB of data and for 2€ more I can add another person to share my data plan.

• by lambda_lover on 11/28/18, 10:18 PM

  $200 credit if you bring your own device today? That's it, I guess I'll try a 6-month free trial of Fi...

• by yc-kraln on 11/28/18, 6:27 PM

  And Google launches another US-centric product without even thinking about the rest of the world. The lesson, of course, is that the rest of the world needs to get used to the idea that Google (and other bay area companies) are not designing for them, or consider them, and they should rather take care for themselves.

  What is the Google Fi of France? Of Germany? Of India?

• by garysahota93 on 11/28/18, 7:37 PM

  Does anyone know if Fi still allows SMS via Google Hangouts?

• by karkisuni on 11/28/18, 4:11 PM

  support for iPhones, but they can't jump networks to whichever is strongest. still nice to have official support.

• by cmcginty on 11/28/18, 9:50 PM

  I wouldn't touch this considering how quickly Google shuts things down. Maybe if it's still available in 5 to 10 years.

• by patagonia on 11/28/18, 4:25 PM

  HN screams bloody murder when Google grabs location data without being clear about it. But I see nothing critical iin this thread (yet) of the idea of Google providing this service? So confused.