Let's Talk About Google's Project Fi.

Kelric · Post by **Kelric** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 1:57 pm

If you haven't heard, Google is rolling out a cell phone plan called Project Fi. You default to using a wireless signal when possible, but also get access to both the T-Mobile and Sprint signals for when you're out and about. Billing is straightforward: you pay $20 a month, plus $10 per GB of data (not counting what you use on wifi). Did you only use .5 of your 1 GB plan? You get a $5 credit to your bill. Did you go 100 megs over your limit? That will be one extra dollar added to your bill. 5 GBs over? $50 added. Pretty simple.

My wife and I are currently using Verizon and have signal issues in both our home and yard. They have kindly offered to let me pay $150 to buy a signal booster from them, or, after six months of calling about this, they will waive my wife's termination fee if we leave. I have no problem ditching Verizon, but the big downside for me is that the only phones that work with Fi are a Nexus 5X, 6 and 6P. That will mean no more iPhone for me after 5+ years of them. My rough estimates have us saving anywhere from $40 to $50 a month if our historic data usage patterns continue as they are. Tough to say no to that.

Has anyone here switched to Fi, or does anyone have a Nexus 5 or 6 to talk about?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 2:04 pm

Sounds like Cell Phone News to me.

Kelric · Post by **Kelric** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 2:18 pm

Isgrimnur wrote:Sounds like Cell Phone News to me.

No old thread! New thread only!

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 3:46 pm

I have an N5 (and an N5X on order, along with a Fi SIM card to play with). My wife and I are on T-Mobile right now, and our combined bill for unlimited everything is $110 including taxes (company discount brings that down a bit from what the unwashed masses would see). We tend to use 3-4 GB/mo between us, meaning Fi would cost $20 + $20 + $30-40 = $70-80 + taxes = about $80-90/mo given our current usage. The upsides are we'd gain Sprint coverage and a lower bill and the downside is if we ever exceeded 6 GB/mo the bill would be higher than what we pay now (as T-Mobile's bill is the same whether we use 1 GB or 25 GB).

Not sure we'll actually make the switch, but I'm intrigued enough to try it out, and somewhat enthused about the idea of moving away from a traditional carrier relationship (sure, the towers are run by S/T-Mob, but they get to negotiate with Google).

How is the Fi coverage at the places you live/work? I will have a good condition Nexus 4 (wife's) or 5 (mine) to sell in the next 3 weeks or so assuming we like the 5X. Will probably upgrade both phones if we end up loving the 5X.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 4:02 pm

Can you turn off the Internet and just pay $20 per month for unlimited calls and text and stay on the Sprint network? If so, the I so need to get off my lazy ass. I'm paying $29 a month to Sprint (which works out $42 somehow) for 100 minutes plus free nights and weekends and 200 texts a month. I'd love to shave some money off that if I weren't so lazy.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 4:05 pm

LordMortis wrote:Can you turn off the Internet and just pay $20 per month for unlimited calls and text and stay on the Sprint network? If so, the I so need to get off my lazy ass. I'm paying $29 a month to Sprint (which works out $42 somehow) for 100 minutes plus free nights and weekends and 200 texts a month. I'd love to shave some money off that if I weren't so lazy.

You pay for what you use, so if you use no data, then yes it'd be $20.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 4:06 pm

And FWIW, Fi is still invite-only but I got my invite in about 6 hours. The biggest drawback is no family plan right now, but I imagine for a lot of people that's no big deal.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 4:32 pm

Kelric wrote:
Isgrimnur wrote:Sounds like Cell Phone News to me.
No old thread! New thread only!

This is deserving of it's own thread, IMO.

LordMortis wrote:Can you turn off the Internet and just pay $20 per month for unlimited calls and text and stay on the Sprint network? If so, the I so need to get off my lazy ass. I'm paying $29 a month to Sprint (which works out $42 somehow) for 100 minutes plus free nights and weekends and 200 texts a month. I'd love to shave some money off that if I weren't so lazy.

I'm sure you can turn of mobile data, that's a hardware thing. They may make you buy the first GB each month but it sounds like if you don't use it, you get a credit.

I currently pay $35 for the Sprint network (VM) and unlimited data (throttled after 1GB, which I haven't hit yet). But I may be willing to move to Fi if the dual T-Mobile and Sprint thing works well.

DOS=HIGH · Post by **DOS=HIGH** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 4:33 pm

LordMortis wrote:Can you turn off the Internet and just pay $20 per month for unlimited calls and text and stay on the Sprint network? If so, the I so need to get off my lazy ass. I'm paying $29 a month to Sprint (which works out $42 somehow) for 100 minutes plus free nights and weekends and 200 texts a month. I'd love to shave some money off that if I weren't so lazy.

You can turn off cellular data so the phone will only use free WiFi.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 4:34 pm

There's a FAQ here.

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 4:36 pm

Cricket has a $55 plan that gives unlimited talk and text and 10GB of unthrottled data. I'd consider Fi, but my coverage is excellent with Cricket and I've gotten used to being able to play videos.

DOS=HIGH · Post by **DOS=HIGH** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 4:40 pm

Kelric wrote:If you haven't heard, Google is rolling out a cell phone plan called Project Fi. You default to using a wireless signal when possible, but also get access to both the T-Mobile and Sprint signals for when you're out and about. Billing is straightforward: you pay $20 a month, plus $10 per GB of data (not counting what you use on wifi). Did you only use .5 of your 1 GB plan? You get a $5 credit to your bill. Did you go 100 megs over your limit? That will be one extra dollar added to your bill. 5 GBs over? $50 added. Pretty simple.

My wife and I are currently using Verizon and have signal issues in both our home and yard. They have kindly offered to let me pay $150 to buy a signal booster from them, or, after six months of calling about this, they will waive my wife's termination fee if we leave. I have no problem ditching Verizon, but the big downside for me is that the only phones that work with Fi are a Nexus 5X, 6 and 6P. That will mean no more iPhone for me after 5+ years of them. My rough estimates have us saving anywhere from $40 to $50 a month if our historic data usage patterns continue as they are. Tough to say no to that.

Has anyone here switched to Fi, or does anyone have a Nexus 5 or 6 to talk about?

I'm going on my 4th month with Fi and am pretty happy since I rarely use cellular data. This is only based on the Scottsdale/Phoenix/East Valley which I know has good T-Mob service. The credit for unused data goes to the thousandth GB, i.e. I had 1.979GB of unused data so I got a $19.79 credit on my bill. It only currently works with the Nexus 6 and the unreleased new phones, so the old Nexus 5 isn't an option. If you have a Fi account you can get 0% financing for 24 months on the phones. They also have a $50 credit for Google Play with the new phones but that may only be for existing customers. They also sent a Welcome pack, not sure if they still do, that includes a white case, headphones with built in splitter, and a 6000mAh battery pack.

Kelric · Post by **Kelric** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 4:47 pm

Zaxxon wrote:How is the Fi coverage at the places you live/work? I will have a good condition Nexus 4 (wife's) or 5 (mine) to sell in the next 3 weeks or so assuming we like the 5X. Will probably upgrade both phones if we end up loving the 5X.

I work from home most of the time so the wi-fi is really all I need here. I'm also considering a new router since it can be iffy in the living room on our phones even though the Roku and laptop work fine. Also, Fi will only work with the N 5X, 6 and 6P (officially).

The wi-fi is pretty strong when I am in the office and TMobile/Sprint combine to cover pretty much all of the northeast, which I don't leave particularly often.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 4:47 pm

Zaxxon wrote:How is the Fi coverage at the places you live/work? I will have a good condition Nexus 4 (wife's) or 5 (mine) to sell in the next 3 weeks or so assuming we like the 5X. Will probably upgrade both phones if we end up loving the 5X.

Looking back on this quote, it doesn't make a lot of sense given Kelric's question (since Fi won't work with the 4/5. I meant to direct it toward if he went with T-Mobile. Whups.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 4:48 pm

Nice cross-post.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 5:07 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote:
Kelric wrote:
Isgrimnur wrote:Sounds like Cell Phone News to me.
No old thread! New thread only!
This is deserving of it's own thread, IMO.

I have no issues with a devoted thread, I just wanted to tweak him on not being first. Hence the wink.

Kelric · Post by **Kelric** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 5:24 pm

No wink!

killbot737 · Post by **killbot737** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 6:35 pm

LordMortis wrote:Can you turn off the Internet and just pay $20 per month for unlimited calls and text and stay on the Sprint network? If so, the I so need to get off my lazy ass. I'm paying $29 a month to Sprint (which works out $42 somehow) for 100 minutes plus free nights and weekends and 200 texts a month. I'd love to shave some money off that if I weren't so lazy.

You should also check out Ting. It could shave off a little money, depends on your usage. It's also a paygo setup. $6 per device, and minutes/texts/data each have their own price tiers.

Archinerd · Post by **Archinerd** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 9:21 am

killbot737 wrote:
LordMortis wrote:Can you turn off the Internet and just pay $20 per month for unlimited calls and text and stay on the Sprint network? If so, the I so need to get off my lazy ass. I'm paying $29 a month to Sprint (which works out $42 somehow) for 100 minutes plus free nights and weekends and 200 texts a month. I'd love to shave some money off that if I weren't so lazy.
You should also check out Ting. It could shave off a little money, depends on your usage. It's also a paygo setup. $6 per device, and minutes/texts/data each have their own price tiers.

+1 for Ting.
I'm on track for a $41 bill this week. I've got two phones on the plan though. If you're anything like me LM (and dont use much talk, text or data) then you could probably only pay $15-$20 most months.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 9:46 am

Now that I can get a Fi-compatible phone for closer to $300 than $600, Fi is potentially a better option for me than Ting. With my usage, I think my Ting bill would be about $32, while I'm probably looking at $25 or so on Fi. I live in a more rural area too, so being able to call on wifi or one of two networks seems like a good thing to me. Plus, if Fi doesn't work, I can always swap the phone over to Ting, right?

Geezerone · Post by **Geezerone** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:48 pm

I have experience with both Ting and Fi. Since leaving AT&T a few years back, I've had 3 phones on Ting for an average monthly bill less than $60 (we don't use much data as we maximize our WiFi usage); AT&T would have been at least double that.

Late last year I got a new Nexus 6, and when I got invited to Fi I jumped at the chance to try it out. I was excited not for the usual reasons but for the seamless handover of networks (Sprint, TMobile, and Wifi). If you've used Sprint or TMobile before then you know that they got the shaft when it came to cellular frequencies (Verizon and AT&T grabbed the best ones in the US) and reception is typically lousy inside of buildings. Also, they generally don't have the same level of coverage across the country that Verizon and AT&T does. So, WiFi calling and network handover is very important to me. Note that Ting started with Sprint as their CDMA carrier and have added TMobile as their GSM carrier, but you must get one SIM card or the other.

Since Ting tracks your minutes, messages, and data for each phone on your account, I knew what my usage patterns were. Fi gives you unlimited calling and texting for your $20 base fee, and the minimum 1GB plan is an additional $10 per month (last month I got a $9.08 credit as I had 0.908GB of unused data

), fees were an added $3.95 for a total bill of $24.87. Not too bad, but my bill would have been less than that on Ting.

My wife and my 12yr old son are still on Ting, and the last month bill was for $52.96 (624 calling minutes, 164 texts, and 125MB data, 2 phones and $5.96 of fees). I've just ordered another Ting GSM card for my car (Audi uses the Tmobile network for their Nav function) that should use another 500MB of data per month.

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask away. BTW I also live and work in Massachusetts.

Kelric · Post by **Kelric** » Tue Oct 06, 2015 6:01 pm

These last two days have been the last straw. I've had to go outside several times to make calls since I consistently have a No Service notice from Verizon. I sit right next to a window and under a skylight, but I must have Magic Signal Blocking Glass. Comparing Ting (whom I had never heard of) to Fi, we definitely need Fi, as my wife is on the phone a lot (stay at home mom with a giant family) and we both text a lot. Paying Google for the phones is better for us, too. Heading to Fi now....

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Tue Oct 06, 2015 6:31 pm

Still waiting for my Fi SIM to ship. Same for the N5X.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Wed Oct 14, 2015 12:48 pm

I'm just debating whether to use my current phone number and lose my Google Voice number or to go with Google voice and have two numbers for a while.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:00 am

Zaxxon wrote:Still waiting for my Fi SIM to ship. Same for the N5X.

Isn't the 5x being released on the 25th?

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:01 am

Preorders started on 9/29 with a 3-4 week ship time. Nothing firmer was given, although Google charged me yesterday. I'm thinking it will go out today or Mon.

Kelric · Post by **Kelric** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 2:51 pm

I ordered mine last week and the ship date is the 23rd to 27th, my wife got a different color and her date is the 25th to 29th. Both are Nexus 5s.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 5:34 pm

Huh. Well, I was waiting since I thought it was coming out later.

Ordered and they're saying delivery on the 29th. Black 5x 16GB.

Ugh, and when I go to get the particulars to switch over from my other account, I see my $35/mo Virgin plan was upped from 1GB to 2.5GB with music streaming services not counting against the cap. Guess they're feeling the pressure. Which changes the math a bit.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 3:05 pm

Kind of shocked to learn that none of the new Nexus phones have an SD slot. Upgraded to 32GB.

Now I remember why I stuck with $60 3-gen-old phones for so long though.

Zaxxon wrote:Preorders started on 9/29 with a 3-4 week ship time. Nothing firmer was given, although Google charged me yesterday. I'm thinking it will go out today or Mon.

Apparently today is the official release date.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 3:33 pm

I use hardly any data. But that is only because T-Mobile doesn't count my nearly constant Pandora streaming at work. I'm assuming that would no longer be the case. Not sure what my data usage would look like without that feature. That was the main reason we went with T-Mobile.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 5:08 pm

Yep, LB, my pre-order shipped today. As did my Fi card.

gbasden · Post by **gbasden** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 5:30 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote:Kind of shocked to learn that none of the new Nexus phones have an SD slot. Upgraded to 32GB.

That's moderately lame.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 5:49 pm

gbasden wrote:
LawBeefaroni wrote:Kind of shocked to learn that none of the new Nexus phones have an SD slot. Upgraded to 32GB.

That's moderately lame.

Seems like a way to push cloud services. And possibly pump up those mobile data rates.

Kelric · Post by **Kelric** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 7:21 am

Mine still says 23rd to 27th.

paulbaxter · Post by **paulbaxter** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 10:34 am

Republic Wireless has a similar sort of concept, and they are available to anyone. You get unlimited data on wifi. You get to use the Sprint network otherwise, with a data limit. Also, they have added a rebate program where you get back money each month based on how much cellular data you left unused. According to their website, in September the average customer on the rebate plan paid $13.79 for the month.

The down side is that they make you buy a phone from them. They have a choice of three Motorola phones right now. I happen to think it's a pretty sweet deal. You just end up prioritizing usage for when you are on wifi.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 10:05 pm

Kelric wrote:Mine still says 23rd to 27th.

Shipped today from Carol Stream so should be here Monday (I got the crappy standard ground free shipping).

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 10:08 pm

Mine arrived yesterday. Liking the phone so far, and Fi works well in the limited time I've spent with it.

Biggest improvements to me are the speed at which the camera is ready to take a pic, way better autofocus, and the fingerprint reader.

Kelric · Post by **Kelric** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 12:35 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote:
Kelric wrote:Mine still says 23rd to 27th.
Shipped today from Carol Stream so should be here Monday (I got the crappy standard ground free shipping).

Mine shipped Wednesday or Thursday and should be here Monday as well. My wife's won't be here until Tuesday, so I can't activate mine right away since we're on the same Verizon plan.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Mon Oct 26, 2015 4:32 pm

Kelric wrote:
LawBeefaroni wrote:
Kelric wrote:Mine still says 23rd to 27th.
Shipped today from Carol Stream so should be here Monday (I got the crappy standard ground free shipping).
Mine shipped Wednesday or Thursday and should be here Monday as well. My wife's won't be here until Tuesday, so I can't activate mine right away since we're on the same Verizon plan.

According to FedEx, it was sent from Chicago to La Grange on Saturday and then put on a vehicle for delivery in Chicago.

Supposedly delivered today. We'll see.

10/26/2015 - Monday
1:08 pm Delivered
Chicago, IL

10/24/2015 - Saturday
6:47 am On FedEx vehicle for delivery
LA GRANGE, IL

6:44 am Arrived at FedEx location
LA GRANGE, IL

6:42 am At local FedEx facility
LA GRANGE, IL

4:23 am Departed FedEx location
CHICAGO, IL

12:45 am Arrived at FedEx location
CHICAGO, IL

10/23/2015 - Friday
6:17 pm Picked up
CAROL STREAM, IL

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Oct 26, 2015 4:43 pm

FWIW, my tests with Fi went well. I ended up sticking with T-Mo because the wife thinks the 5X is too big for her, leaving her with no Fi-compatible handset option. We'll revisit in a year or two when presumably there will be more options.