google has launched project fi for public consumption. for those that don't know what project fi is, here is a quick summary. project fi is google's venture into cell phone service. they do this not by setting up their own cell towers, but by using cell towers of other service providers, much like H2O using AT&T's cell towers. at the time of public launch, google is working with T-mobile, Sprint, and US Cellular. one thing that sets google apart from all others in cell service is that google allows you to roam across ALL 3 networks. that's right. using google's cell service, you will be connecting to 3 service providers, depending on which has the stronger signal where you currently are. in addition, a network of free wifi hotspots is also added into the mix. if you are within range, google says that you will connect automatically and will be able to make calls over wifi. this will cut down the amount of data you use as well as voice minutes. though this really doesn't really matter for voice, because voice + text is unlimited in their offering. and while you are on one of these wifi hotspots, your calls and data requests are automatically encrypted. at this time, the service can be used in over 135 countries.
pricing starts at $20/month for unlimited voice + standard sms text. data cost $10 per GB, turning your phone into a hotspot is explicitly allowed, and there is no overage charge. let's say you sign up for 3 GB and use 4 for the month. in this case, you will be charged for the additional 1 GB at the same rate as the other 3 GB. not only that, let's say you only use 2 of your 3 GB. in this case, you will actually get a $10 credit for next month's bill. i know of no other cell service provider that does this. and when used abroad in the 135 countries, data still costs only $10 per GB (i believe that data speed is limited in many countries, however). but unfortunately, call from abroad is not included in the unlimited call + text plan. calling from abroad is on a per minute cost schedule and varies from country to country. but i believe that it is competitive, if not lower than other providers.
the only huge thing about this service is that it officially works on just 3 phones at the time of this writing, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, and Nexus 6P. if you don't already have one of these phones, you will need to purchase one just to take advantage of this service.
a note about the pricing structure. if you use a lot of data, this plan may not be for you. someone who travels a lot and use a phone as a wifi source for a laptop will likely use a lot of data. if this is the case, a traditional unlimited plan will most likely be more suited to your needs. also, those with family plans also pay less than moving to project fi for each member of the family. this plan is suited for individuals that use a reasonable amount of data (which may or may not vary from month to month) and those who travel abroad and like the fixed $10 per GB of data price structure.
my experience:
before this, i have been using iphones on tmobile for quite a few years. after activating project fi service on a nexus 5x, i decided to see if i could just swap the sim into my iphone just to see if it works.
USING AN IPHONE WITH PROJECT FI DOES WORK. however, there are some glitches and other downsides with using an iphone for FI service, the biggest of which is that you lose your advantage to roam across the three networks.
the fixable:
1. i was already limited to tmobile on my old service, so i'm not losing anything when i switched over to FI. if i travel, i can just switch the sim card back into the nexus 5x to take advantage of using 3 networks.
2. when someone leaves me a voicemail, i get a text saying that the voicemail had failed, even though this is not true. i checked, and there is a voicemail.
3. when i get a standard sms, appended to the end of the message is a series of characters that always begin with a "~". i just ignore this.
4. using LTE for both voice + data resulted in a long delay when dialing out...up to 28 seconds before i heard the phone ring. this is also true on the phone that i called. i heard that hearing the rings after dialing out may be antiquated and unnecessary and that it just let's the caller know that the dialing out process is working. but here, the phone that i dialed also did not ring for about the same amount of time. after i switched over to use LTE just for data, the dialing out time was cut to a much shorter 2 to 5 seconds.
5. tmobile's wifi calling is no longer an option.
6. data speeds were not up to par until i changed the APN from the default to "h2g2". search for "project fi apn" and you'll find other settings to make data work right.
7. project fi uses google's hangouts app by default to handle messages. you can use the standard message app if you want by making changes in the hangouts app.
the only iphone feature that works without any changes is iMessage. this just works as expected.
one additional thing. you must keep your nexus phone if you are going to do this. they don't tell you this, but not only is the fi sim tied to your google account, but the nexus phone itself is also tied to your account.
once you set up the iphone, you cannot simply sell the nexus. if someone else tries to set up the nexus with fi, it will fail. in order for another user to sign up for fi service with this nexus phone, it must be detached from your account. and if it's the only phone on your account, detaching it will also cancel your fi service. to keep your fi service, you must have at least one nexus phone on the account. if you have two, great. you can detach one and do as you wish with it.
