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US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

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Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#91

Post by wdmeldon »

fizzbatter wrote: post #51
wdmeldon wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's 100 minutes a month if I'm not mistaken. Can't say for sure if the plan still exists, but it's almost impossible to find any advertising regarding it. You have to specifically ask for it like those quesadillas at Chipotle. I was happy with it for a couple years but switched to google Fi when I got my Nexus 6P and I'm perfectly happy with it.

As my tmo plan may suggest, i rarely use minutes. Fi only offers a minutes oriented plan, and i hate that pricing. Feels like i would be wasting money. Oh, question for you if you don't mind: Since you were on Tmo, can you compare the reception/coverage for Fi vs Tmo? In theory Fi would have better reception due to more networks, but i'm not really sure how much Tmo and Sprint differ in network size/locations. Though…

Probably best summed up with "Nothing beats Verizon, unfortunately". I primarily use WiFi calling as I live in a gigantic concrete building facing the lake so I get literally zero cellular reception in my apartment.

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#92

Post by zymhan »

acjohnson55 wrote: post #90
glitch003 wrote: post #88

Google Fi is amazing. The free international data roaming is like nothing else I've ever experienced. Land in Japan and my phone just works. No extra charges, it just works.

I have a similar experience on T-Mobile

Agreed, I got a post-paid plan for a month while traveling to and around Europe, and it's great being able to just use your phone like normal.

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#93

Post by sithadmin »

toxican wrote: post #71
sumitgt wrote: post #38

I must say Project FI has worked out really nice for me. I'm usually in Wifi range, so my data usage is very low. Works out to around $27 each month. And the service is really good. BUT, I live in the constant fear of Google shutting down the service. In fact I'm slowly finding myself skeptical of adopting new Google products because I'm worried it will go away.

My plan for if they ever pull the plug on it is to go back to Ting. Similar idea and pricing.

The thing that kills Ting for me is the data pricing. At the 1-2GB/month tier, a Ting customer pays 200% more for data than a Fi customer.

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#94

Post by ryao »

I use Google Voice as a landline replacement with an Obihai device and effectively get free service, minus E911, but I have a cell phone for that. The costs for wireless must be much higher for Google to be charging, although I manage to get service on Sprint through Ringplus that is effectively free too. There are limits, I am charged for overages and I do not get roaming, but I have real SMS and can use any CDMA capable device. I see no reason to pay for Google Fi as long as I am in an area where Sprint's network is good. Their network was terrible on Long Island in 2014, but as of 2016 it seems decent.

If anyone is in an area where Sprint is decent, I suggest trying Ringplus. You can use an old phone to test it. In my case, I gave a neighbor who did not have a cellphone an old phone and set it up for him on Ring plus. I heard a few months later that the coverage was good, so I switched and found that it is indeed better than it was in 2014. Consequently, I can put the money saved from not paying a monthly fee into something tangible, like equipment.

It would be nice if Google could offer a similiar service for everyone, but until either then or Ringplus decides to stop providing free service, I am sticking with Ringplus. There is no point in paying for a service that a competitor offers for free.

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#95

Post by tschuy »

vecinu wrote: post #30
Fej wrote: post #29

This is cool and all, but I'm worried that Google will just pull the plug during one "spring cleaning" event. Plus T-Mobile's $100/4 lines/2 GB per line is just unbeatable right now... cheaper and more data.

> Plus T-Mobile's $100/4 lines/2 GB per line is just unbeatable right now... cheaper and more data. Except you don't have worldwide roaming included in your plan, which you have to pay extra for. That's a reason why I'm not changing from Fi. Also the fact that data I don't use is reimbursed.

T-Mobile was the first US carrier to give free Intl roaming. I'm currently using it and it's worked great for months.

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#96

Post by dcrall »

kyrra wrote: post #31
plusbryan wrote: post #4

Good to see the network growing! Looking at US Cellular's coverage map ( https://www.uscellular.com/coverage-map/coverage-indicator.h... ), this news won't benefit the sf bay area, but help users in the northwest, northeast, and midwest.

While it doesn't impact me, I spent a few years in Iowa, which has pretty junk coverage from every carrier except US Cellular. I was surprised by how many people used them in Iowa (and that they had the most store-front stores around). While you'll get coverage along the major highways (which means all the major cities have coverage from AT&T and Verizon), when you start driving into farmland, US Cellular is the only…

Agreed. This is interesting in the midwest. To date we've stuck with Verizon to have both nation-wide coverage and coverage in rural Iowa. It looks like we could save significant money by switching.

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#97

Post by toxican »

sithadmin wrote: post #93
toxican wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My plan for if they ever pull the plug on it is to go back to Ting. Similar idea and pricing.

The thing that kills Ting for me is the data pricing. At the 1-2GB/month tier, a Ting customer pays 200% more for data than a Fi customer.

Yeah it's definitely not perfect, but it's still better than the next best thing, which is probably Virgin Mobile. And it's definitley better than using one of the major providers!

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#98

Post by _ea1k »

pasbesoin wrote: post #45
BooneJS wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, they have the best rural coverage in the Midwest (Verizon, thanks to AllTel, is a close 2nd.)

If this extends in/through northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan, I may indeed switch to Fi. Actually, I recently took advantage of the Fi discount on a Nexus 5x ($250 @ 32 GB), but after some days dinking with it on Fi, I swapped in my Verizon SIM as planned, to have Verizon service with Nexus quality/timely system updates. (Needed an additional reboot for LTE to kick in, but since then -- as r…

> The other is to see whether, now that I'm out from under my 2 year phone "contract" with Verizon, I can coerce better pricing/capacity out of them.

If you are currently paying the contract rate, you should be able to get ~20/month off.

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#99

Post by Zigurd »

footpath wrote: post #60
rch wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it is specifically excluded from Google Fi (you may import your number, but no going back). My biggest gripe with Fi is that there is no way to check voicemail or handle SMS through the web interface. That was the most useful aspect of Voice for me.

It's possible to transfer your number back to Google Voice after you cancel Project Fi: https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6079398 However, it's not guaranteed: "Google Voice’s number availability changes regularly, so even if your number was previously on Google Voice, it can’t always be transferred back. If you’d like to keep this number, we recommend transferring it to another carrier that supports it."

I wonder why the are any limitations on number import.

Re: US Cellular Now a Part of Project Fi's Network

#100

Post by fizzbatter »

amock wrote: post #58
fizzbatter wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As my tmo plan may suggest, i rarely use minutes. Fi only offers a minutes oriented plan, and i hate that pricing. Feels like i would be wasting money. Oh, question for you if you don't mind: Since you were on Tmo, can you compare the reception/coverage for Fi vs Tmo? In theory Fi would have better reception due to more networks, but i'm not really sure how much Tmo and Sprint differ in network size/locations. Though…

Total Wireless offers a plan with unlimited talk and text and 5GB of data for $35 on Verizon's network. It is throttled at 5Mbps, but if you use little enough data to make Fi worthwhile I don't think that will be an issue for you.

Well, i'm more concerned about the data than talk or text. Most of the calls i make are done via Google on my laptop (free minutes), so i almost never need minutes on my phone. It's not the data price of Fi that bothers me, it's the flat $20 charge for Unlimited Talk/Text that i don't want to pay.

If they gave me $5 or $10/m for reduced talk, i'd be in heaven

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