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Project Fi by Google

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Re: Project Fi by Google

#291

Post by ForHackernews »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #271
yellowapple wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't Republic Wireless offer unlimited data plans, too? Being an MVNO has nothing to do with Google Fi's apparent inability to do the same.

They ride on Sprint, who is desperate for revenue. Also, Republic retains the right to boot you if you use too much "unlimited" data on Sprint's network.

Republic Wireless also has a roaming agreement with Verizon, for areas where Sprint's network is lacking. But they are really touchy about abusing that. I assume it's very expensive for them.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#293

Post by DEinspanjer »

When I bought my Nexus 6 from T-Mobile, one of the things the CSRs told me was that it would soon be supporting Wifi calling similar to how the other carrier branded phones did. They were just waiting on an update to Android.

Now this comes out, and I wonder if the update is still happening or if Google's answer will be to switch to Fi instead.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#294

Post by nathas »

So if I jump onto an unsecured hotspot, you're telling me 100% of my traffic is being routed through a Google proxy first? The same company that already has all of my email, docs, photos, and chats? I guess they already had my browsing history with Chrome, but wow... that's a lot.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#295

Post by ForHackernews »

yellowapple wrote: post #240
mahouse wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just say "Yes", Google. Just say fucking "Yes". It's not that fucking hard to say fucking "Yes". Do you really need a "yes" there? I think it is pretty normal to have a stupid PR response there -- of course the answer is "yes". There is no other way.

My point is that Google, of all companies, should be grown-up-enough to be able to resist the temptation to feed its users PR non-answers. Google's supposed to be bucking trends, "Do[ing] No Evil(TM)", etc.; they've set a higher standard and they're not meeting it.

C'mon, "Do[ing] No Evil(TM)" is itself a PR non-answer to explain why we shouldn't be worried about their dangerous centralization of data and infrastructure.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#296

Post by sampo »

magic5227 wrote: post #72

Two observations: 1) Terrible name, really awful. Fi? I guess if it's "project" maybe this wasn't public-brand ready? 2) Why wouldn't someone choose the t-mobile unlimited plan vs this one? 3) For the refund policy, why wouldn't everyone sign up for the lowest plan? The presentation is confusing, just say 1gb min and $10 for each gig after that.

> Why wouldn't someone choose the t-mobile unlimited plan vs this one?

Someone whose suburban home has no T-Mobile 4G coverage?

Re: Project Fi by Google

#297

Post by davidw »

Interesting - I like the data roaming, but the pricing isn't very good compared to what I pay here in Italy, which is under 20 euros for 2 GB a month on the provider's network, 400 minutes and 100 sms's.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#298

Post by yellowapple »

VikingCoder wrote: post #162
yellowapple wrote: post #70

Without unlimited data, this is useless to me. If T-Mobile and Sprint can pull off unlimited data plans, then so should Google ( especially if Google Fi uses - you guessed it - both Sprint and T-Mobile as its partner carriers). The least they can do is offer a "you get so-and-so gigabytes of 4G data before we throttle you down to 2G, and we won't charge you anything extra" like what T-Mobile does for its non-unlimite…

I'm pretty sure the accountants and engineers at Google got together and figured out that "unlimited data" plans are going to go bye-bye. For everyone. All providers. As people use more and more data, it just won't make economic sense to offer your customers unlimited data. If Google had offered unlimited data, and then later canceled it, everyone would be bitching about them killing the competition, anti-competitive…

> As people use more and more data, it just won't make economic sense to offer your customers unlimited data.

It makes perfect economic sense. Users who expect to need a lot of data (e.g. anyone who watches or wants to watch HD videos over a cellular connection, which is a lot of people) would be better served by T-Mobile's or Sprint's unlimited (non-throttled) data plans (which run for somewhere between $70 and $90 per month, IIRC), and everyone else would be better served by T-Mobile's throttled data plans, since you'll never be charged overages.

At least AT&T and Verizon can claim that they have a stronger network with better coverage than T-Mobile or Sprint (which is why a lot of people go with them and are willing to be screwed over by them). Google Fi can't even offer that if it's going to be using Sprint and T-Mobile as its backends; combine this with the lack of unlimited data plans and only supporting the Nexus 6 with zero indication of when other phones will be supported (if ever), Google Fi's dead in the water.

In other words:

> I'm pretty sure the accountants and engineers at Google got together and figured out that "unlimited data" plans are going to go bye-bye. For everyone. All providers.

Then I'm pretty sure all the accountants and engineers at Google are incompetent.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#299

Post by presty »

icebraining wrote: post #151
rev_bird wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But they make a line of laptops, a line of mobile devices, and some software. There's no iSpaceship or Apple Submarine(TM) yet -- if you told me Google had a sub bouncing around San Francisco Bay, I wouldn't even question it.

Do barges count? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_barges

the barges are no longer in the bay area

not a sub, but there was/is? this http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/01/07/google-launches-...

Re: Project Fi by Google

#300

Post by pbhjpbhj »

foobarqux wrote: post #146
tomhschmidt wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This plan actually makes no sense. Overage charges are the same rate ($10 / GB), so why am I buying a "plan" at all? Why don't they just charge $10 * x gigs / month instead of all this buying / refunding business?

They invest the float. edit: Removed reference to cash conversion cycle because it doesn't really have anything to do with that.

I find this sort of thing really quite clever - I wonder how much of a factor it is in the decision process, do they tailor it in specifically or is it just a nice extra; what sort of money are we talking?

My best guess with 2mins of [re]search: Let's suppose they hold on average $10 per month per customer that's unused, Nexus 5 sold between 3-5 million units, apparently. So for Nexus 6's on their Fi plan they're likely only looking at the invested benefit of $30M (USD)? Google probably have that sort of cash down the back of the sofa, would they even bother investing the float? Or are my guestimations just way off??

UK utilities I've always assumed are doing this hence the wilder and wilder over-estimation of bills in order to hold more customers cash. Wonder how much Google will push the "let us hold your cash, you'll get back what you don't spend" line in order to have more cash to play with. How evil are they prepared to get to hold some extra pocket change?

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