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Project Fi by Google

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Re: Project Fi by Google

#341

Post by wtallis »

rakoo wrote: post #229
amalag wrote: post #23

This is doing the same things as Republic Wireless. Calls and texts over wifi to keep their carrier costs down. RW is cheaper at $10 a month without data and $25 for unlimited 3G. With RW you need their customized android phone but they are cheap. $650 for the phone is steep (or a credit pull).

RW is USA only, though.

They've announced that they're adding another carrier, which is almost certainly going to be T-Mobile, who is providing the international service that Google's going to offer. Once RW has made it official that they'll be offering the Nexus 6 and T-Mobile backend, they'll probably add the same international service as Google, if they haven't confirmed an outright merger by then.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#342

Post by ricardobeat »

unprepare wrote: post #330
pluma wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is $10/GB and $0.2/min normal within the US? I'm not familiar with American (non-roaming) pricing. For comparison: In Germany I have an LTE data plan for my tablet where I pay €24.99 for 7.5GB (~$3.57/GB), the lowest plan being €6.99 for 1GB (~$7.50/GB). Unlimited calls in Germany including 1GB data would cost me €19.99/month (~$21.48) at the same provider and unlimited text in Germany would be an additional €4.99/mo…

A carrier in germany has to build 26 times less towers than a carrier in the US, because germany is more than 26 times smaller than the US. I would think the increased expenditure of 26 times more towers would increase the cost of plans. Europe also never had the culture of carrier subsidized phones, and so were never accustomed to paying more in monthly fees in exchange for low to no cost upgrades of hardware. Tethe…

> Europe also never had the culture of carrier subsidized phones, and so were never accustomed to paying more in monthly fees in exchange for low to no cost upgrades of hardware.

I live in the Netherlands and subsidized phones are the norm here, don't think other countries are that different.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#343

Post by joshfraser »

I want this as my travel phone. And I love that there's no contract. Not sure how I feel about Google pulling a man-in-the-middle on all of my internet traffic, texts and calls. Kinda scary that they automatically pipe all wifi through their VPN, but I guess they have 90% of that data already and Google are probably safer than the random coffee shop wifi people are used to connecting to.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#344

Post by teddyh »

organsnyder wrote: post #321
Rainymood wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then .. no one did and now we're all stuck with Chrome.

Quite the contrary. The other browsers did greatly improve their game. However, Google got spoiled with their ability to add a new feature to the browser whenever a Google product would benefit. The cynical take on this is that Google just wanted to increase lock-in to its own browser; however, I think it's more a case that Chrome is a runtime environment for Google products as much as it is a web browser.

Hmm, if this is true, then we should be able to expect similar changes in Chrome like the changes made in Acrobat Reader when Adobe thought they had complete lock-in in the PDF reader space.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#346

Post by jamroom »

harryh wrote: post #332
nandhp wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> accruing I think AT&T only rolls over data to the next month, so you aren't actually accruing anything. Unlike T-Mobile, who I believe roll over data for up to 12 months.

Wait really? The email I got from them made it sound like it would roll over forever. I'm gonna have to go read the fine print now. That's a big bummer if you are correct.

Yeah it is only month to month (previous month's unused rolls over to the next month only).

Re: Project Fi by Google

#347

Post by wtallis »

nsm wrote: post #317
Zigurd wrote: post #226

The only unique feature I see is WiFi mobile handoff, aka fixed/mobile integration. Apart from that, I get the same service from Google Voice and T-Mobile, except I get supposedly un-capped, un-throttled data (I haven't tried to test this) from T-Mo.

Republic Wireless does the handoff and is slightly cheaper. With Google you buy a Nexus 6 ~$650, RW needs a Moto X ~$300, so I guess it is a cheaper out of pocket cost.

RW also has the Moto G and Moto E for $150 and $100, and even cheaper plans if you don't want cellular data.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#348

Post by Osiris »

I'm currently on Republic Wireless. The base rate (call/text only) is $10 vs $20 for Google. RW has a $25/mn 3G plan and a $40/mn LTE plan (5GB). Google Fi has the advantage of always having LTE speeds.

RW is able to have cheaper rates because they are doing WiFi calling, which is exactly what Google is doing; no doubt leveraging their Google Voice/Hangouts infrastructure to handle WiFi calling.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#349

Post by pyrocat »

warfangle wrote: post #289
Someone1234 wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What I don't get is, what's in this for Sprint and T-Mobile? Both Sprint and T-Mobile have to build physical infrasture, both to offer basic services (e.g. 3G, talk/text) but to also compete (4G, LTE, etc). Building infrastructure is really expensive. They need land, licences, power, and a network to connect that tower to (assuming it isn't just a relay). So both networks have this HUGE sunk cost. In an ideal world…

Not only that, but because it switches to the faster provider, and assuming that Project Fi pays out to providers based on percentage of service used, it's much more in Tmo/Sprint's best interests to upgrade their service - considering the switch to their competitor is automatic and based on quality.

That's a pretty big assumption.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#350

Post by evilduck »

jamroom wrote: post #185
wiremine wrote: post #92

For those who don't want to read the FAQ or find the video incredibly unhelpful [1]: a. It only supports the Nexus 6 out of the gate. b. It automatically switches you to the "fastest" network available. Partners out of the gate are Sprint and T-mobile. Sounds like it prefers Wifi, then 4G LTE, and then degrades down to 3G or 2G. c. Pricing is $20 for unlimited talk (domestic) and text (domestic and international) and…

Just as a point of reference, this is about on par with AT&T family share plans - I pay $145 a month for 3 iphones, unlimited text and talk with 10 gigs shared data. With taxes and fees it comes out to right around $160 (which would be the same here if I used all 10 gigs). The down side is that I'm not refunded for any unused data, so I pay that every month. But we use a good chunk of it every month, so this wouldn't…

Likewise, I pay right at $200/mo for 3 subsidized smartphones with 10GB of shared data and unlimited text/talk on Verizon. We do typically go through 8-9GB of usage monthly too, so it's not much wasted. Fi would be like $15/mo/phone less expensive + that marginal data rebate except... I can get LTE on Verizon nearly everywhere, unlike with T-Mobile and Sprint (especially once you leave metro areas out west) and my phones are subsidized. If I want to subsidize a Nexus 6 through Fi, it's now an additional $27.04/month/phone, or for the 3 of us, $30 more expensive every month than Verizon.
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