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Project Fi by Google

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Re: Project Fi by Google

#481

Post by kijin »

natural219 wrote: post #479
kijin wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The $20 base charge with "unlimited talk and text" makes me feel like I'd be throwing away money in exchange for nothing. Unlimited only makes sense if I'm going to use a reasonable amount of it. These days, I talk barely 20 minutes a month, and I haven't sent a single text so far this month. Apps that use data are rapidly replacing both of them, and people who use a Nexus 6 with Google are likely to be at the forefr…

Ummm...how is this different from every other cell provider ever? Like where can you currently get anywhere near this level of access for less than $20?

That's the point. This is Google, so I expected something different from every other American cell provider ever.

At the very least, I would have expected their plans to encourage people to prefer data to talk/text.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#482

Post by dzhiurgis »

seanflyon wrote: post #124
dntrkv wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are not really competing in all of those industries, they might have a crazy project they are attempting, but they aren't really competition. Auto industry? I'm assuming you mean self driving cars, which, at this point, are still in the concept phase. Space industry? Did I miss something, is Google launching rockets? There are many other companies that are way more diversified than Google. http://en.wikipedia.or…

> still in the concept phase Multiple generations of prototypes and hundreds of thousands of miles driven is well past the concept phase.

Unless it's raining

Re: Project Fi by Google

#483

Post by myrandomcomment »

With my family we have 5 phones, 3 iPads and 1 hotspot. 2 of the phones are unlimited data with international voice / text and free 3G international data. Other stuff is on 5Gb data. Cost around $300 per month (t-mobile). The Google math does not seem to work for me. Now I will say t-mobiles coverage could be better.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#484

Post by abarkai »

pbiggar wrote: post #50
kirinan wrote: post #8

This is insane. I can't think of an industry that google is not trying to compete in. Auto industry, space industry, internet of things industry (Nest), internet/media industry, cable/internet provider industry, automobile industry, robotics industry, software industry, smartphone industry, pc industry now the telecom industry. I'm starting to expect Google to launch an airline here pretty soon. How can they possibly…

This looks to me like a pure "commoditize your complements" play. All of Google's products require great mobile internet everywhere. By getting involved in that market, they can help make it much more competitive (at the moment, cell reception is expensive and shit). It's like Google Code. Google didn't particularly want to be in that business, but Sourceforge was complete shit, and the open source ecosystem was key…

That's an incredibly optimistic way of looking at what's going on.

Power corrupts...

Re: Project Fi by Google

#485

Post by URSpider94 »

smacktoward wrote: post #171
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…

What I don't get is, what's in this for Sprint and T-Mobile? Currently a user of their network is a customer they "own" -- they deal with that customer directly. Now they have Google sitting between them and the user, which effectively commoditizes their service; Google could switch them out for another network down the road without the user ever knowing or caring. That's great for Google, and probably also great for…

Sprint and T-Mobile already have thriving businesses in reselling their bandwidth through mobile virtual network operators (MVNO's, see http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_operat...). You've probably heard of some of them, like Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile. This is because they have excess capacity that they can't sell through their own sales channels.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#486

Post by click170 »

dba7dba wrote: post #475
the_watcher wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will it ever support iPhones? Obviously, as the competitor, they have some incentive to play by Apple rules and only support devices running their preferred OS, but at the same time, they make such a big deal over the open protocol of Android, plus have a general strategy of "get everyone using Google as much as possible," that I'd assume they'd eventually roll out to iOS (unless the issue is on Apple's end)

I suspect no. iOS users pull down far more data. And it's Apple versus Google. Not going to happen.

Do you have any figures about iOS vs Android data usage? That's a perspective I had not heard.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#487

Post by motyar »

Is it something similar like..

When one of my friend calls from UAE ( to India) using internet, I got call from a local indian number.

Not sure what system is that.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#488

Post by javert »

Throwaway90283 wrote: post #454
warfangle wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Upgrading their service is expensive. T-Mobile upgrades, then Sprint has to upgrade to compete, then T-Mobile has to upgrade again, then Sprint... Instead what's going to happen, T-Mobile and Sprint both agree to offer the same performance, or focus on different regions. It's like selling slices of pizza on the street. If you're smart, you and your competitor agree to sell at $5/slice. If you drop to $4, sure you'll…

Technically, the pizza idea won't work, because more people will enter the market and compete on price. Doesn't apply for telecom since it's all monopolized and new competitors can't enter.

Re: Project Fi by Google

#490

Post by reustle »

yunong wrote: post #206

This is great. I was hoping the data charges would be cheaper. The T-mobile $30 prepaid plan gives you unlimited data with the first 5 gigs at LTE speeds. You also get 100 minutes. This works incredibly well for me as I mostly use my phone for data. If I need to make a call, I'll use google hangouts over LTE.

Sure, but TMobile doesn't have the best coverage outside of cities. I have this plan as well, but once I leave NYC and get out to rural Pennsylvania, the coverage is abysmal. Often minimal cell service, let alone data.
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