Google Unveils Wireless Service Called ‘Project Fi’

Service to cost $20 a month for talk, texts; $10 per gigabyte of data

Google Inc. launched a wireless service on Wednesday, entering an industry locked in a price war between leaders AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. and chasers T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp.

Google said its new service, called Project Fi, would cost $20 a month for talk, texts and other features such as Wi-Fi hookups and international coverage in more than 120 countries. It also will charge $10 per gigabyte of data used each month. If customers don’t use all their data, Google said it would credit people’s accounts each month.

The service initially will work only on Google’s latest Nexus 6 phones. It will run on the cellular networks of Sprint and T-Mobile and will switch between the two depending on which has the strongest signal. It also will automatically switch to more than one million free Wi-Fi hot spots if those signals are better, Google said.

The service is available in most of the U.S., but is by invitation only for now. Google will handle customer-service questions.

In today's mobile world, fast and reliable connectivity is almost second nature. But even in places like the U.S., where mobile connections are nearly ubiquitous, there are still times when you turn to your phone for that split-second answer and don't have fast enough speed. Or you can't get calls and texts because you left your phone in a taxi (or it got lost in a couch cushion for the day). As mobile devices continually improve how you connect to people and information, it's important that wireless connectivity and communication keep pace and be fast everywhere, easy to use, and accessible to everyone.

That's why today we’re introducing Project Fi, a program to explore this opportunity by introducing new ideas through a fast and easy wireless experience. Similar to our Nexus hardware program, Project Fi enables us to work in close partnership with leading carriers, hardware makers, and all of you to push the boundaries of what's possible. By designing across hardware, software and connectivity, we can more fully explore new ways for people to connect and communicate. Two of the top mobile networks in the U.S.—Sprint and T-Mobile—are partnering with us to launch Project Fi and now you can be part of the project too.


Helping you get the highest-quality connection

Project Fi aims to put you on the best network wherever you go. As you move around, the best network for you might be a Wi-Fi hotspot or a specific 4G LTE network. We developed new technology that gives you better coverage by intelligently connecting you to the fastest available network at your location whether it's Wi-Fi or one of our two partner LTE networks. As you go about your day, Project Fi automatically connects you to more than a million free, open Wi-Fi hotspots we've verified as fast and reliable. Once you're connected, we help secure your data through encryption. When you're not on Wi-Fi, we move you between whichever of our partner networks is delivering the fastest speed, so you get 4G LTE in more places.


Enabling easy communication across networks and devices

Project Fi works to get technology out of the way so you can communicate through whichever network type and device you're using. Wherever you're connected to Wi-Fi—whether that's at home, your favorite coffee shop or your Batcave—you can talk and text like you normally do. If you leave an area of Wi-Fi coverage, your call will seamlessly transition from Wi-Fi to cell networks so your conversation doesn’t skip a beat. We also want to help phone numbers adapt to a multi-screen world. With Project Fi, your phone number lives in the cloud, so you can talk and text with your number on just about any phone, tablet or laptop. So the next time you misplace your phone, you can stay connected using another screen.


Making the service experience as simple as possible

Project Fi takes a fresh approach to how you pay for wireless, manage your service, and get in touch when you need help. We offer one simple plan at one price with 24/7 support. Here's how it works: for $20 a month you get all the basics (talk, text, Wi-Fi tethering, and international coverage in 120+ countries), and then it's a flat $10 per GB for cellular data while in the U.S. and abroad. 1GB is $10/month, 2GB is $20/month, 3GB is $30/month, and so on. Since it's hard to predict your data usage, you'll get credit for the full value of your unused data. Let's say you go with 3GB for $30 and only use 1.4GB one month. You'll get $16 back, so you only pay for what you use.

Google's Project Fi service turns multiple phone networks into one

Got a Nexus 6? Itching to dump your traditional wireless service provider for something a bit more ambitious? Google's got you covered. After months of speculation and a not-so-subtle nod from Sundar Pichai at Mobile World Congress, the search giant's new mobile phone service -- Project Fi -- is finally official. We're still sifting through the details, but the company's plan is both as savvy and as unorthodox as we'd expect: Instead of trying to build out and maintain its own nationwide network of cell towers and repeaters, Google's instead combining Sprint and T-Mobile's coverage footprints with millions of pre-vetted WiFi hotspots to provide users with the fastest, most seamless mobile experience it can in real-time.

Well, that's the plan anyway. You're probably just clamoring for the invite link at this point (here you go), but it's important to note that Google created Fi to fill in the gaps that already exist in our more-mobile-by-the-day lives.

Google says that if you initiate a phone call while you're connected to WiFi, for instance, the service will automatically hand it off to whichever cellular network is strongest where you are. Speaking of WiFi, that secure connection feature spotted in a new build of Android is indeed part of the mix here too, with Google acting as a gatekeeper for your device's data when it's connected to one of those verified hotspots. Naturally, most Android phones out there won't play nice with that sort extensive, prolonged network hopping, which means only Nexus 6 owners with a special Fi SIM card can join in on the fun for the time beingGoogle Hangouts can be used to check your voicemail and fire off your daily load of banal text messages too; it's almost like a fully realized version of Google Voice, itself a grand experiment in mobile that eventually grew outdated and devalued as the companies priorities shifted.

Hopefully, Google stays committed this time. So, what'll Fi cost you? To answer that question, we've got to dig into the basics of the Fi plan first. Everyone who signs up for the service gets the same core features -- unlimited domestic calls, unlimited US and international texting, WiFi tethering and free data coverage in over 120 countries -- for a base price of $20. From there, all you're really adding are data costs, and each gigabyte of high-speed access will set you back an additional $10. Yep, that means you can get started on Google's own mobile network (or "network of networks," as it's calling it) for as little as $30 a month if you can skate by on 1GB of LTE data. Oh, and the icing on the cake: You'll get a refund each month for whatever data you haven't burned through. Given Google's general distaste for selling things with contracts, it shouldn't shock you to hear that you won't be inking any multi-year deals to use Fi either.

It's a little too early to call Project Fi a "game-changer," but I don't think it's quite fair for Google to keep likening it to the long-running Nexus device program. For the most part, Nexus phones and tablets aren't designed to be adored by the masses -- they're meant to be proofs of concept, heralds for what Android could and should be. Fi arguably falls into that mold too as a semi-Utopian network concept that pairs two bitter rivals like Sprint and T-Mobile under a single umbrella of seamlessness, but everything else? The dead simple pricing and the monthly refunds and consumer-first network hopping? That just might be enough to get people thinking about what their carriers should be doing for them.

You wouldn't want to use this one for Project Fi since it lacks Sprint and Band 12 support.