4 ms·

I get that people hate Google but Google Fi is a nice change from all the scummy tactics that I remember dealing with from traditional carriers.

flerchin 4y ago
My concern with Google fi is that I have had cellphone billing issues in my life, due to no fault of my own, and Google has the disturbing pattern of disabling all the things if you fall into such a state.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
bubblethink 4y ago
>is a nice change Doesn't work without a google account. Doesn't work on AOSP (i.e., the carrier switching features are proprietary). Messes up google voice. Massive risk of putting even more eggs in a basket. Also, not sure how long it will be around. It's not price competitive and probably doesn't make Google much money.
wollsmoth 4y ago
I use it, the main downside is that I seem to have essentially no service at very crowded events. I think because it's deprioritized. So it can be frustrating if I'm trying to look something up at a crowded stadium for example. But this doesn't happen a lot for me.
- encryptluks2 4y ago
  They do offer 5G on some of their plans. Something that I'm pretty sure that has happened, is that I ported a number to Google Fi from Sprint. I am pretty sure sprint somehow blocked something in their system despite reassurances which basically makes Google Fi unusable on their towers now.
eBombzor 4y ago
Genuinely curious why anyone would choose Google Fi over a way cheaper prepaid plan that's almost half the monthly cost for roughly the same experience. Also Google support is truly terrible.
- dont__panic 4y ago
  Happy customer for 4-5 years here. I don't stream much over cellular -- I keep maps, music, podcasts, etc. mostly on my phone storage -- so I never use more than 1GB. Price comes out to less than $30/mo as a result. None of the major carriers can even scratch that price point for a single device. Most are upwards of twice the price per month, plus BS activation fees etc. I've considered switching to other MVNOs like Mint, but when I take a look at the pricing, it seems like the only way to go lower in price than what I currently pay is promotional rates. And if the price will spike after a year, I'm not interested in going through the process of switching my line over, creating a new account, and all that jazz. Fi works well and costs me a reasonable price per month so I stick with it. Another benefit: if I ever get a cellular smart watch or a cellular tablet, you can get data-only SIMs on Fi for no monthly cost -- it just shares the same data pool as your phone. That means I could someday run a laptop, hotspot, phone, watch, tablet, etc. all off a "1 person" Fi unlimited plan for $70/mo all-in. Not too shabby.
- papa_bear 4y ago
  The ease of international usage with no roaming charges or extra eSims is what keeps me using it.
- wnevets 4y ago
  > a way cheaper prepaid plan that's almost half the monthly cost for roughly the same experience. Which prepaids? The last time I compared Fi to my prepaid plan they were roughly the same cost.
  - eBombzor 4y ago
    Single user? Mint comes out to 20 a month for 10gb if you pre pay for a year. Google fi starts at 20 and then 10 for an additional gig. That's actually way more 2x the price if you use more than 2gb of data.
tristor 4y ago
Google Fi is great if you never leave the US. If you spend more than 30 days outside the US, you can be penalized due to roaming, even though they have a similar offer/capability to T-Mobile for data roaming. On top of that, it's tied to your Google account, which comes with all the drama that means like the recent story about Google arbitrarily shutting everything off (including Google Fi) for the guy who took photos for his doctor.
- Jcampuzano2 4y ago
  I spent quite literally half the last year outside of the US and suffered no such penalty. I have their unlimited plan and everything worked just fine. I don't make many calls, but when I do if you're outside of US/MX/CAN you can do so over wifi for free and my data worked fine. Most of my time was in South America, I can't speak for overseas if this is the same. I have never really had complaints about Google-Fi.
  - tristor 4y ago
    I'm glad to hear this. I was a digital nomad for some time, and at the time Google Fi and T-Mobile were basically the only real options for international roaming long-term, and so I associated with a lot of folks on Google Fi and it was commonplace for folks to get penalized for spending a long-time outside the US. At the time, I had an 18 month stretch outside the US on T-Mobile with no issues. Maybe they've gotten better about this.
    - Jcampuzano2 4y ago
      Not sure how long ago this was for you, but I do know I've received a few notifications from them over the past couple years about how they've updated/changed stuff around international travel/roaming. So it may be quite a bit better than whenever this was. I also spend about half every year as a digital nomad.
  - darioush 4y ago
    You got lucky. They terminated my data for "being outside the US for too long". It was a crappy experience since the whole advertisement is about the international roaming being the same price as the (overpriced) US data.
Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
The fact that international data doesn't cost any more than domestic is a steal on its own if you travel internationally. When Google does it for free, you have to wonder if other carriers charging you $10+ PER DAY just to have data even enabled are charging you because they actually incur heavy costs for it, or if it's just a "Fuck you, you're traveling internationally, so you're probably rich and able to pay it" fee, existing solely to extract more money from a high-value customer. I'm on a Google Fi Flex plan (I use < 3 GB of data per month), so I pay $10/GB. It's fun landing in France or wherever and getting the text from Google saying "Welcome to France, data is $10/GB". Same price. No extra fees.

flerchin 4y ago

My concern with Google fi is that I have had cellphone billing issues in my life, due to no fault of my own, and Google has the disturbing pattern of disabling all the things if you fall into such a state.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

bubblethink 4y ago

>is a nice change Doesn't work without a google account. Doesn't work on AOSP (i.e., the carrier switching features are proprietary). Messes up google voice. Massive risk of putting even more eggs in a basket. Also, not sure how long it will be around. It's not price competitive and probably doesn't make Google much money.

wollsmoth 4y ago

I use it, the main downside is that I seem to have essentially no service at very crowded events. I think because it's deprioritized. So it can be frustrating if I'm trying to look something up at a crowded stadium for example. But this doesn't happen a lot for me.

encryptluks2 4y ago
They do offer 5G on some of their plans. Something that I'm pretty sure that has happened, is that I ported a number to Google Fi from Sprint. I am pretty sure sprint somehow blocked something in their system despite reassurances which basically makes Google Fi unusable on their towers now.

eBombzor 4y ago

Genuinely curious why anyone would choose Google Fi over a way cheaper prepaid plan that's almost half the monthly cost for roughly the same experience. Also Google support is truly terrible.

dont__panic 4y ago
Happy customer for 4-5 years here. I don't stream much over cellular -- I keep maps, music, podcasts, etc. mostly on my phone storage -- so I never use more than 1GB. Price comes out to less than $30/mo as a result. None of the major carriers can even scratch that price point for a single device. Most are upwards of twice the price per month, plus BS activation fees etc. I've considered switching to other MVNOs like Mint, but when I take a look at the pricing, it seems like the only way to go lower in price than what I currently pay is promotional rates. And if the price will spike after a year, I'm not interested in going through the process of switching my line over, creating a new account, and all that jazz. Fi works well and costs me a reasonable price per month so I stick with it. Another benefit: if I ever get a cellular smart watch or a cellular tablet, you can get data-only SIMs on Fi for no monthly cost -- it just shares the same data pool as your phone. That means I could someday run a laptop, hotspot, phone, watch, tablet, etc. all off a "1 person" Fi unlimited plan for $70/mo all-in. Not too shabby.
papa_bear 4y ago
The ease of international usage with no roaming charges or extra eSims is what keeps me using it.
wnevets 4y ago
> a way cheaper prepaid plan that's almost half the monthly cost for roughly the same experience. Which prepaids? The last time I compared Fi to my prepaid plan they were roughly the same cost.
- eBombzor 4y ago
  Single user? Mint comes out to 20 a month for 10gb if you pre pay for a year. Google fi starts at 20 and then 10 for an additional gig. That's actually way more 2x the price if you use more than 2gb of data.

tristor 4y ago

Google Fi is great if you never leave the US. If you spend more than 30 days outside the US, you can be penalized due to roaming, even though they have a similar offer/capability to T-Mobile for data roaming. On top of that, it's tied to your Google account, which comes with all the drama that means like the recent story about Google arbitrarily shutting everything off (including Google Fi) for the guy who took photos for his doctor.

Jcampuzano2 4y ago
I spent quite literally half the last year outside of the US and suffered no such penalty. I have their unlimited plan and everything worked just fine. I don't make many calls, but when I do if you're outside of US/MX/CAN you can do so over wifi for free and my data worked fine. Most of my time was in South America, I can't speak for overseas if this is the same. I have never really had complaints about Google-Fi.
- tristor 4y ago
  I'm glad to hear this. I was a digital nomad for some time, and at the time Google Fi and T-Mobile were basically the only real options for international roaming long-term, and so I associated with a lot of folks on Google Fi and it was commonplace for folks to get penalized for spending a long-time outside the US. At the time, I had an 18 month stretch outside the US on T-Mobile with no issues. Maybe they've gotten better about this.
  - Jcampuzano2 4y ago
    Not sure how long ago this was for you, but I do know I've received a few notifications from them over the past couple years about how they've updated/changed stuff around international travel/roaming. So it may be quite a bit better than whenever this was. I also spend about half every year as a digital nomad.
- darioush 4y ago
  You got lucky. They terminated my data for "being outside the US for too long". It was a crappy experience since the whole advertisement is about the international roaming being the same price as the (overpriced) US data.

Sohcahtoa82 4y ago

The fact that international data doesn't cost any more than domestic is a steal on its own if you travel internationally. When Google does it for free, you have to wonder if other carriers charging you $10+ PER DAY just to have data even enabled are charging you because they actually incur heavy costs for it, or if it's just a "Fuck you, you're traveling internationally, so you're probably rich and able to pay it" fee, existing solely to extract more money from a high-value customer. I'm on a Google Fi Flex plan (I use < 3 GB of data per month), so I pay $10/GB. It's fun landing in France or wherever and getting the text from Google saying "Welcome to France, data is $10/GB". Same price. No extra fees.