i’ve heard good things about it depending on what phone you’d be using, how much data you use and your current contract. for me, it would actually be a little more than i pay right now. i’m on month to month and pay about $53. with Fi, i’d be paying $60 ($20/mo base + $40/4GB data).
also, my phone (samsung s10e) is compatible with Fi, but not designed for Fi. so in some areas i go to i’d be put into 3G (or even 2G) hell.
I have enjoyed it with my pixel 3. My brother is also on it with his iPhone and it doesn’t have all the features that the pixel does but it still works pretty good.
If you want to use a referral code, which I’m sure you’ll get several options, mine is:
Here’s a referral code to get a $20 credit when you join Google Fi! Redeem it at https://g.co/fi/r/3M8K27
I don’t use the unlimited plan. I use the plan where I pay for $10 for every gb. I don’t use that much data so it works better for me. Maybe if I used streaming music in my car I’d upgrade to unlimited.
Hi @Targaryen
If you’ll allow me a minor thread jack I recently switched over to Mint mobile after year & years on Virgin Mobile. I don’t use much data when away from wifi so I have their $15 a month plan.
They are on T-Mobile’s network for LTE. I’ve been pretty happy with the coverage, but I don’t venture out into the sticks much. I too have a referral code good for $15 renewal credit. http://fbuy.me/n35XZ
@therealjrn To continue this Mint tangent, do you often run into problems sending or receiving MMS messages, or ever have trouble with mobile data?
We use a different MVNO, and have had some issues with these things, and I am wondering if Mint will have similar reliability concerns.
@Limewater One thing I liked about Mint was the free trial so I could see how it worked in my environs. So far so good. I get a weak signal at my house from every cell carrier and it hasn’t had any problems.
@Limewater@therealjrn I have been on Mint for a little over a year now. I haven’t had any trouble to speak of, yet. The only quirk I have found is that long distance calls tend to end after 2 hours.
@cf1@Limewater Two hours huh? Sometimes I get on long calls too but not any LD ones yet. I’ll have to see what happens when I call my sis down in Florida.
I’ve used it since 2016. We like it. I have just myself and my spouse on our plan. We used to not use much data, so the plan was very cheap. Lately, spouse has been using data while at work as they don’t like personal use on wifi and I have been streaming music in my car, so our bill has been over $100 the last couple of months. ($35 for unlimited calls and text and the rest being data usage) Mind you that the data cost caps-out after you use 10GB on the plan, so it’s not like it will go much higher. If you use 15GB of data, I believe they will throttle your speed a bit.
We buy our phones through the Google Fi site. I believe we’ve had a Nexus 4, Nexus 5, original Pixels, and now the Moto X4 as a cheaper option. All of these phones get rapid, current Android updates. The Google-specific phones also come with sweet features not on other phones. (nexus/pixel had unlimited photo backup on Google photos…also things like the Google AR and others that may not be on other phones)
So, do you use a ton of mobile data? If so, there are likely cheaper options. Even if you do use a lot of data, there are benefits with Google Fi especially if you have a “made for Fi” phone that allows you to automatically toggle between different carrier signals and make use of the Google VPN.
Let me know if you have specific questions and/or want a referral code that’ll save you $20 off your 2nd month’s bill.
Been pretty satisfied overall. As others have said, if you use a lot of data, there are cheaper plans out there. But if you use less than a gig or two, it’s nice that they prorate the bill to the actual amount of data. IE if you use 0.54 gigs in a month, you’ll be billed $5.40 for data.
Bought 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gen Pixel phones, but probably will skip the 4th gen. It’s nice to get a very clean Android interface with virtually no crapware, a stellar camera with unlimited cloud photo/video storage, and 1st in line for software updates. (which could be a bad thing if they release a turkey)
Phones made for Google Fi will automatically switch between Sprint, T-Mobile, and MetroPCS towers depending on which has the strongest signal. No roaming fees and mostly unlimited calls/texts - Paid $0.10/min or text from Canada, and probably more outside of North America, but still pretty reasonable without having to buy additional SIMs overseas.
It works for me because I don’t use the smartassphone much away from home. (I can make calls with my cheap flip phone that costs me about $50/year with Tracfone.) It uses wifi at home, so I don’t go over the included airtime/data. When I do use it elsewhere, I don’t hit “dead zones” because it switches between carriers. That makes it cheaper and more reliable than what I had before, so I’m reasonably happy with it.
As others have said - it depends on your usage. It’s worth checking out to compare the cost with alternatives.
Thought this was interesting so I looked into it. Seems like I use too much data in the farthest reaching places so signal and cost would be less efficient. I travel and often find myself working from phone/ipad in the weirdest places. Cool that this is a thing though.
If you use a lot of data, the unlimited plan for a single person would be $70. You are also allowed to use your phone as a hotspot at no extra cost. You can also get a data-only SIM card for tablets and such…This is free for my plan (not unlimited) as the data-only sim uses my same $10 per GB pool. https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6330195
I’m not exactly sure how the data-only SIM would work on the unlimited plan.
I’ve used it for a few years now - still with the Nexus 5X I got from them when I started. I love it!
Cost is ~$27 per month except once when I used it to watch Sling TV while on the treadmill. I haven’t figured out why that didn’t stream over wifi like everything else.
I used it for a month, but since I usually don’t have wifi it is a huge pain in the neck because you are essentially limited to 15GB/month. If you generally use wifi and don’t use too much data, it’s a great plan.
My husband has been on it for a couple of years. He liked like enough that when it was time for an upgrade, we cancelled my phone on sprint and now I’m on it too. I like it but omg I can’t get used to not having unlimited data.
Have had Fi for close to 3 years, still on my first phone from them, too. Live in WV, where coverage from the bigger providers can go from great to non-existent within a driving mile. But I’ve never failed to get a signal with my Fi service. Note that I use very little data, so my bill stays right around the $25/month base charge; they credit you for unused data each month. It’s great, especially if you’re not in a major metro area, IMO.
@cbl_wv Sounds like you haven’t noticed your billing details - base rate (for one) is now $20, and you no longer prepay for data - you now get billed for it at the end of the month.
@heartbleed What does leaving the country have to do with it? I’ve used it since '16, and it’s been good for me.
Of course, a major factor in the good/not good equation is whether or not you use it over WiFi - I do, and I typically end up getting billed for well under 0.5 GB per month.
@rpstrong Global roaming, baby. You get the 4G network data at no additional fees (other than your normal data charges), and overall your bill caps out at $80. And that’s neat.
Even if you don’t go traveling overseas to participating countries at all, I’ve mentioned other factors that makes it a good fit for you (like how you’re using it now).
FI AUTO *#*#342886#*#* Set carrier selection to automatic.
FI NEXT *#*#346398#*#* Select Next Carrier
FI SPR *#*#34777#*#* Select Sprint for 2 hours
FI TMO *#*#34866#*#* Select T-Mobile 2 hours
FI USC *#*#34872#*#* Select US Cellular 2 hours
FI SIMON *#*#3474666#*#* Select Three (UK only)
I have been using it for a few months and like it. I usually have WiFi available so my bill is in the $25-$30 range. My iPhone 6 battery was dying and google was offering $250 trade-in and $100 store credit so I got a Pixel3a for $50 essentially. Very happy with that deal.
(you get sprint, tmo, and us cellular and wifi call and sms routing when using a “fi” ready phone, on a pixel 4 you can even get ‘dual carrier simultaneous’ if you order a free sim… if not using a “fi” ready phone you only get t-mobile… if you are not going to use a fi ready phone you will find much cheaper access to the tmo network, even from tmo itself via metropcs brand not to mention mint and others)
flexible plan ($20 a month up to $80 max depending on data use)
also they added the unlimited plan but I don’t use it as I never hit $80 normally (it’s not my primary phone) if you hit $80 a month or two in a row it might be worth it? maybe?
the google vpn (on android 9 and newer devices you can enable secure network and ‘most’ of the data channels are wrapped in an a secured tunnel to googles network and then you pop out on the internet from a google wifi address… no carrier snooping, no ‘fake tower’ hacker snooping, no shady wifi network snooping, etc.
international travel (pricing is much better than most premium cellco plans)… it’s the same data price as here… wherever you get signal.
the cell network identifier for google fi is h2g2
minuses:
the support is very varied… sometimes stellar and sometimes just totally bad… it is like along with the network access the customer service has leaked through from the various cell cos they are re-selling
if the issue is a known thing they tend to hand out service credits once the issue is resolved and I have yet to talk to a human about credits, they have been automated based on earlier contact with support I presume.
the automatic network selection seems to be phantom. you can manually move it from network to network, and it works when signals are missing (say tmobile isn’t in the area, it will jump on sprint or us cell with no issues) but I have yet to see it move me from one network to another due to data quality being bad.
pricing. I mean it is not that bad… but in 2019 charging $10/gb of data (even with the bill cap of $80) seems excessive… they should lower it or lower the monthly on the flexible plan… however as a main phone even the $80/month is very similar to what you end up with when going att/verizon/sprint premium accounts.
google vpn is phone only… I consider this a minus… for the $20/mo access it seems like google should offer the vpn to devices inside the hotspot as well… currently only the phone gets the google vpn protection, hotspot users are at the mercy of the cell network the fi phone is currently attached to.
tl;dr: it’s for real, it’s priced comparatively with premium cellco plans, it does have a 3 network advantage (for the time being since tmo and sprint will likely merge) IF you use a “fi” ready phone. if you use a non ‘fi’ phone you can get tmobile access at a better rate elsewhere.
one plus I forgot to mention is the data sims… you can attach them to the account for free (no monthly fee like cellco plans) and they just use the same data plan as the phone. They are tmobile only but they are a plus if you have a tablet or another device you might need cellular data on.
currently only the phone gets the google vpn protection, hotspot users are at the mercy of the cell network the fi phone is currently attached to.
Interesting. I didn’t know this. So if my phone is connected to sketchy hotel wifi and I’m using the fi VPN, my kid’s tablet isn’t protected if it is connected to my hotspot?
@medz can you even serve as a hotspot when connected to wifi? I always presumed hotspot was using the cell network as its WAN (I can see how it’s technically possible but it never occurred to me on a phone, I have done this with routers before)…
but correct… with the current ‘enhanced network security’ feature (aka google vpn) if the phone was indeed using the wifi as a WAN and acting as a hotspot, devices connected to it would be passed right through to the hotel wifi directly.
You can verify it by going to google on the phone and the tablet and typing:
ip address
then compare results
@thismyusername I think you’re correct about the devices connected to the hotspot will be using the phone’s cell data rather than the hotel’s wifi.
The google VPN, however, should protect traffic for the phone on both wifi and cell data. I haven’t been able to confirm if this protection applies to devices connected to the hotspot. I would assume so as the phone is acting as the router which is connected to cell data with the VPN protection.
But, yeah, probably no way to expand the VPN to tethered devices in a way that would allow them to use the hotel wifi.
The google VPN, however, should protect traffic for the phone on both wifi and cell data.
this is correct, in fact it has always done this on “untrusted” and “unsecured” wifi networks that the phone is connected to… when they added the “enhanced network” option is the point where it expanded the vpn to wrap the cell data in addition to the wifi.
I haven’t been able to confirm if this protection applies to devices connected to the hotspot.
it does not, unless they changed something in the last 2 days (with ‘enhanced network’ on the IP address of the phones browser is a google wifi ip while devices connected to the hotspot are the cellco IP)… but, as I said, for the $20/mo access charge I think it should
probably no way to expand the VPN to tethered devices in a way that would allow them to use the hotel wifi.
yea I carry a router when I know I will be around untrusted wifi, I then connect the router to the ‘hotel’ wifi (and some even have an ethernet port which is nice) setup a VPN around the security nightmare and then let my devices connect to my router. it is possible to do it with the phone alone, but google would need to add it to android… basically you would use either the 2.4 or 5ghz radio to connect to the hotel wifi and then use the other radio to offer the hotspot… or they could time slice the wifi… which would slow it down a ‘bit’ but is doable.
@medz another thing that I have been playing with (not really related to google but might help you with untrusted wifi networks on non fi devices) is Cloudflares “Warp”. It has worked quite well in my testing (am not using the paid version just the free one)… and while it does encrypt traffic, it does not hide the original IP… it’s more about securing the data than providing anonymity.
Does anyone has any experience using Fi in China. I get frustrated with maps on Tmo with both Samsung and iPhone. I carry both and try them. Samsung uses Google maps but it is not accurate as I am sure they are throttled and the iPhone is sporadic. One day it is great and then it shows nothing for the next three days.
I’ve been using Fi for a few years. I’m on my second phone, which they sell at reasonable prices. And, unlike the bigger services, you don’t have to have 4 lines to get a decent rate.
We used it for a month when we took a 2-week vacation out of the country where it worked pretty well for that purpose. A bit more expensive than our current cell service (prepaid on Total Wireless which has no international coverage) but much cheaper than other international options. Since we’re using unlocked Samsung phones it was no problem swapping out SIM cards for the vacation period, and then we mostly just used data for maps and translations and stuff rather than voice calls.
One odd thing though. Somehow in the process of switching SIM cards to Fi and back, my phone decided that even though I’ve returned to the Total service and SIM card (verizon towers) it wants to “own” my google Fi number and send all MMS and group text messages through the google servers, and since I don’t have an active Fi plan those messages all fail to deliver. Total has been completely unable to fix the issue, and all suggestions I’ve found online and tried have failed to fix the issue. Only thing I haven’t done is a complete factory reset because I’m too lazy to back up all my data and pictures and apps first.
@Turken This is one of the reasons I’m considering switching from Google Fi despite being an early adopter; in many cases, Google manufactures the devices, but they’re also the carrier. This can result in some rather perverse technical black holes that, for whatever reason, Google doesn’t seem to be technically competent enough to address
If you ever do a factory reset on your device and you use this device for 2-factor authentication on your Google account, please take care to ensure that you have a second device enabled as well, otherwise you may find yourself in a purgatorial hell from which there is no escape. People have lost 15-year-old Gmail accounts to this kafkaesque, technologically amateurish oversight. I personally had to wait over 7 days for their support team to get back to me, at which point they simply disabled 2-factor authentication on my account despite my having sent them photo ID along with various other forms of identification several times.
It’s difficult enough to convince them that you’re you without any mitigating factors, but if someone were able to get a hold of your credentials it would be trivial for said person to convince Google that they are, in fact, you–and you would have no recourse whatsoever.
I like to travel a bit, so I switched this past year to Fi. I love not having to wait in line or decide on a SIM card at a kiosk. It switched over to a Spanish carrier’s network in about 2 mins. I also like that it’s pay per GB until you hit 6 GB, then it’s unlimited. I have never gone over 6GB, so not sure if it throttles you. I’m impressed with the service so far.
We (my wife and I) have used Fi for at least three years on three or four Google phones (one at a time, each) and like it. We rarely do not have a signal. We don’t use a lot of data, so our bill is typically under $10 for data (plus the base of $20 each) and we get credit on the next bill for what we did not use.
My present phone, a Pixel 3, does not need a sim card with Fi, although you can use one. I have no out-of-country (or out-of-body) experiences to report. The few times I have called support I have reached a helpful human. I heartily endorse it.
My wife and I have used Fi since it debuted. We’ve been to Japan twice and it was great - seamless switch, and you pay the same for data overseas as you do in NA. Their customer service is good too.
I’ve been on it since the Beta days. The plans have got much better this year. Feel free to use this code and reach out with any questions. https://g.co/fi/r/EDY2W7
in Canada data/service would always drop out after 5 minutes no matter what i did. By the end of the trip i learned i should have set data option in settings to 3G only, then it was constantly on. (was still good for waze/spotify)
It works great for international roaming. I use it as a secondary line, primarily when I cross the border to Canada. The nice thing about it, you can pause the service, and get a bill credit. Then just turn it back on for the days you want to use it.
I have heard horror stories about people losing access to their google/gmail accounts as a result of billing errors. To mitigate this, I created a new google account to use specifically for this phone, not the gmail account I use elsewhere. So if I ever do have an issue, it shouldn’t be a huge deal if I have to abandon that account and start over.
I’ve been using it since it started and have been very happy. In the past I jumped among t-Mobile, Att&t, Sprint, Verizon and even H2O Wireless (which is garbage). I like Project Fi the best. Service never drops and it works internationally without roaming fees that could be the cost of your kid’s college degree. It apparently runs on several different carriers – it picks the one that’s the strongest at the time you are using it. The only place i ever had issues with service was in some pretty remote areas of Alaska where it went down to a carrier I never heard of and only gave me 2g service for a few hours.
I’ve been on Fi for a couple of years now. I’ll tell you what I tell everyone…if you don’t use a lot of data, it is definitely worth it. Now that they have an unlimited data plan, it may be worth it, but I believe there are some throttling things you may want to read up on before moving forward with that.
Personally…I love being on Fi…I only pay for what I use when it comes to data. And since I don’t blow through data, my monthly bill is way cheaper than going with one of the big providers.
Maybe other carriers are doing better about this too, but Google Fi seems to do a decent job detecting and labeling spam calls and allowing you to easily block the number. Also, free voice to text transcribed voicemail messages. (again, others may finally be doing that too)
@medz i love that. i used to have google voice when i was on sprint and i never had to worry about getting spam calls because it always blocked them before they got to me. i wish google fi would do that
Well it seems just through reading and such that most of any questions are answered. I was mostly attracted to the out of country calling which is nice and I can use a bit of data, but if there is wifi then I use very little. How fast is the non-wifi connections? I would like to use my phone for Spotify and maybe GPS.
depends on the network you are on at the time and the tower load like all cell data… they (support) insists it caps at 20meg down but I’ve seen it hit 50meg+ on sprint towers quite often.
If you are going to try it just create a NEW google username and get a NEW number then if you find it works well for you port your number over.
“If you’re a Fi customer, pop open the app and check for a banner at the top offering a free Nest Mini for the holidays. Tap on that, and you’ll go straight to the Google Store where you get a $49 credit, bringing the cost of the Nest Mini to zero bucks.”
I think the supply is limited (they are already out of one color), so hurry on over to your Google app.
@Barney Hey that was a great tip. I have to remember to check the app next year to see if they are offering anything else. Some of the colors are out of stock so order soon before more go AWOL.
Wait. I have been resisting these spy devices. Not that I have a lot to hide, just wary of giving up privacy. At least I trust Google over Amazon (for no specific reason).
I still love you. And I’ll probably love the Nest.
@Barney Thanks! I just ordered one in light grey. As noted above, some colors are “sold” out. It took about 90 seconds to complete the order, without reading the fine print. Delivery is said to be on December 23rd. BTW, I am very happy with FI and have been using it for several years.
@Barney Thanks for the heads-up! I’m using Amazon devices for the most part, but maybe this can go out into the garage. LOL. (Edit, they’re down to just black & white, now.)
@Barney Now I’ve got a 2nd one to add to the 1st – still sealed in its original packaging, offered as a free bonus when I bought my Pixel 3 for half off retail price.
Not really comfortable with Google having 'round the clock access to everything going on at home. Granted they get a lot of voice, camera, and GPS data from my phone, but I can turn it off, leave it in another room, or otherwise restrict who interacts with it much more easily than something designed to sit in one place listening 24/7.
@Barney I got one free from ordering through Google Express. I got two from Spotify. And now this one. I don’t think I’m wealthy. But I’m giving Google lots of information.
Keep one in the kitchen, one in my master bath, and the third in my guest bath that is in the hallway. Gives decent surround sound while listening to music. Now I’ll end up moving the hall bath to the living room and the new one to one of the bedrooms.
Just need two more to be completely surrounded everywhere I go.
@Barney@therealjrn they really aren’t that complicated. you will need to dig your phone out of the drawer to set it up though. It is really nice because you can just tell it to set the timer or play whatever music. Occasionally I’ll use it to ask the time when I’m in the shower to make sure I’m not late for work lol.
@Barney@therealjrn honestly most of the stuff I use it for I could do on my phone. The biggest thing that I wouldn’t normally use my phone for is playing music in the house… But then sometimes I used to connect to a Bluetooth speaker. The mini just makes that easier.
@RiotDemon@therealjrn You will be proud of me. I had to use the app on my phone to get my Nest mini. (But it’s safely back in my nightstand drawer now.)
@Barney thanks, picked up another one…they make great gifts. Fun fact…Google gets offended when you ask if it’s spying on you and a different voice answers
Spotify Premium is offering a free Google Home mini to subscribers. It wouldn’t give one to me- the one I have in a box probably came from them. But if you didn’t get one last year it’s free.
Got my Nest mini today. Was surprised it wasn’t the original Google mini. Slight changes with the power cord and now it actually has a hook for hanging.
And a bigger box.
And I think the back of the charcoal might actually be a different color. Small changes. Interesting.
@therealjrn for my original minis I ordered a hanger so it hangs from the outlet. Pain in the ass to get the cord just right but they work well. There’s about a million people selling them. I think I paid 3.50 each.
Let’s see if I can find a photo of the correct one.
/image Google mini outlet holder
Close enough.
@RiotDemon I read a review that really seemed focused on the fact that it now can hang on the wall (and apparently the speakers sound much better when you hang it), so I was wondering if it was a hole in the back, or a strategic piece of double-stick tape. But a hook! Never occurred to me.
@mossygreen I haven’t used it much so I can’t really say I noticed a difference yet. I’ve already been hanging my old minis so maybe the people who are reviewing it didn’t hang theirs before?
One thing I didn’t mention, it has lights on the volume buttons now. Not sure it really needed those but whatever.
@kdemo Amazon is really pushing their music service. I get notifications every other day for 6 months of service for $0.99.
They must be preparing to negotiate some ad rates based on # of subscribers or something…
I’m on one of AT&T’s prepaid plans. AT&T, unlike Google, is uhh… well.
Anyways, it’s about $44 after the taxes and nickle-and-dime bullshit for 6 gigabytes of data per month (one month rollover), unlimited otherwise. There’s a 2 or 3 GB plan too, I forget.
necro’ing this topic to see how people are liking fi. did anyone bring their own device (compatible with fi instead of designed for fi)? any downsides to BYOD? i currently have a samsung s10 and not looking to switch phones.
@carl669 I’m still using mine. I bought a pixel through Fi and my brother brought his iphone. Fi is not as friendly to iphones as Android, but he still likes it enough not to switch. Plus, cheap. He had to do a little setup in the app to get messaging to work.
With phones from them you get to switch between different networks, depending on whatever gets the best signal. With your own phone you are locked to one network. Not sure if it’s Tmobile or Sprint. One of those.
No contract. They have plans to pay by the gig for data or unlimited. I’m on the pay by gig since I’m mostly on WiFi.
If you are still interested:
Here’s a referral code to get a $20 credit when you join Google Fi! Redeem it at https://g.co/fi/r/3M8K27
i’ve heard good things about it depending on what phone you’d be using, how much data you use and your current contract. for me, it would actually be a little more than i pay right now. i’m on month to month and pay about $53. with Fi, i’d be paying $60 ($20/mo base + $40/4GB data).
also, my phone (samsung s10e) is compatible with Fi, but not designed for Fi. so in some areas i go to i’d be put into 3G (or even 2G) hell.
I have enjoyed it with my pixel 3. My brother is also on it with his iPhone and it doesn’t have all the features that the pixel does but it still works pretty good.
If you want to use a referral code, which I’m sure you’ll get several options, mine is:
Here’s a referral code to get a $20 credit when you join Google Fi! Redeem it at https://g.co/fi/r/3M8K27
I don’t use the unlimited plan. I use the plan where I pay for $10 for every gb. I don’t use that much data so it works better for me. Maybe if I used streaming music in my car I’d upgrade to unlimited.
Hi @Targaryen
If you’ll allow me a minor thread jack I recently switched over to Mint mobile after year & years on Virgin Mobile. I don’t use much data when away from wifi so I have their $15 a month plan.
They are on T-Mobile’s network for LTE. I’ve been pretty happy with the coverage, but I don’t venture out into the sticks much. I too have a referral code good for $15 renewal credit. http://fbuy.me/n35XZ
/Thread Jack
@therealjrn To continue this Mint tangent, do you often run into problems sending or receiving MMS messages, or ever have trouble with mobile data?
We use a different MVNO, and have had some issues with these things, and I am wondering if Mint will have similar reliability concerns.
@Limewater One thing I liked about Mint was the free trial so I could see how it worked in my environs. So far so good. I get a weak signal at my house from every cell carrier and it hasn’t had any problems.
I used the free trial to check it out first. https://freetrial.mintmobile.com/
I’ve been on the regular plan for a month so far.
@Limewater @therealjrn I have been on Mint for a little over a year now. I haven’t had any trouble to speak of, yet. The only quirk I have found is that long distance calls tend to end after 2 hours.
@cf1 @Limewater Two hours huh? Sometimes I get on long calls too but not any LD ones yet. I’ll have to see what happens when I call my sis down in Florida.
I’ve used it since 2016. We like it. I have just myself and my spouse on our plan. We used to not use much data, so the plan was very cheap. Lately, spouse has been using data while at work as they don’t like personal use on wifi and I have been streaming music in my car, so our bill has been over $100 the last couple of months. ($35 for unlimited calls and text and the rest being data usage) Mind you that the data cost caps-out after you use 10GB on the plan, so it’s not like it will go much higher. If you use 15GB of data, I believe they will throttle your speed a bit.
We buy our phones through the Google Fi site. I believe we’ve had a Nexus 4, Nexus 5, original Pixels, and now the Moto X4 as a cheaper option. All of these phones get rapid, current Android updates. The Google-specific phones also come with sweet features not on other phones. (nexus/pixel had unlimited photo backup on Google photos…also things like the Google AR and others that may not be on other phones)
So, do you use a ton of mobile data? If so, there are likely cheaper options. Even if you do use a lot of data, there are benefits with Google Fi especially if you have a “made for Fi” phone that allows you to automatically toggle between different carrier signals and make use of the Google VPN.
Let me know if you have specific questions and/or want a referral code that’ll save you $20 off your 2nd month’s bill.
I have it. I like it. You can’t have my referral code because I’d have to take my phone out of my nightstand drawer to find it.
Been pretty satisfied overall. As others have said, if you use a lot of data, there are cheaper plans out there. But if you use less than a gig or two, it’s nice that they prorate the bill to the actual amount of data. IE if you use 0.54 gigs in a month, you’ll be billed $5.40 for data.
Bought 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gen Pixel phones, but probably will skip the 4th gen. It’s nice to get a very clean Android interface with virtually no crapware, a stellar camera with unlimited cloud photo/video storage, and 1st in line for software updates. (which could be a bad thing if they release a turkey)
Phones made for Google Fi will automatically switch between Sprint, T-Mobile, and MetroPCS towers depending on which has the strongest signal. No roaming fees and mostly unlimited calls/texts - Paid $0.10/min or text from Canada, and probably more outside of North America, but still pretty reasonable without having to buy additional SIMs overseas.
@ciabelle
This page seems to indicate unlimited free data and texting and $0.20 per minute calls…
https://fi.google.com/about/international-rates/
@medz That’s for the unlimited plan. You’re correct calls from Canada were $0.20/minute. It’s been over a year since I was in that situation.
It works for me because I don’t use the smartassphone much away from home. (I can make calls with my cheap flip phone that costs me about $50/year with Tracfone.) It uses wifi at home, so I don’t go over the included airtime/data. When I do use it elsewhere, I don’t hit “dead zones” because it switches between carriers. That makes it cheaper and more reliable than what I had before, so I’m reasonably happy with it.
As others have said - it depends on your usage. It’s worth checking out to compare the cost with alternatives.
I should also mention Google Fi is a no contract thing. Cancel at any time!
Thought this was interesting so I looked into it. Seems like I use too much data in the farthest reaching places so signal and cost would be less efficient. I travel and often find myself working from phone/ipad in the weirdest places. Cool that this is a thing though.
@RedHot Coverage/Signal hasn’t really been a problem for me.
https://fi.google.com/coverage
If you use a lot of data, the unlimited plan for a single person would be $70. You are also allowed to use your phone as a hotspot at no extra cost. You can also get a data-only SIM card for tablets and such…This is free for my plan (not unlimited) as the data-only sim uses my same $10 per GB pool.
https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6330195
I’m not exactly sure how the data-only SIM would work on the unlimited plan.
@medz @RedHot @targaryen coverage has been wack for me, too. I live smack dab in the middle of Seattle, but I often have infuriating gaps in reception.
Hey I didn’t forget about the thread just working. I’ll come and comment a little later tonight and ask/answer questions.
@Targaryen Cool. I’ll clear my calendar tonight in anticipation.
@medz @Targaryen
@Barney - Damnit, Janet!
@Barney @kdemo i love you
@Barney @ivannabc
I’ve used it for a few years now - still with the Nexus 5X I got from them when I started. I love it!
Cost is ~$27 per month except once when I used it to watch Sling TV while on the treadmill. I haven’t figured out why that didn’t stream over wifi like everything else.
I have it for my wife & daughter. They think it is great. The cost is reasonable. They don’t consider the privacy they are throwing away.
I used it for a month, but since I usually don’t have wifi it is a huge pain in the neck because you are essentially limited to 15GB/month. If you generally use wifi and don’t use too much data, it’s a great plan.
My spouse and I have had it for about a year.
My husband has been on it for a couple of years. He liked like enough that when it was time for an upgrade, we cancelled my phone on sprint and now I’m on it too. I like it but omg I can’t get used to not having unlimited data.
Have had Fi for close to 3 years, still on my first phone from them, too. Live in WV, where coverage from the bigger providers can go from great to non-existent within a driving mile. But I’ve never failed to get a signal with my Fi service. Note that I use very little data, so my bill stays right around the $25/month base charge; they credit you for unused data each month. It’s great, especially if you’re not in a major metro area, IMO.
@cbl_wv Sounds like you haven’t noticed your billing details - base rate (for one) is now $20, and you no longer prepay for data - you now get billed for it at the end of the month.
[I also pay around $25/month.]
It’s okay.
It’s good if:
It’s not good if:
@heartbleed What does leaving the country have to do with it? I’ve used it since '16, and it’s been good for me.
Of course, a major factor in the good/not good equation is whether or not you use it over WiFi - I do, and I typically end up getting billed for well under 0.5 GB per month.
@rpstrong Global roaming, baby. You get the 4G network data at no additional fees (other than your normal data charges), and overall your bill caps out at $80. And that’s neat.
Even if you don’t go traveling overseas to participating countries at all, I’ve mentioned other factors that makes it a good fit for you (like how you’re using it now).
been enjoying for few years
learned how to punch in dialer codes, helps when there seems to be no connection
FI AUTO ##342886## Set carrier selection to automatic.
FI NEXT ##346398## Select Next Carrier
FI SPR ##34777## Select Sprint for 2 hours
FI TMO ##34866##**##34866## Select T-Mobile 2 hours
FI USC ##34872## Select US Cellular 2 hours
FI SIMON ##3474666## Select Three (UK only)
noticed it did not format properly
I have been using it for a few months and like it. I usually have WiFi available so my bill is in the $25-$30 range. My iPhone 6 battery was dying and google was offering $250 trade-in and $100 store credit so I got a Pixel3a for $50 essentially. Very happy with that deal.
I’ve used it since it was “project” fi…
plus:
big carrier selection
(you get sprint, tmo, and us cellular and wifi call and sms routing when using a “fi” ready phone, on a pixel 4 you can even get ‘dual carrier simultaneous’ if you order a free sim… if not using a “fi” ready phone you only get t-mobile… if you are not going to use a fi ready phone you will find much cheaper access to the tmo network, even from tmo itself via metropcs brand not to mention mint and others)
flexible plan ($20 a month up to $80 max depending on data use)
also they added the unlimited plan but I don’t use it as I never hit $80 normally (it’s not my primary phone) if you hit $80 a month or two in a row it might be worth it? maybe?
the google vpn (on android 9 and newer devices you can enable secure network and ‘most’ of the data channels are wrapped in an a secured tunnel to googles network and then you pop out on the internet from a google wifi address… no carrier snooping, no ‘fake tower’ hacker snooping, no shady wifi network snooping, etc.
international travel (pricing is much better than most premium cellco plans)… it’s the same data price as here… wherever you get signal.
the cell network identifier for google fi is h2g2
minuses:
the support is very varied… sometimes stellar and sometimes just totally bad… it is like along with the network access the customer service has leaked through from the various cell cos they are re-selling
if the issue is a known thing they tend to hand out service credits once the issue is resolved and I have yet to talk to a human about credits, they have been automated based on earlier contact with support I presume.
the automatic network selection seems to be phantom. you can manually move it from network to network, and it works when signals are missing (say tmobile isn’t in the area, it will jump on sprint or us cell with no issues) but I have yet to see it move me from one network to another due to data quality being bad.
pricing. I mean it is not that bad… but in 2019 charging $10/gb of data (even with the bill cap of $80) seems excessive… they should lower it or lower the monthly on the flexible plan… however as a main phone even the $80/month is very similar to what you end up with when going att/verizon/sprint premium accounts.
google vpn is phone only… I consider this a minus… for the $20/mo access it seems like google should offer the vpn to devices inside the hotspot as well… currently only the phone gets the google vpn protection, hotspot users are at the mercy of the cell network the fi phone is currently attached to.
tl;dr: it’s for real, it’s priced comparatively with premium cellco plans, it does have a 3 network advantage (for the time being since tmo and sprint will likely merge) IF you use a “fi” ready phone. if you use a non ‘fi’ phone you can get tmobile access at a better rate elsewhere.
one plus I forgot to mention is the data sims… you can attach them to the account for free (no monthly fee like cellco plans) and they just use the same data plan as the phone. They are tmobile only but they are a plus if you have a tablet or another device you might need cellular data on.
@thismyusername
Interesting. I didn’t know this. So if my phone is connected to sketchy hotel wifi and I’m using the fi VPN, my kid’s tablet isn’t protected if it is connected to my hotspot?
@medz can you even serve as a hotspot when connected to wifi? I always presumed hotspot was using the cell network as its WAN (I can see how it’s technically possible but it never occurred to me on a phone, I have done this with routers before)…
but correct… with the current ‘enhanced network security’ feature (aka google vpn) if the phone was indeed using the wifi as a WAN and acting as a hotspot, devices connected to it would be passed right through to the hotel wifi directly.
You can verify it by going to google on the phone and the tablet and typing:
ip address
then compare results
@thismyusername I think you’re correct about the devices connected to the hotspot will be using the phone’s cell data rather than the hotel’s wifi.
The google VPN, however, should protect traffic for the phone on both wifi and cell data. I haven’t been able to confirm if this protection applies to devices connected to the hotspot. I would assume so as the phone is acting as the router which is connected to cell data with the VPN protection.
But, yeah, probably no way to expand the VPN to tethered devices in a way that would allow them to use the hotel wifi.
@medz
this is correct, in fact it has always done this on “untrusted” and “unsecured” wifi networks that the phone is connected to… when they added the “enhanced network” option is the point where it expanded the vpn to wrap the cell data in addition to the wifi.
it does not, unless they changed something in the last 2 days (with ‘enhanced network’ on the IP address of the phones browser is a google wifi ip while devices connected to the hotspot are the cellco IP)… but, as I said, for the $20/mo access charge I think it should
https://support.google.com/fi/answer/9040000
yea I carry a router when I know I will be around untrusted wifi, I then connect the router to the ‘hotel’ wifi (and some even have an ethernet port which is nice) setup a VPN around the security nightmare and then let my devices connect to my router. it is possible to do it with the phone alone, but google would need to add it to android… basically you would use either the 2.4 or 5ghz radio to connect to the hotel wifi and then use the other radio to offer the hotspot… or they could time slice the wifi… which would slow it down a ‘bit’ but is doable.
@medz another thing that I have been playing with (not really related to google but might help you with untrusted wifi networks on non fi devices) is Cloudflares “Warp”. It has worked quite well in my testing (am not using the paid version just the free one)… and while it does encrypt traffic, it does not hide the original IP… it’s more about securing the data than providing anonymity.
original announcement:
https://blog.cloudflare.com/1111-warp-better-vpn/
actual release announcement:
https://blog.cloudflare.com/announcing-warp-plus/
ios version:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/1-1-1-1-faster-internet/id1423538627
android version:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cloudflare.onedotonedotonedotone
I pretty much always have WiFi so redpockect is cheaper. Probably mint too. I just don’t use much data outside the house.
Does anyone has any experience using Fi in China. I get frustrated with maps on Tmo with both Samsung and iPhone. I carry both and try them. Samsung uses Google maps but it is not accurate as I am sure they are throttled and the iPhone is sporadic. One day it is great and then it shows nothing for the next three days.
@asplus All maps of China are inaccurate
@asplus @jmoor783 Good grief! Imagine being a taxi driver in a big city in China.
I’ve been using Fi for a few years. I’m on my second phone, which they sell at reasonable prices. And, unlike the bigger services, you don’t have to have 4 lines to get a decent rate.
We used it for a month when we took a 2-week vacation out of the country where it worked pretty well for that purpose. A bit more expensive than our current cell service (prepaid on Total Wireless which has no international coverage) but much cheaper than other international options. Since we’re using unlocked Samsung phones it was no problem swapping out SIM cards for the vacation period, and then we mostly just used data for maps and translations and stuff rather than voice calls.
One odd thing though. Somehow in the process of switching SIM cards to Fi and back, my phone decided that even though I’ve returned to the Total service and SIM card (verizon towers) it wants to “own” my google Fi number and send all MMS and group text messages through the google servers, and since I don’t have an active Fi plan those messages all fail to deliver. Total has been completely unable to fix the issue, and all suggestions I’ve found online and tried have failed to fix the issue. Only thing I haven’t done is a complete factory reset because I’m too lazy to back up all my data and pictures and apps first.
@Turken This is one of the reasons I’m considering switching from Google Fi despite being an early adopter; in many cases, Google manufactures the devices, but they’re also the carrier. This can result in some rather perverse technical black holes that, for whatever reason, Google doesn’t seem to be technically competent enough to address
If you ever do a factory reset on your device and you use this device for 2-factor authentication on your Google account, please take care to ensure that you have a second device enabled as well, otherwise you may find yourself in a purgatorial hell from which there is no escape. People have lost 15-year-old Gmail accounts to this kafkaesque, technologically amateurish oversight. I personally had to wait over 7 days for their support team to get back to me, at which point they simply disabled 2-factor authentication on my account despite my having sent them photo ID along with various other forms of identification several times.
It’s difficult enough to convince them that you’re you without any mitigating factors, but if someone were able to get a hold of your credentials it would be trivial for said person to convince Google that they are, in fact, you–and you would have no recourse whatsoever.
Their support will blame you for this.
I like to travel a bit, so I switched this past year to Fi. I love not having to wait in line or decide on a SIM card at a kiosk. It switched over to a Spanish carrier’s network in about 2 mins. I also like that it’s pay per GB until you hit 6 GB, then it’s unlimited. I have never gone over 6GB, so not sure if it throttles you. I’m impressed with the service so far.
We (my wife and I) have used Fi for at least three years on three or four Google phones (one at a time, each) and like it. We rarely do not have a signal. We don’t use a lot of data, so our bill is typically under $10 for data (plus the base of $20 each) and we get credit on the next bill for what we did not use.
My present phone, a Pixel 3, does not need a sim card with Fi, although you can use one. I have no out-of-country (or out-of-body) experiences to report. The few times I have called support I have reached a helpful human. I heartily endorse it.
My wife and I have used Fi since it debuted. We’ve been to Japan twice and it was great - seamless switch, and you pay the same for data overseas as you do in NA. Their customer service is good too.
I’ve been on it since the Beta days. The plans have got much better this year. Feel free to use this code and reach out with any questions.
https://g.co/fi/r/EDY2W7
I’ve used it for years, across 2 phones. Never had any complaints.
couple other notes:
data/service in UK was great.
in Canada data/service would always drop out after 5 minutes no matter what i did. By the end of the trip i learned i should have set data option in settings to 3G only, then it was constantly on. (was still good for waze/spotify)
It works great for international roaming. I use it as a secondary line, primarily when I cross the border to Canada. The nice thing about it, you can pause the service, and get a bill credit. Then just turn it back on for the days you want to use it.
I have heard horror stories about people losing access to their google/gmail accounts as a result of billing errors. To mitigate this, I created a new google account to use specifically for this phone, not the gmail account I use elsewhere. So if I ever do have an issue, it shouldn’t be a huge deal if I have to abandon that account and start over.
Since no one else has offered, I have a $20 referral code. Let me know if you want it.
I’ve been using it since it started and have been very happy. In the past I jumped among t-Mobile, Att&t, Sprint, Verizon and even H2O Wireless (which is garbage). I like Project Fi the best. Service never drops and it works internationally without roaming fees that could be the cost of your kid’s college degree. It apparently runs on several different carriers – it picks the one that’s the strongest at the time you are using it. The only place i ever had issues with service was in some pretty remote areas of Alaska where it went down to a carrier I never heard of and only gave me 2g service for a few hours.
I’ve been on Fi for a couple of years now. I’ll tell you what I tell everyone…if you don’t use a lot of data, it is definitely worth it. Now that they have an unlimited data plan, it may be worth it, but I believe there are some throttling things you may want to read up on before moving forward with that.
Personally…I love being on Fi…I only pay for what I use when it comes to data. And since I don’t blow through data, my monthly bill is way cheaper than going with one of the big providers.
And definitely use someone’s referral code to get a bill credit for you and that person (I’ve reached my limit, so I won’t leave mine).
Maybe other carriers are doing better about this too, but Google Fi seems to do a decent job detecting and labeling spam calls and allowing you to easily block the number. Also, free voice to text transcribed voicemail messages. (again, others may finally be doing that too)
@medz i love that. i used to have google voice when i was on sprint and i never had to worry about getting spam calls because it always blocked them before they got to me. i wish google fi would do that
@ivannabc https://support.google.com/fi/answer/9016293
@medz I love the transcribed voicemail so much. Even when the voice recognition is wrong. Maybe especially then.
Well it seems just through reading and such that most of any questions are answered. I was mostly attracted to the out of country calling which is nice and I can use a bit of data, but if there is wifi then I use very little. How fast is the non-wifi connections? I would like to use my phone for Spotify and maybe GPS.
@Targaryen
depends on the network you are on at the time and the tower load like all cell data… they (support) insists it caps at 20meg down but I’ve seen it hit 50meg+ on sprint towers quite often.
If you are going to try it just create a NEW google username and get a NEW number then if you find it works well for you port your number over.
FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE!
Nest mini, if you are a Google Fi customer –
“If you’re a Fi customer, pop open the app and check for a banner at the top offering a free Nest Mini for the holidays. Tap on that, and you’ll go straight to the Google Store where you get a $49 credit, bringing the cost of the Nest Mini to zero bucks.”
I think the supply is limited (they are already out of one color), so hurry on over to your Google app.
@Barney Did you get one?
@sammydog01 Yeah, but I don’t know what I’m going to do with it.
@Barney My mother asks it to read her bedtime stories.
@sammydog01 Lady does all my bedtime reading to me.
@Barney She has a cat instead of a dog. Cats are crap at bedtime stories.
@Barney Got one! Thanks for the heads up, because I would have missed it!
@Barney Hey that was a great tip. I have to remember to check the app next year to see if they are offering anything else. Some of the colors are out of stock so order soon before more go AWOL.
@Barney It worked!
I love you, @Barney!
Wait. I have been resisting these spy devices. Not that I have a lot to hide, just wary of giving up privacy. At least I trust Google over Amazon (for no specific reason).
I still love you. And I’ll probably love the Nest.
@Barney Thanks! I just ordered one in light grey. As noted above, some colors are “sold” out. It took about 90 seconds to complete the order, without reading the fine print. Delivery is said to be on December 23rd. BTW, I am very happy with FI and have been using it for several years.
@Barney Thanks for the heads-up! I’m using Amazon devices for the most part, but maybe this can go out into the garage. LOL. (Edit, they’re down to just black & white, now.)
@Barney thanks!!
@Barney Now I’ve got a 2nd one to add to the 1st – still sealed in its original packaging, offered as a free bonus when I bought my Pixel 3 for half off retail price.
Not really comfortable with Google having 'round the clock access to everything going on at home. Granted they get a lot of voice, camera, and GPS data from my phone, but I can turn it off, leave it in another room, or otherwise restrict who interacts with it much more easily than something designed to sit in one place listening 24/7.
@Barney @ciabelle you can turn off the microphone if you are worried.
@Barney thank you. This is mini #4 that I haven’t paid for. This is awesome!
PANS! GLANDS! CRAYONS! AWESOME!
MICROPHONES! SPYPHONES! TELEPHONES! AWESOME!
POPSOCKETS! COURT DOCKETS! FOLK ROCK HITS! AWESOME!
@Barney I saw it on Slickdeals earlier today and picked one up. But thanks for the heads up.
@ponagathos I never thought to check Slickdeals. Oh, well.
@RiotDemon You have 4 of them? You are a wealthy woman. I think.
@ciabelle Mine will probably stayed sealed in its package. I’m just not sure about them.
@cbl_wv Ha! The garage just might be the right place for this.
@Barney @ciabelle I have one sealed in a package- I’ll try to remember to take it to Mom when I visit.
@Barney I got one free from ordering through Google Express. I got two from Spotify. And now this one. I don’t think I’m wealthy. But I’m giving Google lots of information.
Keep one in the kitchen, one in my master bath, and the third in my guest bath that is in the hallway. Gives decent surround sound while listening to music. Now I’ll end up moving the hall bath to the living room and the new one to one of the bedrooms.
Just need two more to be completely surrounded everywhere I go.
@sammydog01 Good idea, your mom can start storing your extra crap under HER bed.
@Barney @RiotDemon I have 3, and use them all. Plus I have a Leveno one that has a little screen like Alexa’s Echo 5.
I use them for timers, alarms, reminders, podcasts & music. You can connect them all so they’ll be playing as you move around the house.
I have to do my drug deals and plan the bank robberies out in the garage now, but that’s just a minor inconvenience.
@RiotDemon I think having 4 freebies makes one wealthy, but what do I know.
@therealjrn Honestly, it all sounds too complicated for me.
@Barney Yeah, if I didn’t already listen to quite a bit of internet radio streams and podcasts I’m not sure I’d be as all-in as I am.
My mini’s were free and the Leveno Assistant was pretty cheap so I haven’t spent a bunch of money on them at least.
@Barney @therealjrn they really aren’t that complicated. you will need to dig your phone out of the drawer to set it up though. It is really nice because you can just tell it to set the timer or play whatever music. Occasionally I’ll use it to ask the time when I’m in the shower to make sure I’m not late for work lol.
@Barney @therealjrn honestly most of the stuff I use it for I could do on my phone. The biggest thing that I wouldn’t normally use my phone for is playing music in the house… But then sometimes I used to connect to a Bluetooth speaker. The mini just makes that easier.
@RiotDemon @therealjrn You will be proud of me. I had to use the app on my phone to get my Nest mini. (But it’s safely back in my nightstand drawer now.)
@Barney @therealjrn good job!
@Barney thanks, picked up another one…they make great gifts. Fun fact…Google gets offended when you ask if it’s spying on you and a different voice answers
@Barney @tightwad I’m disappointed. My Google didn’t get offended. It did tell me all about what is shared with him and how I can see what I share.
@RiotDemon @tightwad Mine said the same thing that @RiotDemon’s did. But I bet @carl669’s tells him to fuck off.
@Barney @carl669 @tightwad wait a minute… You already are using it???
@carl669 @RiotDemon @tightwad My Google Assistant on my phone? It only took me a year to figure it out.
However, my phone does light up sometimes in the middle of the night on the Google Assistant screen which is kind of scary.
@Barney @carl669 @tightwad that means it wasn’t in your drawer when you asked!
@carl669 @RiotDemon @tightwad I wasn’t asking! I could see light coming from around the edges of the drawer.
Poltergeist?
@Barney
/giphy spooky
@Barney I think the space under her bed is full.
Spotify Premium is offering a free Google Home mini to subscribers. It wouldn’t give one to me- the one I have in a box probably came from them. But if you didn’t get one last year it’s free.
@Barney @RiotDemon - Watch out, those are exceedingly devious ghosts.
Got my Nest mini today. Was surprised it wasn’t the original Google mini. Slight changes with the power cord and now it actually has a hook for hanging.
And a bigger box.
And I think the back of the charcoal might actually be a different color. Small changes. Interesting.
@RiotDemon I wondered about that when I kept reading Nest mini. Thanks for the report! A little hook to hang it would be a helpful addition.
@therealjrn for my original minis I ordered a hanger so it hangs from the outlet. Pain in the ass to get the cord just right but they work well. There’s about a million people selling them. I think I paid 3.50 each.
Let’s see if I can find a photo of the correct one.
/image Google mini outlet holder
Close enough.
@RiotDemon I read a review that really seemed focused on the fact that it now can hang on the wall (and apparently the speakers sound much better when you hang it), so I was wondering if it was a hole in the back, or a strategic piece of double-stick tape. But a hook! Never occurred to me.
@mossygreen well, I guess I should of worded it differently. Technically it is a keyhole in the back to hang on a nail.
@RiotDemon So it WAS my first thought! Can it be hung on a pushpin, or does it have to be something small like a nail? Mine’s not here yet.
@mossygreen the keyhole is small, meant more for a nail, but you might be able to jam it on a push pin.
@RiotDemon Still excited! Seriously, the reviewer was so into hanging it on the wall. Have you tried it yet? Is the sound that much better?
@Barney Thanks Barney! I just got mine. The red and blue ones were both sold out.
@mossygreen I haven’t used it much so I can’t really say I noticed a difference yet. I’ve already been hanging my old minis so maybe the people who are reviewing it didn’t hang theirs before?
One thing I didn’t mention, it has lights on the volume buttons now. Not sure it really needed those but whatever.
Not Fi related, but is $9 a good deal for Echo Dot?
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/today-only-amazon-echo-dot-143800240.html
It’s $0.99 but you have to buy a month of their music service for $7.99.
@kdemo Amazon is really pushing their music service. I get notifications every other day for 6 months of service for $0.99.
They must be preparing to negotiate some ad rates based on # of subscribers or something…
Nah, Google is the devil.
I’m on one of AT&T’s prepaid plans. AT&T, unlike Google, is uhh… well.
Anyways, it’s about $44 after the taxes and nickle-and-dime bullshit for 6 gigabytes of data per month (one month rollover), unlimited otherwise. There’s a 2 or 3 GB plan too, I forget.
necro’ing this topic to see how people are liking fi. did anyone bring their own device (compatible with fi instead of designed for fi)? any downsides to BYOD? i currently have a samsung s10 and not looking to switch phones.
@carl669 I’m still using mine. I bought a pixel through Fi and my brother brought his iphone. Fi is not as friendly to iphones as Android, but he still likes it enough not to switch. Plus, cheap. He had to do a little setup in the app to get messaging to work.
With phones from them you get to switch between different networks, depending on whatever gets the best signal. With your own phone you are locked to one network. Not sure if it’s Tmobile or Sprint. One of those.
No contract. They have plans to pay by the gig for data or unlimited. I’m on the pay by gig since I’m mostly on WiFi.
If you are still interested:
Here’s a referral code to get a $20 credit when you join Google Fi! Redeem it at https://g.co/fi/r/3M8K27