Google Fi

[Tamesh16]

Hello, I have been looking around recently at Phone plans in the US and I stumbled across Google Fi. It seems okay, does anyone have experience with it? 

Also if you have advice on what US plans are better that would be great too.

[lieder1987]

I am in the states and I love it. It uses Tmobile towers so the quality will depend on the coverage in their area. I have it on my Oneplus 8 pro, and my wife has it on her iphone XR. 

 

The price is fine for me, but some people might find it a bit expensive.

[wisex]

So whats funny is that I had looked into it in the past but this post really got me looking again because I'm also trying to look for cheaper plans and I may be considering google fi now as well... so personally I use a lot of data so the "flexible" plan would actually be too expensive for me considering it doesn't prioritize data... However the "simply unlimited" plan which really only excludes tethering seems to be about $15 cheaper than a similar plan at Verizon (which is my carrier), where as the plan with hotspot is $5 cheaper on google fi than Verizon... Idk how tmobile coverage is in my area though and well... verizon plans also include some streaming services which can help you save some money too if you use like... hulu and disney+? its kinda a give and take I think

 

[Tamesh16]

1 minute ago, wisex said:

 hulu and disney+

 

That is what I noticed as well, but I dont consume a lot of content, so their value didnt appeal too much to me, and also T mobile offers a cheap plan under 'Metro PCS' that is $30 but has very slow data. Also the addition of 200 countries of no charge service is really nice since I travel

[Tamesh16]

25 minutes ago, lieder1987 said:

I am in the states and I love it. It uses Tmobile towers so the quality will depend on the coverage in their area. I have it on my Oneplus 8 pro, and my wife has it on her iphone XR. 

 

The price is fine for me, but some people might find it a bit expensive.

I dont use a lot of Data, so I am leaning towards the Flexible plan so it shouldn't be too expensive. Thanks for the insight though, I will give it a try and see how much I like it

[Middcore]

I have been a Google Fi customer now for almost six years. I have no complaints about the price, relative to the "big four" (now big three) US carriers, or the service. The only times I've been without service have been driving between cornfields in the middle of nowhere rural Illinois, and intermittent problems for a week or so last year that I suspect were related to T-Mobile taking over Sprint's network.

 

Since Google Fi used T-Mobile and Sprint's networks, I have some concern that now that the merger is done T-Mobile will try to renegotiate their deal with Google somehow and the whole thing will get fucked up. However, this is purely speculative paranoia on my part.

 

I should add that in those six years I've been a subscriber, my wife and I have always been using Nexus or Pixel phones... I have no experience with using a non-first party Google phone on the service although in theory it's quite compatible with a lot of different devices now. 

 

I should also add none of the devices I've used on the service support 5G. 

[Tamesh16]

3 hours ago, comander said:

My personal experience with Fi as someone with two phones. Overall it works about as well as my AT&T phone plan does and I don't have any major complaints about either service. The coverage on both AT&T/Fi is a bit different though. Sometimes I'll have service with one but not the other. 

Places used: California (Silicon Valley/SF, LA, Orange County, misc day trip locations), the states between CA and TX during a road trip, small town in TX, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver/Surrey, etc.

 

I can't comment on pricing, both my AT&T/Fi plans are paid for by either family (my mother is slowly paying down the $100,000 she owes me, one phone bill at a time) or work. Someday I want to swap one of my plans over to VZN just to see but I'm going to expect it'll be "good enough"

 

As an aside, I have never tried 5G. Not sure if that matters. 

I live in New york City, so I think coverage should be decent, The map atleast seems to suggest so and also for such a populated city I would think it should be good. Thanks for the Insight though, because my parents use Metro PCS and the data is so slow and unreliable, so I figured I would go for Google. I could go T Mobile but the rep told me the cheapest plan is $50 which in Google Fi flexible is unlimited call/text with 3 Gb of data which I doubt I will reach. But I will give it a try to see how well it works

[Tamesh16]

1 hour ago, Middcore said:

I have been a Google Fi customer now for almost six years

Oh awesome, I have a S21 which I was concerned about initially but their website seems to  suggest it will work perfectly fine. I will let you know how it goes

[Roswell]

Unless you're using less than 3GB of data in a month, I'd look elsewhere. T-Mobile postpaid is hands down the most affordable, plus their prices include taxes and fees. A $60 plan costs exactly $60 on your bill.

 

There are plenty of prepaid MVNOs out there that will give you an unlimited plan for a bit less but with varying limits and deprioritization.

 

On a personal note... Google is absolutely the last company I'd want to be handing over my phone service to. God only knows what they do with that kind of access.

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Phones and Tablets