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Project Fi - A Discussion

LukinLedbetter

LukinLedbetter

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 13, 2014
357
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So I received my invitation to join Project Fi this morning and have been doing some reading on various websites about the service. I looked around here but couldn't find a thread specifically dedicated to people's experience with the service, so I figured I'd start one as others may be curious as well.

So, for those who've used the service, is it any good?

What do/did you like about it?
What do/did you dislike about it?

Would you recommend it? If so, why? If not, why?

Etc...
 
I received mine, too; wonder if it's coming out now that the new Nexi are out, too?
 
I am about to pull the trigger on Project Fi and the 6p. The pricing looks awesome (refund for what you don't use on data is particularly cool!). Look forward to hearing some personal experiences here.

Reddit actually has a great sub for Fi, including a Google Employee (I believe) who is great at answering questions there.

https://www.reddit.com/r/projectfi
 
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Surf Donkey said:
I am about to pull the trigger on Project Fi and the 6p.
Click to expand...

Seriously looking at this combo too in exit from VZW now that Motorola has **** the bed on my Moto X'14. Prefer the 5X size but the 6P specs are so much better for not much more $$.
 
I'm currently using a data-only SIM from Project Fi in my iPhone SE. Works perfectly. I originally had it on my 6P and it worked really well. It would auto-connect to public Wi-Fi hotspots (usually big name restaurants). It's nice that Google automatically uses a VPN when you connect to anything, so you're automatically safe when connecting to anything publicly. I had no issues when it transitioned between T-Mobile/Sprint/Wi-Fi. My bill is usually around $25 a month because I just store all my music locally on my phone and also download things offline in advance before going anywhere and just mainly use it on Wi-Fi.

Since I had Fi on my Nexus 6P originally and I set it up to where Hangouts would receive all text messages/voicemail, I can receive SMS messages from my original phone number on my iPhone via Hangouts. I can't receive calls, but I can make calls with Hangouts for free. But I tested a "burner" number with the Burner app and I received phone calls that way.

Obviously I'm not getting all the same features as I would on my Nexus, but It's hard to let go of my $25 a month plan right now. The only reason I even tried Fi was because Verizon screwed me over and "accidentally" treated my fully purchased iPhone 6S as an upgrade, making me lose my grandfathered unlimited ... which is a neat way to treat a 12 year customer. So I sold my iPhone and got a 6P. But now I'm back on an iPhone again.

My experience with Fi has been nothing but positive. I wish they would fully support other devices though. What's nice though is you can have data only SIMs in unlimited devices without paying anything more than your original one device bill.
 
gotluck said:
I would be up for it if it worked on iPhone, nexus wasn't for me this year
Click to expand...
It does actually work on iPhone, using Project Fi on my iPhone 6S Plus and the only thing I have problem with is mms which I rarely use anyway. You do have to activate the sim-card in a later Nexus device first though.
 
Vejper said:
It does actually work on iPhone, using Project Fi on my iPhone 6S Plus and the only thing I have problem with is mms which I rarely use anyway. You do have to activate the sim-card in a later Nexus device first though.
Click to expand...

I believe it only works on tmobile portion though - I dont think it does the sprint - tmobile switch thing
 
Still working great with my SE. :) As others have said though ... you do need to activate Fi on an appropriate Nexus device if you plan on using the SMS/Voicemail/outgoing calls at all. Make sure to set up Hangouts to receive SMS and Voicemail on the Nexus device so you can receive them on your iPhone via Hangouts. I haven't had any problems yet sending or receiving texts. And yes, the data-only SIM is T-Mobile only.
 
So far I'm happy, been on it for about 4 months. But, switching from TMobile to Sprint takes bloody freaking forever and there's no setting to switch once a signal gets too low. In my house, I get great signal from TMobile but not so much with Sprint. If I get home, and my phone is on Sprint, it won't switch to TMobile even if I only have about 1 bar with Sprint.
 
sk1wbw said:
So far I'm happy, been on it for about 4 months. But, switching from TMobile to Sprint takes bloody freaking forever and there's no setting to switch once a signal gets too low. In my house, I get great signal from TMobile but not so much with Sprint. If I get home, and my phone is on Sprint, it won't switch to TMobile even if I only have about 1 bar with Sprint.
Click to expand...
You can force switch using dialer codes or the Signal Spy app.
 
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I'm about to switch over to this as well, it sounds enticing. I use very little data, I'm usually around wifi and don't really need it that much. I really like that you get charged per mb and not by gb, so even if I do go over occasionally I'm covered. Recently I found out that Sprint actually has better reception at my house than AT&T so it's a plus for coverage. I also have a 6p that I don't use just collecting dust so I may as well give it a try. My SIM is in the mail so we'll see how it goes.

Anyone using Fi on Android N on the 6p? I really dig N and don't feel like going back to MM. From what I gather through google searches the 4th N beta seems to handle Fi with no issues, but figured if anyone had first hand experience it would be valuable to hear.
 
sk1wbw said:
Yes, I know this. But it's still coffee pot brewing slow.
Click to expand...
I agree. But its better than nothing if Fi is refusing to auto-switch, and the longest I had to wait for the network switch to happen was about a minute after a manual toggle. Again YMMV based on the towers in your area.
 
spinedoc77 said:
I'm about to switch over to this as well, it sounds enticing. I use very little data, I'm usually around wifi and don't really need it that much. I really like that you get charged per mb and not by gb, so even if I do go over occasionally I'm covered. Recently I found out that Sprint actually has better reception at my house than AT&T so it's a plus for coverage. I also have a 6p that I don't use just collecting dust so I may as well give it a try. My SIM is in the mail so we'll see how it goes.

Anyone using Fi on Android N on the 6p? I really dig N and don't feel like going back to MM. From what I gather through google searches the 4th N beta seems to handle Fi with no issues, but figured if anyone had first hand experience it would be valuable to hear.
Click to expand...

I only work part time, so I'm at home a lot so I don't use a lot of data either. I'm averaging about $40 a month total for the bill. Compare that to Verizon where my wife has an account for $170.
 
sk1wbw said:
I only work part time, so I'm at home a lot so I don't use a lot of data either. I'm averaging about $40 a month total for the bill. Compare that to Verizon where my wife has an account for $170.
Click to expand...

Wow that seems like a lot. I have a 2 person plan with AT&T with 15gb for about $120 out the door, that's with a 9% corporate discount though. I've researched Verizon and they are about the same with slightly less data. I'm either at work, home or the hospital so I have wifi wherever I am for the most part. My wife's work provides her with a cellular ipad so she's all set. The only data hog is my 4 year old with her youtube, otherwise we really use very little data so this appeals greatly to me.
 
spinedoc77 said:
I'm about to switch over to this as well, it sounds enticing. I use very little data, I'm usually around wifi and don't really need it that much. I really like that you get charged per mb and not by gb, so even if I do go over occasionally I'm covered. Recently I found out that Sprint actually has better reception at my house than AT&T so it's a plus for coverage. I also have a 6p that I don't use just collecting dust so I may as well give it a try. My SIM is in the mail so we'll see how it goes.

Anyone using Fi on Android N on the 6p? I really dig N and don't feel like going back to MM. From what I gather through google searches the 4th N beta seems to handle Fi with no issues, but figured if anyone had first hand experience it would be valuable to hear.
Click to expand...

Yup using Fi on N on the 6P. My bill averages around $25 a month. No issues with Fi on the 4th N beta at all!
 
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spinedoc77 said:
Awesome TY for the info!! Can't wait until my SIM gets here.
Click to expand...

Best thing is, try it for a month, if you don't like it then you are only out $20+data.

I would also suggest getting a data sim. They are free and you only pay for data as you use it. So I pop that in my "extra" phones. I can still make calls via Google Voice or hangouts dialer (which is tied to your Project Fi phone number). Just nice to not have to pay for an extra line.

And don't forget to install the Hangouts Chrome extension on your desktop. Fi will merge all SMS/MMS with Hangouts, so you can call and get messages from your desktop.

Let me know if you have any questions or issues. I am pretty active in the reddit /r/projectFi community, so you will find a ton of good info over there too.

Speaking of which, one last thing, get signal spy:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.novvia.fispy&hl=en

It shows you which service you are connected to, allows you to switch, and if you like it and pay a buck or two for "pro", you can set some nice data limits/warnings just to be sure you don't have a rouge app.

If you just adjust your background processes to wifi only, listen to music offine, enjoy the world a little bit more instead of mindlessly refreshing facebook or macrumors :), you can save a ton of data! I went from 2-3GB per month to 500mb pretty easy.
 
Surf Donkey said:
Best thing is, try it for a month, if you don't like it then you are only out $20+data.

I would also suggest getting a data sim. They are free and you only pay for data as you use it. So I pop that in my "extra" phones. I can still make calls via Google Voice or hangouts dialer (which is tied to your Project Fi phone number). Just nice to not have to pay for an extra line.

And don't forget to install the Hangouts Chrome extension on your desktop. Fi will merge all SMS/MMS with Hangouts, so you can call and get messages from your desktop.

Let me know if you have any questions or issues. I am pretty active in the reddit /r/projectFi community, so you will find a ton of good info over there too.

Speaking of which, one last thing, get signal spy:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.novvia.fispy&hl=en

It shows you which service you are connected to, allows you to switch, and if you like it and pay a buck or two for "pro", you can set some nice data limits/warnings just to be sure you don't have a rouge app.

If you just adjust your background processes to wifi only, listen to music offine, enjoy the world a little bit more instead of mindlessly refreshing facebook or macrumors :), you can save a ton of data! I went from 2-3GB per month to 500mb pretty easy.
Click to expand...

Very nice! I'm curious about data. My 4 year old has an AT&T ipad mini, I wonder if a Fi SIM would work in it? How does data only work? Is there a minimum, or do you just pay as you go?
 
spinedoc77 said:
Very nice! I'm curious about data. My 4 year old has an AT&T ipad mini, I wonder if a Fi SIM would work in it? How does data only work? Is there a minimum, or do you just pay as you go?
Click to expand...

It would work in the iPad for sure. No minimum at all, it just gets billed pay as you go at the normal rate to your account. Oh and Fi data sim cards are T-mobile only right now.
 
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Surf Donkey said:
Best thing is, try it for a month, if you don't like it then you are only out $20+data.

I would also suggest getting a data sim. They are free and you only pay for data as you use it. So I pop that in my "extra" phones. I can still make calls via Google Voice or hangouts dialer (which is tied to your Project Fi phone number). Just nice to not have to pay for an extra line.

And don't forget to install the Hangouts Chrome extension on your desktop. Fi will merge all SMS/MMS with Hangouts, so you can call and get messages from your desktop.

Let me know if you have any questions or issues. I am pretty active in the reddit /r/projectFi community, so you will find a ton of good info over there too.

Speaking of which, one last thing, get signal spy:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.novvia.fispy&hl=en

It shows you which service you are connected to, allows you to switch, and if you like it and pay a buck or two for "pro", you can set some nice data limits/warnings just to be sure you don't have a rouge app.

If you just adjust your background processes to wifi only, listen to music offine, enjoy the world a little bit more instead of mindlessly refreshing facebook or macrumors :), you can save a ton of data! I went from 2-3GB per month to 500mb pretty easy.
Click to expand...

Pretty much all the reasons I'm having trouble with making the decision to leave. Coverage in my area could be better. I was in a store not too far from Albany (the capital of NY!) and I couldn't pull a signal from either carrier and the store's free WiFi login page wasn't working on my phone. I was trying to research a purchase and was handcuffed. Service at home is poor to nothing (within 2 miles of an interstate) but if I go outside and to the other side of my building I appear to have a full signal meter. I find myself using the manual switch code frequently (at home and work) in search of a signal, it seems the auto switch won't do anything if there's any semblance of a signal. I'm in contact directly with a Fi person and they claim to have escalated my concerns.

On the flip side, WiFi calling is available, provided you have a good internet connection, which is important considering the service for Verizon at my desk is nonexistent and Verizon doesn't offer WiFi calling with the 6P. Hangouts text integration is awesome. The bill can't be beat, though it does come with some compromises. I've used under 0.2 GB the last couple months so my bill was a little over $26 or so.

Your experience may vary, if I lived closer to Albany or another large city, things might be different for me.
 
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