Project Fi - A Discussion

[Surf Donkey]

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.

Interesting. So you have no Tmobile, Sprint or US Wireless reception in the area? And Verizon is spotty as well? Sounds like either a phone hardware issue or something else. Fi is just using these towers, so it wouldn't be Fi related necessarily.

Edit: Have they sent you a new SIM yet? I would see if they could do that.

 

[hallux]

SIM was already replaced. Verizon service in my office is flat out horrible, confirmed with other devices, so going back to Big Red won't do me any good for right now.

I think the switching algorithm is just not as aggressive as I expected it to be. Right now my signal meter is grey (but not hollow, though I've seen that more than I want or expect to) and it's not doing a darn thing to try the other carrier(s). It seems as though it won't try to switch carriers if there is ANY semblance of signal on the current carrier. In fact, the Fi guy I'm talking to has told me that using any dialer code other than FIINFO will interfere with the auto switching.

 

[spinedoc77]

Just got my SIM last night, one day from Google, outstanding. Popped it into my 6p this morning and had some observations. Reception so far is perfect, but I'll reserve judgement for when I go home where I don't get ATT reception inside my house. I didn't port my google voice number over as if you do that you lose it permanently. Instead I made another gmail account and used that as my number. The porting and activation process are quite seamless and literally took seconds. Pop SIM card in, turn on phone, hit activate and all set.

Now the big decision is if I stay on Fi I eventually have to port my Google Voice number over and would lose GV features. My main concern was blocking callers, but Fi has the option to do this in the account webpage and in testing it, it works perfectly so points there. There isn't a nice history webpage of calls, transcriptions, text messages, etc like Google voice has, although you can get a lot of this in the Fi app. Still, it was nice to have it all laid out on a webpage like Google Voice. FYI you cannot forward a google voice number to Fi, but what you can do is setup hangouts on your Fi phone to accept calls from your GV account. Not seamless, actually quite clunky, but doable. It does use up data though, so ymmv.

I'd like to test out the Fi sim in my Note 5, but had to put in an unlock request so it may be a few days until I can experiment. Grabbed the Fi Info app so I could see what network I was on, currently at work I'm on Sprint 4g.

So overall good stuff, but I'm not sure I'll keep it. Mainly because it's a bit clunky in comparison to google voice, and also because the data is quite expensive if you add it up. Of course the reason for Fi is for people who minimally use data and are often around wifi. The gravy train of Google Voice will end one day, and IMO Project Fi is the writing on the wall where Google wants to go and how they want to be paid.

Edit: Oh one thing that pisses me off is that Project Fi completely takes over your web browser. I have multiple Google Voice accounts and can normally switch between them seamlessly, or have different accounts open in different tabs of the same browser. Well with Project Fi ANY google login will be redirected to your Fi account, that's terrible. I contacted customer support and they said the only option was to either open the account in incognito mode, or a different browser.

 

[hallux]

didn't port my google voice number over as if you do that you lose it permanently.

I don't think that's entirely true. See this support article. https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6246240?hl=en&ref_topic=4596407

I'd like to test out the Fi sim in my Note 5,

Don't leave it in for too long. There are reports of people having their service suspended when they put their primary SIM in a non-Nexus device. If you want to play with the Note 5 on Fi, you can grab a data-only SIM (free and uses the same pool of data). That will only connect to T-mobile towers but the word is a non-Nexus on a primary Fi SIM will only connect tho T-mobile anyway. You can use the Hangouts Dialer to make and receive phone calls on the Note 5 using your Fi number, even with a data-only SIM.

 

[spinedoc77]

I don't think that's entirely true. See this support article. https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6246240?hl=en&ref_topic=4596407



Don't leave it in for too long. There are reports of people having their service suspended when they put their primary SIM in a non-Nexus device. If you want to play with the Note 5 on Fi, you can grab a data-only SIM (free and uses the same pool of data). That will only connect to T-mobile towers but the word is a non-Nexus on a primary Fi SIM will only connect tho T-mobile anyway. You can use the Hangouts Dialer to make and receive phone calls on the Note 5 using your Fi number, even with a data-only SIM.

Oh, I can use a data only sim in a phone?!?? I've been wanting that capability for years, always thought it would be nice to carry a Nexus 6 as a tablet and have a smaller everyday phone. Thanks for the advice otherwise, I'll keep my eye out. I've read others have even used iphones with the Fi SIM, but don't know how they fared long term.

 

[spinedoc77]

In terms of data use, do you guys think navigation, in particular Waze being left open all the time takes a significant amount of data? How about calls over hangouts?

 

[Surf Donkey]

Just got a notice about this:

https://android.googleblog.com/2016/07/stay-connected-abroad-with-high-speed.html

Starting today, all Project Fi subscribers have access to high speed data in 135+ destinations. With the addition of Three to the Project Fi network, we’re now able to deliver speeds 10-20X faster than before. And, just as before, there are no extra fees for using data internationally – you pay the same $10/GB that you do at home.

Also:

P.S. To help make your first trip abroad with Project Fi a little easier we’ll be offering $150 off the Nexus 6P for the next week when you buy and activate with Project Fi. The promotion will go live on our website at 10:00 am PT today.

 

[geoff5093]

Just an FYI, the data only SIM is T-Mobile only. You don't get access to Sprint, US Cellular, or Three.

In terms of data use, do you guys think navigation, in particular Waze being left open all the time takes a significant amount of data? How about calls over hangouts?

I would imagine quite a lot if you are actually pulling new maps, such as when you're moving.

 

[co.ag.2005]

I don't think that's entirely true. See this support article. https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6246240?hl=en&ref_topic=4596407



Don't leave it in for too long. There are reports of people having their service suspended when they put their primary SIM in a non-Nexus device. If you want to play with the Note 5 on Fi, you can grab a data-only SIM (free and uses the same pool of data). That will only connect to T-mobile towers but the word is a non-Nexus on a primary Fi SIM will only connect tho T-mobile anyway. You can use the Hangouts Dialer to make and receive phone calls on the Note 5 using your Fi number, even with a data-only SIM.

How do you get the data only sim? I'd love to do this for my Nexus 6 that's just a tablet for me right now. Do I have to have Fi already and then add it on as an additional service? I also have my GV number that I don't want to lose (it's my old number / backup phone number).

 

[spinedoc77]

Just an FYI, the data only SIM is T-Mobile only. You don't get access to Sprint, US Cellular, or Three.


I would imagine quite a lot if you are actually pulling new maps, such as when you're moving.

It's not too bad, I kept my eye on data use over a week. But I'm going to cancel the service, it's just too expensive. They need a family plan. I spoke to one of their reps and they said a family plan was the most requested feature and it was in the works. But even with a family discount the data is too expensive.

 

[hallux]

You can get the data-only SIM as an add-on to your existing Fi plan. Just go to google.com/fi then click on "Your Account" and select the button to add a data-only SIM.

 

[co.ag.2005]

You can get the data-only SIM as an add-on to your existing Fi plan. Just go to google.com/fi then click on "Your Account" and select the button to add a data-only SIM.

ah, so you can't just get a data only sim. I'm not on Fi (tempted to try it on my backup Nexus 6) but don't want to pay ~$30/month just to try something out for the hell of it

 

[hallux]

ah, so you can't just get a data only sim. I'm not on Fi (tempted to try it on my backup Nexus 6) but don't want to pay ~$30/month just to try something out for the hell of it

Only the first month is $30 + taxes, then you get refunds for unused data. My last 4 months have all been under $30 (though not THAT much under).

 

[co.ag.2005]

Only the first month is $30 + taxes, then you get refunds for unused data. My last 4 months have all been under $30 (though not THAT much under).

cool. thanks for the reply. I may still give it a go. We'll see! And if I use my GV number to go to Fi, is it easy to get that number back to GV if I quit Fi?

 

[Surf Donkey]

cool. thanks for the reply. I may still give it a go. We'll see! And if I use my GV number to go to Fi, is it easy to get that number back to GV if I quit Fi?

I would for sure consider that risk before you trial. I have seen many on Reddit not being able to get their Google Voice numbers back:

https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6079398?hl=en

Trouble canceling your service
Can't transfer Google Voice number
If you don’t see the option to transfer your number to Google Voice, it’s likely because Google Voice no longer supports this number or numbers in this area.

Google Voice’s number availability changes regularly, so even if your number was previously on Google Voice, it can’t always be transferred back. If you’d like to keep this number, we recommend transferring it to another carrier that supports it.

 

[co.ag.2005]

I would for sure consider that risk before you trial. I have seen many on Reddit not being able to get their Google Voice numbers back:

https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6079398?hl=en

Trouble canceling your service
Can't transfer Google Voice number
If you don’t see the option to transfer your number to Google Voice, it’s likely because Google Voice no longer supports this number or numbers in this area.

Google Voice’s number availability changes regularly, so even if your number was previously on Google Voice, it can’t always be transferred back. If you’d like to keep this number, we recommend transferring it to another carrier that supports it.

thanks for the info! Not sure I want to take the gamble of losing my GV number just to try Fi for a month or two. I may set up a secondary Google account and get another GV number down the road and try that way. Thanks!