BROADCASTS.com

Published: Nov. 26, 2016, 1:26 a.m.

b'UPDATE 2018-12-26
\\nGoogle made some major changes to Project Fi in 2018!
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\\n* Way back in January: Bill Protection puts a cap on how much money you can spend on data.Bill Protection on Project Fi: data when you need it, and savings when you don\\u2019t
\\n* VPN is now always on, not just on unsecured public wifiProject Fi\\u2019s enhanced network brings faster, more secure connections
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\\n* Successfully gets around the school block list!
\\n* Sometimes causes apps to be confused about the nature of the connection; I\\u2019ve had Pocket Casts and YouTube refuse to download content because they think I\\u2019m not on wifi.
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\\n* Project Fi has been renamed Google Fi; you can think of this as their \\u201ccoming out of beta\\u201d moment, Fi is now ready for prime time
\\n* Addressing Fi\\u2019s biggest drawback: more phone options! You can now activate a Fi account with any unlocked Android or iOS phone (Android 7 and up, iOS 11 and up, and support LTE bands 2 and 4.) If it isn\\u2019t one of the few that is \\u201cdesigned for Fi,\\u201d you\\u2019ll be limited to T-Mobile\\u2019s network, and you won\\u2019t get the VPN.Bringing Google Fi to more people on Android and iOS
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\\nOverview
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\\n* Project Fi
\\nCellular service through Google.
\\nInherits some of Google Voice\\u2019s coolest features:
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\\nAccess calls, SMS, and voicemails from all your devices via Hangouts.
\\nWifi calling.
\\nVoicemail transcription.
\\nCheap international calls.
\\nAny money you put in your Google Voice wallet goes into paying for Fi.
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\\nAdds some new features:
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\\nUses T-Mobile, Sprint, US Cellular, or wifi, whichever is the best option at the time.
\\n\\u201cMulti-network operator.\\u201d
\\nWifi assistant has a huge database of open, high-quality hotspots that it will connect to automatically. It also encrypts all your traffic, so it can’t be monitored. Very nice for accessing Facebook at school.
\\nTethering isn’t limited, just counts as data used.
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\\nPricing:
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\\n$20/Mo for unlimited talk and text.
\\nFamily plan lets you add more accounts for $15/Mo.
\\n$10/GB of data.
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\\nIt’s actually measured on a per-megabyte basis.
\\nWhen you sign up for your plan, you choose how much data you expect to use, and that much money gets added to your first bill. At the end of the month, any data you went over/under your expected amount gets added/subtracted on the next bill.
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\\nCoverage:
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\\nMuch better than just T-Mobile, especially when you get out into rural areas or leave Minnesota.
\\nVerizon has the leg up on places where coverage sucks for just about everyone. Other than that, I\\u2019ve never really noticed me losing service with either of those two providers.
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\\nInternational
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\\nIn 135 countries.
\\nData is still $10/GB.
\\nSMS is still unlimited.
\\nCalls are 20\\xa2/minute.
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\\nPhones
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\\nNexus 6, 5X, 6P, Pixel Phones.
\\nYou can get a data-only SIM card for your secondary devices.
\\nEasily the weakest thing about Fi is that they limit your phone options severely.
\\nAt the moment the situation is okay, as they cover every price point from $200 to $900. But since they are not continuing the Nexus line, what phones will they have next year? Just expensive Pixel phones?
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\\nAttributions
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