Google Fi

Google Fi: The complete FAQ

Google's wireless service can save you money and provide some pretty appealing perks, merely there's a lot to wrap your head around before deciding if Fi is right for you.

Google Fi may sound like some weird sort of initiation ritual ("Whoa, what happened to Rick? I heard he got Googlefied!") — simply if you lot tin go past its lightheaded-sounding proper name, the Google-endemic wireless service tin can both save you lot coin and step up your smartphone security situation.

Make no mistake virtually it: Google Fi — known as Project Fi upwards until 2018 — is a pretty unusual suggestion. And information technology admittedly won't make sense for anybody. If you fall into a sure way of smartphone usage, though, it tin can eliminate a lot of the downsides that typically come up with a traditional wireless plan.

So how does Fi actually piece of work, and could it be right for you? Allow'due south tackle it question by burning question and figure that out together.

What exactly is Google Fi — or Project Fi, or whatever you want to call it?

Google Fi is technically what's known as an MVNO, or mobile virtual network operator. That'due south a fancy name for an entity that provides wireless service — y'know, the thing that allows you to make and receive calls and employ mobile data from that shiny rectangle in your pocket — without actually owning the network infrastructure behind it.

In other words, it'due south kinda like a high-tech landlord. It doesn't have its own network like AT&T or Verizon; instead, it has an system with those same sorts of carriers that allows it to tap into their networks and repackage access to those pipes under its own make and organization.

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What networks does Google Fi actually use, then?

In the U.S., Fi uses a combination of T-Mobile, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular (so eventually just T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular, since Sprint and T-Mobile are in the process of becoming one and the aforementioned). That'due south one of its distinguishing features, in fact: When you use Google Fi with a phone that's designed for the service, it's able to seamlessly switch y'all between those networks based on which 1 has the strongest service at any given moment.

Ooookay. How does this network switching mumbo-jumbo even work?!

Automatically and silently; on a 24-hour interval-to-twenty-four hour period basis, you'll never fifty-fifty think near it or be aware that it's happening. Your telephone just shows that you're continued to Google Fi — but backside the scenes, the device continuously seeks out the best possible network for your location and bops you around equally needed.

Will I get good coverage, then? How will it compare to what I have now?

That's an important question — and unfortunately, there's no simple nor universal answer, as it ultimately all depends on where you are and how Fi's networks perform in your surface area.

And then where to begin in figuring that out? Well, you tin showtime by checking Google's official Fi coverage map. It lets you lot put in specific addresses and run into what kind of combined coverage you can expect for whatsoever given city or neighborhood. (Don't forget to check whatsoever places where y'all travel in add-on to your home front end, particularly if you lot visit certain regions regularly for work.)

If you want to get even more specific, snag the complimentary OpenSignal app for your phone. The app tin show yous detailed coverage maps for any set of networks in any area — based on user-submitted data — and even rank overall connectivity strength for dissimilar networks where you are (or where you might exist).

Or, heck, y'all can simply ask around — or mull over your own past experiences. Think of it this way: If yous know you can get solid service with, say, T-Mobile in your area, then Google Fi should exist fine for you; the addition of the Sprint and U.S. Cellular networks as possibilities will just mankind out that coverage farther and fill in whatsoever gaps. As long as at least one of Fi's networks is a viable choice wherever you are, you're good to go.

Is there 5G? Please tell me there's 5G. WHAT Most 5G?!

Sheesh — calm downwards at that place, Paco. I don't know if y'all've heard, but 5G is currently an overhyped mess that's more about marketing than any meaningful, existent-world value for most of united states.

That being said, aye, you tin can get 5G with Fi (Fi-G?). As of this moment, Google says any unlocked telephone that'south compatible with T-Mobile's 5G network in the U.S. volition accept admission to 5G with Fi — at least in theory, in the tiny and extraordinarily express neighborhoods where 5G is actually now available.

What almost the Wi-Fi part of the process? Doesn't Fi also connect to public Wi-Fi networks sometimes?

Well, I'll be. Go get yourself a cookie, yous vivid fiddling koala. You lot're on the ball today!

Google Fi does indeed incorporate public Wi-Fi networks into its coverage, provided y'all're using a phone that was designed explicitly for Fi apply. That's some other unusual and noteworthy part of its proposition. And just similar with the mobile network switching, it all happens automatically and without whatsoever effort on your behalf.

Here'southward how it works: Anytime you're in range of a publicly bachelor Wi-Fi network that Google has determined to be "high-quality and reliable" (a phrase yous should probably not borrow for your side by side dating app profile), your Fi telephone will switch over to that instead of using your regular mobile network. You'll encounter it happen in retail establishments with open up Wi-Fi networks or anywhere else that has Wi-Fi bachelor without the demand for whatever sort of sign-in.

Fi automatically encrypts your information anytime it's connected to a network in that fashion, using a special Google-provided virtual individual network (VPN) — which means no one else on the network could snoop on your connection and see what yous're doing (in the way you often hear described as a risk of using public Wi-Fi networks).

Merely merely similar with the service's mobile network switching, yous don't really call back about any of that stuff in day-to-day use. With the Wi-Fi stuff, you do come across a special icon in your condition bar showing that you're connected to a network with the Google-provided encryption enabled, but other than that, things just work — and you don't put much thought into what network or type of network your phone has attached itself to at whatever given moment.

Is there any mode I can get that same VPN encryption all the time?

Why, yes, my insightful amigo! Google added a feature into Fi in 2018 that enables always-on VPN protection for phones that (a) were designed explicitly for Fi and (b) are running Android 9 or higher. (Go get yourself another cookie. I'll look.)

Information technology's a pretty powerful perk, too, especially for anyone serious about Android security — which, ahem, we all should be. Just if you always transmit sensitive company data, always-on encryption is not only smart; it'due south practically a necessity. And unless your visitor provides its ain custom VPN service, you typically end up having to rely on a third-party service for said protection — something that'south costly, complicated, and difficult to evaluate and remain fully confident in over fourth dimension.

With Fi'south congenital-in encryption choice, that challenge is no more: Your VPN is provided directly by Google and arranged into your bones wireless service. All yous do is flip a little toggle in the Fi app on your telephone to plow it on, and you tin can then rest easy knowing all your data will ever be encrypted, no matter where yous are or what sort of network you're using.

What about cost? Volition I actually save money with this Google Fi service?

Again, there's no unproblematic universal answer, as anybody'south needs and habits are different — and the competition from other carriers is constantly evolving. There are, however, some good general guidelines that tin aid y'all effigy out if Fi might make financial (get it — fi-nancial?!) sense for y'all.

Nearly broadly, I'd say this: Fi tends to be best for people who use a relatively small amount of mobile data. If yous burn down through gigs upon gigs of mobile data each month, you'd probably do better with a different sort of setup.

At present, specifically, here's how it works: For an individual user, Fi charges you lot 20 bucks a month for your bones service, which gives you unlimited calling and texting. On top of that, you pay $10 for every gigabyte of mobile data you use each month — or whatever percentage of that number ends up being relevant, all the manner downwardly to the third decimal. Then if, for instance, y'all used two.202GB of mobile data in a month, you'd pay $22.02.

And crucially, you pay simply for the amount of mobile data yous actually use, without whatsoever sneaky fees or obnoxious add together-ons other than the unavoidable taxes and government-mandated surcharges. In that ii.202GB example, then, your total pecker would be $22.02 plus the $20 base cost and tax — then probably somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 or a little less, all combined. (Google says the taxes and surcharges vary by country but are generally between ten and 20%.)

There are a couple of noteworthy asterisks here. First, remember that automated Wi-Fi connection function of Fi'southward service? Keep in mind that that actively works to help you use less mobile data all throughout the day. In assessing your typical monthly mobile data use, think about whether yous tend to be in or near places with public Wi-Fi that might help reduce your regular usage, as you currently know information technology.

Second, Fi volition accuse yous only up to the 6GB marking with an individual business relationship. If you manage to go over 6GB of mobile data in any given calendar month, you lot'll still pay just $lx — $x per gig times half-dozen — for that month's usage. You can go all the way upwardly to 15GB without paying some other dime; in one case y'all hit that 15GB mark (something Google says less than 1% of individual Fi users ever do), you'll take the selection to go slower than usual mobile data speeds at no extra cost or to kickoff paying $10 per gig again for regular mobile data speeds from that indicate forrard.

Then, yeah: If you're routinely using 25GB of mobile data each month, y'all'd probably come out ahead with a different sort of arrangement. (You might as well want to recollect nearly ways to cut dorsum on your data utilize!) But if you can continue your monthly usage in the lower to mid-unmarried-digit gigabyte count, on boilerplate, you could end up saving quite a bit of dough with Fi'due south pay-only-for-what-you-use setup.

Does Google Fi offering whatever grouping plans or annihilation like that?

Information technology does! Fi rolled out a group program option back in 2016, and it'due south really a no-brainer if you lot have family members or employees or co-workers (in a relatively small organization) who are using the service and might want to combine.

The Fi grouping program has the same core setup equally the regular programme, only each additional person on the plan has a discounted base fee — $xviii per person with two people, $17 per person with three, and $16 per person with four or more than homo mammals on the plan. Then y'all withal pay that aforementioned per-gigabyte rate for however much data is used, collectively. And your "max payment" amount bumps up to 10GB for two people, 12GB for three, 14GB for 4, 16GB for five, and 18GB for six people — so whatever usage past that indicate doesn't toll you whatever additional money (though your speeds will still be slowed down if you go considerably over that marking).

The Fi app even has an choice to set information technology upwards so that members of your programme get "billed" for their portion of the total each month and can pay you dorsum with a couple of taps using Google Pay. Equally the primary account-holder, you also have the ability to break whatever fellow member'south service or data at any bespeak in a billing cycle, should the need or inspiration (bwah hah hah) ever strike.

What about a big-group, enterprise-style pick?

Curiously enough, no such option exists — not yet, anyway. Equally of now, Google'south Fi grouping setup goes up only to a six-person max, so it might work for a small business but wouldn't be well-suited for a larger company, at to the lowest degree non in any traditional arrangement. The one exception might exist if an arrangement is doing a bring-your-own-device-style setup in which employees pay for their own service and so go reimbursed; in that state of affairs, information technology might actually be an interesting and potentially advantageous selection.

All of that existence said, it sure seems like it'd brand an atrocious lot of sense for Google to bring Fi more wholeheartedly into the enterprise surround, especially now that the company's actively developing its Google Vocalism service, making Vocalism work more harmoniously with Fi, and positioning Vocalisation largely as an enterprise-friendly Thou Suite add-on (more on that in a minute). With more than and more emphasis being placed on G Suite and the scope of the Grand Suite services constantly expanding, you lot'dretrieve Fi coming into the fold would be the next logical movement to brand.

Possibly 1 of these days?

Fi(ne). Simply does Fi accept an "unlimited" option, likewise?

My, you're acute. Information technology does! Google added an "unlimited" pick into Fi simply final twelvemonth, in fact. And information technology absolutely adds another (slightly overwhelming) variable into the equation for yous to consider.

For an individual user, Fi's "unlimited" plan runs seventy bucks a calendar month. For a group plan with two people, it'due south $60 per person per month; for three, information technology'due south $50 per person per calendar month; and for four or more, it's $45 per person per month.

The "unlimited" arrangement also comes with 100GB of extra storage space for each person through Google One, which would typically cost you $xx a year — so that's certainly something, though not a massive amount of added value.

Oh, and the reason why I keep putting "unlimited" in quotes? The programme, similar most such offerings, isn't actually unlimited in the fullest sense of the give-and-take; rather, information technology gives you upward to 22GB of high-speed mobile data per person per month. If you go over that corporeality, you'll still be able to employ mobile information — merely merely at reduced speeds and with scaled-back video resolution.

All correct, now I'thousand really confused. Should I exercise the "unlimited" program or the pay-for-what-yous-use option?

It ultimately just comes downwardly to a thing of math — but unless you're using a lot of mobile information in any given month, the pay-for-what-you-utilize selection is probably gonna be your better bet. (It'south also the more exceptional option, whereas the "unlimited" setup is more traditional and similar to what other carriers offer.)

So let's crunch some numbers: If y'all're looking at Fi every bit an individual user, you lot'd have to turn through more than than 5GB of mobile data on average per month for the "unlimited" plan to be the better bargain. In one case y'all hit 5GB of data, you lot'd be looking at a $70 monthly bill — with the $20 base fee and then $ten per gig times five — at which point you could have just paid the flat $70 fee for the "unlimited" option and gotten even more information for your coin.

With two people in a plan, meanwhile, the "unlimited" program would run you $120 full — and then in the pay-for-what-y'all-use arrangement, you'd have to fire through 8.5GB of mobile data collectively to reach that aforementioned cost ($35 combined base of operations fee plus $10 per gig times 8.v).

For perspective, my wife and I have a group plan together. If I wait back over a recent 12-month period (earlier the pandemic, since things have been a scrap odd every bit of belatedly), our average monthly mobile information apply, collectively, is only shy of 2GB per month. Nosotros have the occasional calendar month where we get college — say, if ane or both of us is traveling and abroad from Wi-Fi networks and thus doing more mobile-data streaming than usual — but it all comes down to averages: If you use an boilerplate of 2GB of mobile data per month, your beak comes out to most $55 for two people. Even at 5GB in a month, you'd be looking at but $85 total for those same two people compared to $120 on the "unlimited" path.

And consider, too, that with the current pandemic situation, a service similar Fi could relieve you lot some serious dough, since you're probably using a lot less mobile data than you lot unremarkably do. The very nature of Fi'south setup ways you pay less when yous employ less, and thus this atypical period of usage will consequence in lower monthly bills — potentially muchlower bills, if yous're mostly staying at dwelling these days. (To wit: With no mobile data usage, your Fi bill would basically be 20 bucks a month for a single person.)

Anybody'south unlike and simply you can do the math for your own specific needs, but realistically, I'd say that even in more normal times, the vast majority of folks probably aren't gonna go through enough mobile data on average (or need to go through enough mobile data, particularly with Fi'due south Wi-Fi-connecting feature in the motion-picture show) to make the "unlimited" option worthwhile.

What about roaming? Surely Fi screws you when you go out of the country, like every other carrier — right?

Amazingly, no; this is another one of the service'southward infrequent features, peculiarly if you travel internationally with any regularity (you lucky son of a dolphin, you).

So here information technology is: Fi charges you the same standard per-gigabyte rate all over the world — in 200-plus countries. You go complimentary texting in all those places, too. Y'all exercise end up paying for cellular vox calls, but even those rates aren't generally that bad, relatively speaking.

What if I alive exterior of the U.S.? Can I notwithstanding sign up for Fi?

As of now, Google'southward making Fi available only in the States — which technically means you have toactivate the service within the U.S., using a U.S. accost and credit card. Distressing, international pals.

Can I utilize my phone as a mobile hotspot?

Yes, indeedly. And there's no extra charge for doing then; you just pay that same standard flat per-gigabyte rate for any information you use, regardless of how you're sharing it or what device is actually tapping into it.

What if I want to put a SIM card into a tablet, laptop, or other connected device? How much does Fi charge for that privilege?

Nada — zero, zip, zilch, zebra. (That last word was a test to run into if you were still paying attending. If yous noticed information technology, congratulations. If not, WAKE Upward!)

Google Fi lets you claim upwardly to iv data-only SIMs for your account and use them in any devices you want. Yous tin order the SIMs gratuitous from the Fi app or website, and all you pay is the same per-gigabyte rate you'd pay for mobile data utilise from your phone. That means whatever extra devices essentially become extensions of your main Fi phone — which is another powerful perk that opens up plenty of interesting possibilities.

Contracts? Commitments? Cancellation fees? In that location's gotta be some way this affair is out to get me...

Your skepticism is understandable, Mr. and/or Mrs. Crankypants, but I'm telling you: Fi doesn't play those typical carrier games. Other than the fact that if yous employ a ton of mobile data per month, information technology probably won't make fiscal sense to you — and that the "unlimited" choice comes with a max-out signal in terms of the truly unlimited, highest-possible-speed information — there really aren't whatsoever hidden fees, asterisks, or other "gotchas" to study. (I've been using the service myself since 2015, so if there were whatever such catches, I'd certainly have noticed 'em by now.)

Will whatever phone work with Fi?

More or less — and kind of.

Let me explain: Fi has a small number of phones that are explicitly designed for its service — including Google'due south own Pixel devices, as you'd expect, and a scattering of other specially adapted handsets. Those phones give you the full Fi experience, with the multi-network switching, the automatic public Wi-Fi connecting, and the e'er-on VPN protection selection.

You can, however, also use Fi with well-nigh other reasonably recent Android phones or fifty-fifty iPhones. Every bit long as a device is unlocked and uniform with T-Mobile's network, it'll almost certainly work on Fi — at least, from a technical perspective. That's always been true, despite the fact that Google only recently started promoting it and officially supporting such widespread compatibility.

Just have note: With a phone that isn't designed explicitly to be used with Google Fi, yous won't get that aforementioned full Fi experience. That means no multi-network switching — instead, your device will connect only to T-Mobile, in the U.S. — plus no automatic public Wi-Fi connecting and no always-on VPN protection.

What you lot will get is the pay-just-for-what-you-use, hidden-fee-costless billing setup, if you and so cull, along with the standard-rate international information price. But you lot're essentially getting that only with regular T-Mobile service here in usa, which takes a bit of the shine off of Fi's appeal.

Also, with new accounts, Google Fi is currently limiting you to a sure subset of approved devices. (You can search the full list hither.) Even if an older telephone is technically compatible with Fi — and would work with it, if you were to slap an agile SIM bill of fare inside — Google won't activate an business relationship unless yous have ane of those officially supported models.

Practise I have to buy a Fi-designed phone from Google Fi directly in order for it to work correct?

Nope — yous could buy a Pixel phone, for example, from Google, Best Purchase, or wherever, and it'd yet work fine and requite y'all the full Fi experience equally soon as y'all slide that SIM carte du jour inside (or activate it electronically). The same applies for near other Fi-designed phones, too, though if you're thinking of getting annihilation other than a device's unlocked model, you lot may desire to check the Fi compatibility site but to brand sure it shows upward equally having full "designed for Fi" support.

Fi does sell all such devices directly through its website, with options for financing, trade-ins, and device protection plans. It also tends to run a off-white corporeality of deals — including dropped prices and bundled-in Fi credits with new device purchases. And then it's certainly worth shopping around a fleck then seeing how Fi's own offerings compare to what you find elsewhere.

Can I port in my existing number to Google Fi?

Yup — whether it'southward a cell number or fifty-fifty a landline number. Nothin' to it.

What if I'm using Google Vocalisation at present?

Yous've got a couple of options. First, you lot tin simply transfer your Google Voice number over to Fi when yous sign upwardly — and you'll yet get about (simply not all) of the significant Voice features, albeit in slightly different Fi forms (fo, fum). You can also always transfer your number dorsum out later, if yous decide to stop using Fi and want to get dorsum to Google Voice down the road.

Equally of but this month, you tin can also have a separate Fi and Voice number on the same Google account, so you lot could keep your current number connected to Google Vox, sign up for anew number with Google Fi, so use the Voice app on your Fi phone to brand and receive calls and messages from your existing Voice number. (My caput hurts.) I wrote a lot more on this subject and the intriguing possibilities it presents in this column, if you want to explore the area with me further.

Can I employ any texting app I want with Google Fi?

Sure tin can. Officially, Google suggests using its ain Messages app (naturally) or Hangouts (at least, for the moment), merely whatever Android texting app will work simply fine.

This all sounds dandy, Randy, only what if I need some help along the way?

Well, Gilby, lemme tell ya: Google Fi doesn't have any concrete retail stores (yet, anyway), but it does take 24/seven telephone, chat, and email back up — which has more often than not been relatively decent in my experience and far less likely to make me want to gouge my optics out than nearly other carrier support systems I've had the displeasure of using.

Okay, I recall I've got this. Very important query earlier we wrap up, though: Does Fi ever make you lot crave pie or rye?

Aye.

And mai tai? Eh, guy?

I won't dignify with a respond.

What near Thai? Or craven thigh (subsequently a fry)?

Sigh. Goodbye.

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Contributing Editor JR Raphael serves up tasty morsels about the human side of technology. Hungry for more? Bring together him on Twitter or sign up for his weekly newsletter to become fresh tips and insight in your inbox every Fri.

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