First, I reviewed Google’s marvelous Project Fi mobile telephone & data service. Later, I published two different methods to make Project Fi work unofficially with an iPhone, even though I still use it personally with a certified pure Android phone. Most recently, I included Project Fi as one of four travel tips in a Medium article. (Links to all three of those ahead.) Now, I am here to tell you how Google has improved Project Fi even more, in terms of data pricing, and also share a special link where you’ll be able to get a US$20 discount.
Links to 3 prior articles
- Review: Project Fi, son of Google Voice from January 2016 in ProVideo Coalition
– Use your iPhone with Project Fi from Google and save $$ per month: Two different methods and their consequences from September 2016 in ProVideo Coalition, illustrated above
- Travel tips: My 4 favorite services to save time and eliminate stress from November 2017 in Medium, illustrated above
How Google has improved Project Fi’s data pricing
Thanks to a new automatic feature in Project Fi called Bill Protection, as an individual user you are now guaranteed to spend a maximum of US$60 per month for data. If and when you hit 6GB of consumption in any particular month, your data fee per the month will freeze at US$60 and you will then be charged for unlimited data. The total of US$60 + the US$20 base price for a single line with Project Fi is US$80, which (the last time I checked) is exactly T-Mobile’s price for a single unlimited line.
So if you are a an individual user like me, who usually consumes less than 1/2 GB per month due to good data management, your total monthly Project Fi bill can remain being about US$25 a month. However, if and when you have an extreme situation where you must consume a huge amount of data, without changing your plan, you’ll never pay more than US$60 for data per month.
On the Project Fi website, you’ll find more savings if you add extra lines to your account.
Advantages that Project Fi has over T-Mobile (US)
- In the US, Project Fi has better coverage than T-Mobile. That’s because in the US, Project Fi uses 3 different networks (not counting WiFi): T-Mobile, Sprint and US Cellular. Project Fi even seamlessly switches between the three networks in mid call.
- As with T-Mobile (US) post-paid customers, when you roam internationally, your data cost is the same as in the US. However, unlike T-Mobile customers whose data speed gets throttled in many foreign countries (unless they pay extra to T-Mobile), Project Fi’s data does not become throttled when roaming internationally.
- Project Fi does not charge you extra to use the same plan’s data on a tablet which has a SIM slot, the way T-Mobile does. Project Fi will give you the data SIM free, and you only pay for your overall data consumption.
- There are more Project Fi roaming countries than T-Mobile. According to T-Mobile, there are “over 120 countries”, while according to Google, there are “over 135 countries and destinations”.
Advantage that Project Fi has over other MVNOs
MVNO means Mobile Virtual Network Operator. It refers to companies in the US that resell service at a lower cost, since they don’t have the overhead of physical stores.
Project Fi is the only MVNO I have ever seen that includes data roaming in other countries, and it does so at the same data cost as in the United States. I have found MVNOs which offer international roaming for telephone calls, but not for data.
But is there a data cap?
From Google:
”If you use more than 15 GB of data in a month (under 1% of current Project Fi users), you’ll experience slower data speeds. Once you reach 15 GB, you can opt out of slower data speeds by choosing to pay $10/GB for data above 15 GB and getting in touch with our support team.”
Link to save US$20
Using this link, you’ll get a US$20 credit and so will I after you sign up.
Tax
All prices mentioned above exclude taxes or other government fees, since they vary among different areas in the US.
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