We are looking to change our cellphone service/ Last year we cot convinced to switch from an AT&T family plan to a business account, but they are jacking up the prices so we are shopping plans. We currently have 4 phones and 2 ipads with data on our account (they have a phone # but we don’t use the ipad hone #,just the data when need be) and am looking for options. My son suggested google fi. Am open to suggestion as to good plans/deals, etc. We do have a trip to Israel upcoming so want to be sure to have good coverage.
Any good cellphone plans out there? Is anyone using google fi yet, and if so, what are your thoughts? Thanks in advance.
We switched from AT&T to the T-Mobile ONE plan. It’s $140 per month for 4 lines (including taxes and fees) and has unlimited data. It includes unlimited texting and data in over 200 countries which has been great for overseas travel (not sure of the data speed overseas). It also includes a free Netflix account
We have google fi as a travel phone. Our D took it to Africa and we could track the phone and see her location. We bought a google fi compatible phone so it would have technical support available if needed. She was in rural areas, and some of the nonprofit offices she was working with had unreliable internet connections - but she would just pull out her phone to open up a hot spot and the whole office could run over her phone for the day. Everyone there was very impressed with its reliability and speed. We used it in Maine when our regular phones didn’t have coverage for some reason and Canada, too.
I really like that the operating system works like a desktop in the sense that different users can log in with their google accounts, have their own contacts, etc. and then log out for the next person to use.
Yes! Love it!, I am the only phone on my account - I buy 1 Gb of data and rarely use that much - only one month in 2 years did I pay more than $30.
DD has it and uses it overseas for texting - calls incur roaming charges - but could use in an emergency - no sim card change.
My daughter just switched to Google Fi. She doesn’t have a phone that will automatically switch towers yet - plans to in a few weeks. She has her Moto G plus still. If she finds it good we may consider switching down the road. Curious to hear others experiences.
We just switched from a family plan on ATT to the T-Mobile 55+ plan. $70 a month for 2 lines unlimited data/phone/texts seemed like a good deal. Had some problems the first couple of days and we’re on the verge of switching back but they got the data and number porting sorted out - so far so good. We have better service at the house than we did with ATT so will probably let go of the house phone at the end of the contract (we just switched from ATT landline to Vonage).
Another convert from ATT&T to T mobile for D1 and me. D2 who moved overseas ported her number to google prior to us leaving AT&T. It seemed complicated, but it worked. She is fine with it overseas, but has a new sim card for her new country.
Swimcats, S had some trouble getting his number switched (he went to Verizon) but ours, yesterday was effortless. Will have to look into Vonage for the landline. I am so glad to be done with the high bills!
@“great lakes mom” my daughter ported her number to Google Fi easy peasy - took 5 minutes. Son took about an hour. Ours took 2 1/2 days and a long 3 way phone call with Raj from T-Mobile and Vida from ATT (both I suspect located in India) to get sorted out. It was awkward because we use a security verification system to be able to get into our tax and accounting and time tracking software and it didn’t Dawn on me till I got to work that it wouldn’t work cause my number was different. I’m an admin on the account so can log in to the main account and get a code if someone doesn’t have their phone - but I couldn’t log in because it sends a verification message to my phone! I was the only admin in on Christmas Eve so I was up the creek. It was a bit if a comedy of errors for sure.
For 3 lines, we use 20-25 GB of data per month, so we would have to pay $120 for data with Google Fi. I am paying 150 for 3 lines with unlimited data and calling with ATT. Iphone is in beta with Google right now, so it would be a non starter for me.
We have the TMobile 55+ account–$60 for 2 lines unlimited data, text and phone, including data on other countries and text in other countries. No throttling, but no Netflix either (we never watch anything anyway). I have an account with D on it and H has an account with S on it, so $120 for all 4 of us. We have the option to add one more person to our line or H’s for an extra $30, so $90 for 3 people.
Google Fi data use is $10/Gbyte up to $60 in a month, in addition to the $20 base charge that includes unlimited voice and text (I.e. $80 plus tax per month for high data users, but could be cheap for low data users). Above 6 Gbytes data in a month is no charge, but data above something like 15 Gbytes in a month may be reduced speed. You can check if your use makes sense with this pricing plan.
The base charge is prepaid, while the data charge is postpaid, but there is no credit check.
International roaming is included with a small per minute charge for voice, but no additional charge for text or data. See website for countries included (Israel and Palestine are listed).
It is an MVNO that uses T Mobile, Sprint, and a regional carrier. Phones “designed for Fi” handle the switching as well as automatically using open wifi with VPN. Other unlocked phones may work with some limitations listed on the website.
Google plan for 3 people is $120 with 12 GB of Data. I just did a bill estimate based on our usage, it would be $170/mon. I am paying $150 with taxes now, and I get to use my iphones.
Yes, I think the price for GB ($10 per GB) stops at 6GB and there is no charge for any used over that, up to 15 GB after which they could throttle down the speed. The price for the account is discounted for more phones per account.
I had T-mobile before switching to Project Fi. Overall, I found reception with Fi better than T-mobile but that will depend on where you are. The costs ended up being ~$10 less/month using Fi for me (one line) on average. Any month where I wasn’t traveling I would pay ~$30.
I love the Pixel series phones. Fi uses an e-Sim in the Pixel which leaves my sim card slot free for another card (handy if I’m traveling and want a cheap sim card for local phone service without roaming). I can switch between the sim and the e-sim easily. Fi does not charge extra for data roaming or international texting, but does charge for phone calls placed from outside the US.
Google Fi with a “designed for Fi” phone is supposed to automatically switch between T Mobile, Sprint, and open wifi with VPN, so places where T Mobile coverage is poor, but one of the others exists should work better than T Mobile.
