Google Fi has been around for north of a decade now and it still feels like the weird, smart kid in the back of the wireless-carrier room. It’s not quite a major carrier, but it’s much more than just a budget MVNO.
And it’s one of the only tech services I’ve been using for years and years that hasn’t changed all that much or arbitrarily and routinely jacked up its prices. My bill has looked the same for a long, long time.
So if you’re tired of the Big Three and you’re thinking about jumping ship, here’s the reality of life on Google’s network.
Seamless international travel
If you’ve ever landed in a foreign country only to be greeted by a $10-a-day “travel pass” notification from your carrier, you know the pain.
With Google Fi’s $65 Unlimited Plus and $30+ Flexible plan, your data just works in over 200 countries at no extra charge. You step off the plane, turn off airplane mode, and you’re back on Instagram before you hit customs. It’s the single best feature for anyone who frequently uses their passport.
Free data-only SIMs
Most carriers want to charge you an extra $10 or $20 a month to add a tablet, cell-equipped laptop, or a backup phone to your plan. Fi lets you order data-only SIM cards for free.
You just pop them into whichever device you want to connect, and they tap into your existing data bucket. It’s an elegant solution for tech hoarders who want their secondary devices to actually be useful away from Wi-Fi.
Simple pricing
There are no “activation fees” that magically appear on your first bill like a digital gremlin. The app is incredibly clean, showing you exactly how much data you’ve used and what your next bill will look like.
The baseline Flexible tier, especially, is great for keeping your bills under control. It’s $20 per month for phone service, plus $10 per month for each gigabyte of data you use.
So if you’re a homebody like me, $30-per-month cell service bills aren’t uncommon. And even if you’re using a lot of data in a given month, you stop getting charged after six gigabytes, meaning your bill will never surpass $80 per month.
That being said…
Iffy support
When Google Fi works, it works. When it doesn’t, you’re at the mercy of the Google ecosystem.
If your Google account ever gets flagged or locked for a security reason, your phone service can get swept up in the chaos.
Furthermore, while Fi’s chat support is fast, it can feel a bit scripted. And if you have a complex billing issue or a head-scratcher of a hardware problem, you might miss the ability to walk into a physical store and talk to a human being.
Beware the Google Graveyard
We have to talk about the elephant in the room: Google’s habit of killing off products we actually like.
I’ve been a Fi user since 2017, which is a good long run, but I’m keenly aware that it could all end any day. From Google Reader to Stadia to Inbox to Wave to Google+ to… I’m forgetting a lot of them, the “Killed by Google” list is long and tragic.
Your cell phone number is arguably your most important piece of digital identity. Entrusting it to a company that famously pivots away from products and services on a whim requires a leap of faith. There’s always a nagging fear that one day, I’ll get an email saying Google Fi is being “integrated” into some other service or 86’d entirely. Until that happens, I remain a contented customer.