Mountain View-Based Google Launches New Wireless Service -- Project Fi 1

Mountain View-Based Google Launches New Wireless Service — Project Fi

Posted Wednesday, Apr 22, 2015 by Kim Parnell

This offering may provide some competition to the current cellular providers, especially if/when it expands beyond the Nexus phone.  I think it certainly indicates an intention on the part of Google to become a serious contender in this market.

See: About Project Fi  and  Google blog: Project Fi

Mountain View-Based Google Launches New Wireless Service — Project Fi

Mountain View, Calif. — Taking aim at market leaders AT&T and Verizon Wireless, Mountain View-based Google on Wednesday unveiled a new wireless service called Project Fi. The service will charge customers a flat rate of $20 a month for talk, text, Wi-Fi connections and international coverage, plus an additional $10 a month per GB of cellular data. The company said it will credit customers for the value of their unused data. Google is now taking signups for early access to the program, which initially will only be available through the Nexus 6 smartphone that the company developed with Motorola. The service allows calls to seamlessly transition from Wi-Fi to cell networks, and lets users talk and text with their phone number on just about any phone, tablet or laptop. “Project Fi enables us to work in close partnership with leading carriers, hardware makers, and all of you to push the boundaries of what’s possible,” wrote Nick Fox, Google’s vice president of communications products, in a blog post. “By designing across hardware, software and connectivity, we can more fully explore new ways for people to connect and communicate.” Google is partnering with Sprint and T-Mobile to launch Project Fi in the U.S.


1 Comment

  1. User AvatarJeff Safire

    As Google often does with projects like this, they hope and expect the industry’s leading players to follow suit – as best they can. If Google hopes to accomplish this, they must – and likely will – expand the project to other phones, probably Android-only at first.

    I also wonder what the general public will think of the deal made with Sprint and T-Mobile networks. Although T-Mobile’s network seems to be rapidly improving (my iPad has a T-Mob SIM), my own experience (iPhone on Sprint) is that Sprint is still way behind. On a recent trip to Las Vegas, driving I-5 and I-58, I had no data connection in 4 or 5 places, while my co-driver had solid data on AT&T. So, I wonder if many people will not consider this an apples-to-apples comparison between Gooogle’s Fi and the main wireless providers.