Category: Project Fi

Project Fi is rolling out a new unlimited data named Bill Protection.  It assures that individual users who use more than 6GB of data a month will be charged one flat rate and, like current Fi plans, if you use under 6GB in a month, you are credited back money for those unused gigs.

The plan is being rolled out today and it is for individual users as well as groups who are all on Project Fi.  For individual users, the maximum out of pocket per month would be $80 per month.  That is $60 for the 6GB plus $20 for the calls & text portion of the service.  If you go above those 6GB, you still only pay $80.  If you have two members in a group, the maximum cost is $135 with a data plan level of 10GB.  There is a calculator to help you understand the costs for your plan

After being an exclusive to Verizon since October of last year, the Kinda Blue color option for the Google Pixel 2 is now available to everyone from Google or on Project Fi.  The pricing of the phone and the functionality of the phone is identical to any Pixel 2, it is just that you have a more unique color option than Black or White.

The Kinda Blue color was an exclusive for the phone from Verizon as being the other launch partner of the phone with Google.  That meant that the phone was locked to the carrier like the other Pixel phones they have sold.  Now with it being available from Google directly, you can get it unlocked.

A couple of days ago I told you about an error message that some Project Fi users received erroneously.  The error message indicated that their data usage was being throttled due to high usage and, in some case, users SIMs were disabled for a period of time.  The Fi team indicated that they knew of the issue as it was a test of a new feature that was never intended to leak outside.

Now they are trying to make it up to users who were impacted.  Multiple Project Fi users have reported receiving an email from Google’s MVNO, apologizing for the error and providing them a $10 credit towards their next month’s bill.  It’s a small gesture but one that will likely go a long way for the majority of users out there for the trouble they encountered.

After digging into the specifications of the Google Pixel 2 phones, it was discovered that both devices support eSIM technology.  But Google was quick to point out that the new electronic SIM will only be activated and used for Project Fi customers for now.

eSIM, as the name suggests, is an electronic SIM card.  It replaces the physical plastic card that you get from your carrier, including Project Fi.  It is a reasonably new standard and the first consumer device to leverage it was the Apple Watch series 3.  That hasn’t gone as smoothly as Apple has wanted which is likely one of the reasons that Google is limiting it to just their own service for now.

Today Google has made good on a commitment they Tweeted about a few months back:  There is now a non-Google Project Fi compatible phone.  The new Android One Moto X4 is available for pre-order starting today and takes full advantage of Project Fi’s ability to switch networks on-the-fly just like the Google Pixel and previous Nexus 6, 6P and 5X.

The Moto X4 comes with what Google is calling a pure Android experience and ships with Android Nougat.  An update to Oreo will happen before the end of 2017 and Google has indicated that the Moto X4 will be among the first phones to get the Android P update in 2018.

Well done Project Fi.  Well Done.

Google’s MVNO service has been notifying their customers that were impacted by Hurricane Irma this weekend that they will be receiving a $20 credit on their account to assure they can stay connected and not worry about overages for this trying month.

The actions by Fi follows on a similar action they took with victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas at the end of August.

Project Fi is known for their customer support and this is another example of it for customers who, right now, need to make their mobile bill the last thing they are worried about today.