Google Project Fi

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Google Project Fi

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

Glass of Milk posted:

I asked this in the android thread, but how does the switching to wifi spots work in Fi? Is it pretty seamless? Does it make a difference in terms of data use?

I'm going to sign up tonight- the cost will likely be a wash, but I'll be able to upgrade my Nexus 4 and wife will replace her Nexus 5, so it's worth trying, I think. I'm wavering in whether to get the 6p or not...form factor and the amoled screen potential for burn-in are making me pause.

I'm kind of in the same boat. I'll save a couple bucks a month, maybe more if this Wifi thing is amazing, but ultimately I think Cricket would have saved me more. But then I remember I switched to T-Mobile three years ago because AT&T's service was so lovely near my house. I've moved like five times since then....and ended up two streets over from where I was back then. Maybe AT&T's network is better now but I'm a whore for Google so I wanna give this a shot.

I went for the 6P (waiting for delivery) ultimately because the 5X only has 2GB of RAM and while that's probably fine now, I feel like in 2 years it won't be. Plus the price difference between the 32GB 5X and 6P is only $70 anyway (16GB is too small for me).

# ¿ Oct 27, 2015 22:31

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# ¿ May 6, 2024 11:36

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

Has anyone that ordered a 6P through Fi received it yet? Getting kind of pissed seeing all these people who ordered in the last few days getting their phones while my three week old order has been "processing" for a week.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2015 12:27

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

Want to pop in to say that I guess bitching in this thread worked, earlier tonight my order shipped. I paid for 2 day but I guess Saturday doesn't count so I'm getting it Monday.

Looking forward to see how often, if ever, I'm actually on Sprint's network compared to T-Mobile's. A buddy of mine used Sprint for years and he always complained about the lovely coverage here (Orlando) whereas T-Mobile has seldom disappointed me. Does Fi actually specify which network you're on or is it something you have to investigate?

# ¿ Nov 6, 2015 03:18

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

Just got my 6P, set up Project Fi and everything seems to be going smoothly. I did notice though when I go to send an SMS, it gives options: "Mobile (via SMS)" or "Mobile (via Project Fi)".

What's the difference?

# ¿ Nov 10, 2015 14:56

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

I've only noticed the secure automatic connection a handful of times. It puts a little key symbol in the notification bar.

As an aside, it seems weird that it won't connect automatically to Google portals (like at Starbucks). I guess I get why but still.

# ¿ Dec 23, 2015 01:42

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

IIRC, when the MXP came out a number of people tried Fi on it and like any other GSM phone, it stayed on T-Mobile the entire time. I doubt that's changed.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2016 18:59

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

Another option is to buyout your carrier device now, and then use the money from that to buy (in full) a Nexus 6, and use Fi with that. N6 have been going on deep discounts a lot lately-like $250 for a brand new one was pretty common. It's still a couple hundred extra but it's certainly cheaper (upfront and long term) than buying a 6P and you'll break even faster.

# ¿ Feb 2, 2016 02:45

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

If you came from an iPhone, did you deregister iMessage? And if so, your other contacts (if they are also on iPhones) may need to delete the text thread.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2016 00:39

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

Just FYI, the 5x if bought through Fi is still $199/$249. You won't find a better deal on the 5x until the next 5" is released. I do recommend the 6P though, it's hands down the best phone I've ever used. If you're worried about the size, it's basically the same width as a 5" phone, just taller, and I think that really helps it be manageable.

# ¿ Apr 25, 2016 21:51

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

There's no family rate on Fi so you would each need to pay $20+data/month. It may work out cheaper for you, it may not. If you both use 2 gigs a month, you'd be paying $80 in total, for example.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2016 00:18

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

The Nexuses have been coming out in October/November the last few times, but we're getting close to a release for Android N, and the new Android versions are usually released alongside a device. There's been years where the Nexus was released in August, too, keep in mind. If you can hold off until October I would, but by no means is the 6P a bad phone if you need a new phone right now.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2016 00:01

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

Photex posted:

So just received my Nexus 5X and setup my Fi account, everything went pretty smoothly but i'm kind of confused by a few things (it's google hangouts it always is)

1: I like being able to make/receive phone calls from my computers, are there any additional steps I need to do to continue this? I'm guessing just leaving my google chrome extension is good enough.

2: Text and Minute charges are where i'm confused the most, for me to avoid data charges with text and phone calls those need to not go through the hangouts app period correct?

3: If I disable SMS in hangouts i'll no longer receive text messages on my computers, so what is everyones alternatives to that?

I hope these questions make sense.

Google could have done a better job at explaining things, but I'll try to lay it out:

You can receive SMS through Hangouts or any other app (Messenger, Textra, whatever). This doesn't matter. The option in Hangouts to "merge SMS and Hangouts" doesn't matter. You get unlimited SMS this way. However, the SMS will not be on your computer unless you use some other app specifically for this.

There is an option within Hangouts, when you click on your Google account. The settings look like this:

If you flip that switch labeled "Messages" then all your SMS will use data (billed at regular data rates, or free on wifi) and also show up on your computer, and allow you to reply on your computer.

Hope this helped and didn't make it more confusing.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2016 18:39

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

Azrial posted:

If I am already on project fi am I eligible for the discounted phone if I buy one or is it only for new fi customers?

You can still buy them, it's just kind of hidden. Log in to the Fi website and it's under "Your Plan" along with the option of ordering a data-only SIM.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2016 23:16

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/09/09/project-fi-k-2-7-13-preparing-launch-group-plans-apk-teardown/

Looks like group accounts are coming soon. Personally I don't see how a Fi group plan could be a better deal than most family plans I've seen, but I guess it depends on how the data is handled across lines. I'm assuming it will be a single unified "bucket" of data, like the data only sims use, but it's all guess and speculation right now (obviously).

# ¿ Sep 10, 2016 00:33

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

The charge itself is listed as "GOOGLE* PROJECT FI G.CO/PAYHELP#CA" and the category is "business services not elsewhere classified."

This is SunTrust for what it's worth.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2016 16:13

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

rhombus posted:

Oh wow, despite the coverage map showing Omaha as having good 4G coverage, Google won't let me sign up. I can't imagine T-mobile will be creating a Nebraska presence anytime soon, so I don't think that will change.

Unfortunately the fact that T-Mobile isn't likely to come to Nebraska is probably why Fi isn't either. I recall seeing something about markets with only one or the other (back when it was just Sprint and T-Mo) not getting Fi, I assume because it would mean getting exclusive service for far less than it would normally cost. And the assumption is that the participating carriers require the switching to agree to be in Fi.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2016 00:30

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

Has anyone here bought a second phone from Fi for someone else? My wife is in need of a new phone and I know the 5X is perfect for her, and the price is right, but I'm a little confused. I figured since I was already a Fi customer it wouldn't matter, I would just order the phone and be done with it. However, on checkout it gives the warning that if it isn't activated within 30 days I'll be charged the full $400, and they're shipping a new sim card with apparently no way to stop that. Could I just put my sim in the new phone and have that count as "activation?"

# ¿ Dec 11, 2016 15:25

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

I know I'm definitely on the verge of switching because of the price. I usually use a little less than a GB of data, but that's never streaming music and being very conscious of my data usage in general. $30 a month is great on Fi, but for $40 on MetroPCS I could get 3GB and unlimited music streaming. Google needs to step up its game. Maybe have unlimited streaming from Google Play or something.

# ¿ May 29, 2017 12:01

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

If I port my Fi number out to Google Voice, will Hangouts/SMS integration work the same way? I've gotten really used to texting from my computer and would hate to lose it or need to use a third party app like PushBullet.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2017 21:09

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

Johnny Truant posted:

So I've been having the same issue, but I knew my phone was out of warranty so I never really thought to hit up customer service until you posted this story.

Not only did they agree to replace my phone free of charge, they're upgrading my Nexus 6P to a Pixel XL, still for the free-ninety-nine! That's a hell of a way to start a long weekend, so thanks for motivating me to contact their customer service.

I've been meaning to call Google for a week or so, and decided to today. 15 minutes later and I've got a Pixel XL on its way to replace my 6P. I can't believe it, I was going to buy a Pixel 2 in a couple months, but I feel fine waiting for the Pixel 3 or maybe longer now.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2017 18:27

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# ¿ May 6, 2024 11:36

Humerus: Jul 7, 2009; Rule of acquisition #111:
Treat people in your debt like family...exploit them.

Sub Rosa posted:

Now I somehow feel disappointed that my free upgrade is still 32GB just like my 6P.

The only Pixels are 32 and 128, so anyone with a 64 6P is just getting the upgrade, I guess. I haven't ever had to manage my storage on my 6P so I'm fine with 32.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2017 21:45

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Google Project Fi