Move over, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint.
On Wednesday, Google announced its ambitious plan of joining the ranks of mobile network service providers in the U.S.
Google’s Project Fi will literally be making minions out of the leading mobile network service providers of today.
Technically, Project Fi offers the same service as other mobile network service providers, but with an unexpected twist.
Thanks to its partnership with T-Mobile and Sprint, Project Fi has the ability to run across multiple networks.
Google will also partner with over one million WiFi hotspots across the globe for its latest venture, which will enable Project Fi to basically piggyback on all these networks, and automatically switch seamlessly between each network to find the fastest and most reliable service for its users— wherever they may be.
Best of all, you won’t even have to use a mobile phone to use the service. Although Project Fi only currently works with the Motorola Nexus 6, you can be on a PC or a tablet and still be able to place and receive calls using your phone number, as well as browse the web and do other things that your regular mobile network lets you do.
Google’s Project Fi also makes sure that your connection is always secure. When you’re connected to its mobile network through any of its WiFi hotspot partners, Project Fi automatically encrypts the data sent and received on the device you are on to ward off hackers.
But perhaps the most attractive part about Google’s Project Fi network is the fact that its service is inexpensive. For only $20 a month, a subscriber is given unlimited calls and texts, and international roaming and international calls can be made on the network with no additional charge.
Subscribers are also only charged for the actual amount of data that they used— so if they consumed lesser data than they have been allocated on their given plan, they are credited back the amount equivalent to the unused number of data in FULL.
The only downside is that Google’s latest project is only available in selected areas.
Although Google’s Project Fi appears to have a lot of potential, Google Products Chief Sundar Pichai says the company has no immediate plans of taking its mobile network service mainstream, and that leading mobile network providers in the U.S. won’t have to worry about Google trying to unseat them anytime soon.
According to Pichai, Project Fi’s main objective is to inspire mobile carriers to do the same.
This sounds as if it could be very useful in the areas where it’s available. I’d love the opportunity to try it out and see how well it works. I hope it does inspire current providers to increase the quality of services they provide, while lowering prices. I think the partnership with Sprint and T-mobile has the opportunity to provide the most stable service. I’ve had both, and in my area, T-mobile has the best coverage, while Sprint was the best at my old residence and area.