Following up on my last posts and people's suggestions, above, a brief update: I recently cancelled Fi by porting my number out to a virtual provider. In the 5+ years since I left the US, Google never capped my service or issued a warning.
In mid-2018 I moved to Germany. I set up local service, but also retained Fi. During 2018 and into 2019 I made a lot of calls to, and received calls from, the US. I rarely used data service in Germany, but visited Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, India and Japan. I also visited the US frequently, however.
Covid 19 meant that between February 2020 and late 2022 I didn't leave Europe. During that period I didn't actively use Fi service, although Google's servers will have seen the phone when I occasionally checked for messages and software updates. For the past year my travel has been somewhat more normal, with trips to SE Asia and Canada sandwiched between three trips to the US, and I've used Fi for data and calls whenever I've left Europe.
Short version: if you don't take the mickey, Google will probably take your money and leave you in peace even if you don't touch US soil very often.
Fi has recently clarified their
International roaming policy:
Activation: Google Fi’s
Terms of Service require you to activate and use Google Fi service mainly in the United States (not including territories) for at least one day before using Fi abroad.
Learn more about activating Fi service. You can reactivate your plan while abroad. For example, you could switch devices or perform a factory reset
.
Extent of use: If the majority of your usage occurs outside of the United States over a consecutive 90-day period, we will suspend your international data (your account stays active). You can avoid a suspension by returning to the US for at least a week. You’ll receive a warning email and notification in the Fi app 30 days before suspension.
Suspension exit: When your data has been suspended for extended international use, you can still use your phone to call and text, but you will lose international data access until we have observed significant usage in the United States for at least 30 days.
Exceptions: We grant international exceptions for military and State Department employees who serve abroad through
verification of government status.