Letitride3c

Woohoo - that's excellent news, thanks for sharing. Can't wait to check out the new speed this Fall abroad, grounded except for domestic travel this summer.

When we're in Bermuda #cough #cough Jamaica a/k/a Caribbean Islands roaming with T-Mobile under Fi Network, we got pretty good 3G speed - it certainly wasn't blazing fast, but very usable for pictures uploading and even Facebook, etc. - what more can one ask for while on vacation after this, with a 10X to 20X faster speed. (197 ms latency, 294 kbps download & 388 kpps upload - according to OpenSignal App's test data)

Dubai Stu

No. It works in 135 countries, but where they can't give you the flat roaming rate, it simply doesn't work.

nmenaker

Anyone have an experience with suspending or deactivation? I think one can only "suspend" for 90 days, after that the number associated may be cancelled.? I'm not sure if the card is still valid then or not, or of one needs another card.

Letitride3c

One less to worry about it - looked & checked it, here's what Fi's FAQ said:
AND, this is easily done as DIY on the device.

Thus, you won't lose your Fi / Google number, especially if you ported your mobile # into Fi, etc.

For military service, call into Fi support with deployment info ready, and they will set it up to allow up to 39 months of "suspension" of services - which is very good.

Footnote - on using Data only "Fi" Sim card:
Ordered a Fi data only Sim card for use, associated with DW's Fi account, originally using it on the iPad Mini as it the 4G/LTE service was on T-Mobile's free 200MB Data For Life while on the road, which is exactly how that was being used when we are somewhere domestic with no Boingo/WiFi access, etc.

Fi's data access gave us the flexibility to have global coverage at dirt cheap rates of $10 for GB, we used about 200 MB of data or $2's worth of international roaming while on vacation cruising - no coverage of the cruiseship, as expected (Norwegian Cruise Line) to/from Bermuda. Before we even docked on the islands, we picked up a solid DigiCel signal (T-Mobile's roaming partner, welcoming us to the Caribbean islands - LOL) - nice to be catching up with the world from Dockyard to St. George's on the East End, and onboard the SeaExpress, the fast CAT ferry ride. Since we're away & didn't use much home data, our expenses while roaming international was basically offset 100% and not costing us anything extra. It worked much, much better than expected - by Day 2, I had switched the Fi data Sim into the spare/backup iPhone 5S - so essentially, the tablet, using it to check emails, upload pictures and to make WiFi/Skype calls (just to test it out) - initially, it prompted for an incomplete device activation. Changed the APN setting manually to Fi, power cycle/reboot and it was good to go as a data device.

This isn't exactly meant for the iOS platform, but here I am - using it as another layer of backup, and a happy camper.

Dubai Stu

When your number is suspended, does voicemail work?

LordHamster

They just announced that their Global roaming is now no longer throttled. Previously they limited it to 256k (which was twice as fast as T-Mo), now you will get full-speed on whatever network you connect to. Pretty good.

The ball is now in T-Mo's court.

nmenaker

I don't think you get FULL SPEED, but you get more than the 128/256 from before. Most people have reported getting many megabytes, but not the 10's of megabytes that an actual SIM card on the same network would get.

LordHamster

Reports on the ProjectFi Reddit seem to say otherwise. I'm seeing reports upwards of 60mbps

nmenaker

others testing in UK have shown the "10-20x" only, not the full boat bandwidth

time will tell


http://thepointsguy.com/2016/07/proj...reases-speeds/

boerne

As I noted up thread data speeds have increased internationally according to reports. I got in to full nerd mode and added these apps to get my Fi geek on. Android apps- LTE discovery,Signal Spy, Signal Check Lite. LTE discovery gives a whole bunch of stuff I don't understand ir all yet but it gives the GPS location of the tower you are connected to. I bought signal Spy pro. It gives the tower cell connection and the wifi connection. It does provide USSD codes 1 touch.

Signal Spy provides easier access to the dialer codes that change the connectivity of your Fi device. The codes we allow easy access to include
Force T-Mobile
Force Sprint
Auto
Checkin
Repair
Next
Info

Signal Check Lite seems to duplicate some of the above. But it's free.

I'd others have useful apps for Fi, please share.

aschuett

Another data point which I did not see brought up in this thread.

I migrated from AT&T (Cricket) in March, and have since used Fi on a number of trips both lower 48 as well as international. Overall, I would not go back to AT&T. Roaming on Fi is just too seamless. But a few items worth noting:

(1) Domestically, one of the underlying networks Project Fi uses is Sprint. Sprint does not support simultaneous use of Voice + Data at this time. That means you cannot use the hotspot feature and be on a voice call. It was unfortunate this was discovered when remote and there was a need to be online with a voice call. :-( If you have T-Mobile network coverage, it does support simultaneous voice & data, however, and works great. You may wish to use one of many apps to manually switch to T-Mobile network in this case.

(2) The first time I traveled internationally, to Hong Kong, roaming data didn't work, but phone did. I called Fi support directly from the roaming phone (at no charge I might add), but they were unable to resolve over the course of the trip. I ended up using a prepaid SIM in HK that I bought for around $5, and Google Fi to their credit did reimburse me $10 for my troubles. Apparently they had to contact the international carrier. On that same trip, when I visited Macau for a day trip, data roaming worked great. All subsequent trips have worked great.

(3) Support is awesome. Unlike other carriers, I can have support call me back through their app, and within a minute or two a native English-speaking person from the US calls me. This is even the case if I am in a foreign country.

Hopefully above helps someone else make a decision. Personally, I'll be sticking with Fi.

Cat Man Do

Thanks for the trip report! Support info is quite helpful. A good review of cellular service customer support seems rare.

My experience and thoughts so far:

I setup a new experimental Fi account last month for use on a trip to PTY (yes, that PTY MR). It worked great for me - the week+ worth of usage would have cost me an additional 70-90 on Verizon, but only cost an extra few dollars for the off-Wifi voice calls I made, compared to the already low (USD 30) cost of the basic Fi plan.

My phone (the Nexus 5x) was a bit glitchy. I would often lose connectivity and have to reboot to get data again. It was also more likely that any given app would forget its state when I switched from one app to another. This has been a complaint towards iPhones as well, but it seemed to happen much more often.

In Use:
Despite being an Apple guy, there are a couple of items I liked better on the Nexus. The most obvious for me? The fingerprint sensor on the back was an odd thing to get used to. I now prefer it now over the front-mounted sensor on the iPhone. There are a few widgets I found useful too.

I'm an Apple user, and I find T-mobile's wifi calling more compelling - I can natively make calls from my number, even if my phone is offline or dead, without the use of Hangouts. This is only a small difference, really. I also prefer Apple's Messages for texting, for the same reason.

Plans and Charges:
A suggestion for those contemplating Fi service: Sign up for 1GB. If you go over, the extra usage is charged at the same $10/GB rate as the plan, but in MB increments. This means no overage charges. 1GB is $10, using 3.42 GB will cost you 34.20. I recommend signing up for the lowest rate.

I currently am on a family plan with Verizon, on which our contracts run out over the next few months. I'll likely be switching us over to T-mobile, but not until we are out of contract (T-mobile says they'll pay ETFs for switchers, but I've read a few horror stories, and it seems this is available only if we buy new phones).

The things keeping me from just switching to Fi completely:

For MY usage, T-Mobile's current family plan is a better deal.

For a family plan, I can't control everyone else's data use, and I depend to some degree on tethering. I expect our data usage to climb, and Fi is only competitive for small to moderate amounts of data. At the 2-4GB per phone I see now, we'd be paying 4x20 line fee and from 80 to 160 for data, per month.

T-Mobile's new faster-international-data gambit tips the scales for me. Currently, 4 lines at 2GB each is $100, 4 lines at 6GB is $160, or $120 on the current special, no contract. I can add another basic line with 2GB, which we will need for a new housemate, for $10 (25 with 6GB).

If I were only shopping for myself, not a family plan, Fi would win out by a small amount. T-Mobile $50 or 65 for a 2 or 6GB plan, vs $30-80 for 1GB to 6GB, likely charges being around $50-60 for 3-4GB of usage.
,


I'll pause my Fi service for now, keeping it handy for future travel and possibly craigslisting. It can be handy to have a non-daily-use number for such things.

When paused, the number is inactive - not available for texting, calling, voicemail, anything. It will automatically unpause after 90 days.

Given that cost is about equal for mid-range usage or somewhat less for low usage, Fi has some unmatched features. One is good customer service as reflected in the dead-simple signup process and transparent pricing (charges only for usage,credit for unused data, lack of overage charges and throttling). The other is the recent switch to high speed international data.

T-Mobile may quite possibly match the international high-speed data, but I think they'll be wedded to tiered pricing for a while now. That said, if they match the high-speed feature, and retain the unlimited data plan (That's another $45 above the initial line charge), there is a population of users that would be very happy.

ewrfox

Anyone know if I can buy a project fi data only plan and use it on the iphone? Or is it strictly android? Also, how is the data in Europe?

der_saeufer

You have to have a primary SIM (and thus a Nexus device) to get a data SIM. If you have Fi already, yes, you can add a data SIM and use it in an iPhone.

Data in Europe should be great with the addition of Three and no more throttling.

nmenaker

I know others who have ordered the SIM, which has to be activated on a nexus device and then simply moved the sim to an unlocked iphone. 6 and beyond I think. Around here, almost everyone has a nexus phone lying around for the activation process. YMMV.. but it's certainly doable. After that you can certainly get extra "data" sims, that will work in most devices, ios and android but data only, but of course that would enable most VOIP and SIP type of phone solutions.