Sep 3, 2017, 5:37 am

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

Last edit by: Zorak

Which countries are supported?

https://support.google.com/fi/answer...intl_countries

Note that in some locations Hangouts (and Gmail) are not available (e.g., China, Russia, Thailand, South Korea, Mexico, Argentina, and more: see link below for full list of excluded countries), so you will need a VPN to access them (or to make VOIP calls via Hangouts Dialer)

https://support.google.com/hangouts/answer/3205646

Exceptions:

Listed, but no/spotty service:

Ukraine (Aug 2018) - no service, all providers listed as "forbidden". Post #660
Alaska (Jul 2018) -- had voice service, but inconsistent/spotty data (try forcing Sprint)
Peru (Sep 2016) post 341, 360
Grand Cayman Island (Jan 2018) post 547

Not listed, *did* have service

~~Belize (Jan 2018) post 547~~ Belize now appears on the "supported" international list

If you are having trouble connecting, level 1 Fi reps recommend you try the following steps before they will escalate. Try each step in the order listed below to see if it fixes your issue - if not, move on to next step.

1- Reboot phone
2- Toggle "airplane mode" on/off. Wait five seconds after toggling off (it resets phone modem).
3- Try manually connecting to each available network (rather than using the auto select feature).
4- Toggle down from 4g to 3g (removing the recommended 4g option) and then try manually connecting to each available network.
5- Toggle down from 3g to 2g and then try manually connecting to each available network.

Google Fi: Anyone care to post their experience?

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Jan 30, 2019, 7:36 am

#841

Need

Join Date: Jan 2003

Posts: 3,785

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAXlocal

If you order a 2nd full sim for data at $15 a month for text and phone can you turn it on and off as many times as you want ?
the idea would be to order extra full sims , use them for 2 week vacation , deactivate the extra one until the next trip , maybe activating it for a few days every few months to keep it alive ,
Since the full sim gets free worldwide text and not too expensive calls it's seems like a good add on to the data only sim for the travel time ,.

Do I have my plan right ?

I don't think you could suspense a line on the account. I think you could only suspense the entire account but I could be wrong; I only have 1 line on it so far. It doesn't make sense to me to only use the 2nd line for travel. You already got a primary line that is always active, so phone call and txt could already reach you. The 2nd line is inactive most of the the time so it was not a frequently used number. If it is a travel only number, you could just get a Google Voice number instead and use the free Data-Only Sim with it on the other device on travel?

Jan 31, 2019, 1:39 am

#842

der_saeufer

Join Date: Dec 2010

Location: DEL

Posts: 1,056

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAXlocal

What the poster above me said.

If you're only going to use it outside the US, you're essentially paying $15/mo to be able to text numbers outside the US and Canada. It's cheaper to call anywhere in the developed world and most of the rest over data (Hangouts) than to pay 20c/min for a 'regular' call, which a Google Voice number plus a data SIM gets you. And it seems unlikely that being able to SMS numbers outside +1 is worth much--your local contacts aren't going to want to pay to SMS your American number so they'll just use the messaging app du jour anyway. It costs me €0.25 per SMS to text the US from my Belgian phone, and some providers get €0.50. Whatsapp/Hangouts/Viber/Zuckerbook Messenger is free.

Jan 31, 2019, 11:23 am

#843

geometry

Join Date: Jan 2018

Programs: UA, LH, BA

Posts: 294

Quote:

Originally Posted by Need

yes, it's possible. I've been pausing(suspending) my line #2 and #3 whenever I don't need them. It removes the $15 mothly fee on the paused line, as well as drop the threshold for bill protection. for example, if I pause 1 of 3 lines on my account, it drops from 12gb to 10gg. If I pause another line, it drops down to 6gb(which is a single-line). What I've never tried was to pause all 3 lines on my account and I have no idea what will happen then... although I don't have a need to pause all 3 lines at the same time.

Need and LAXlocal like this.

Feb 1, 2019, 4:05 pm

#844

Michael Ad

Join Date: Nov 2015

Posts: 392

So I've now how two SIMs die on me. Is my account flagged or something?

I basically can't get any data with them, and I put another data-only SIM in the same iPad or iPhone, and it works fine.

So I order yet another.

These two both died while installed - it wasn't the act of inserting them that broke them or anything. They had been working fine, and then, all of a sudden, no service.

Any ideas? Glad I carry extra . . .

Feb 1, 2019, 5:07 pm

#845

Yoshi212

Join Date: Dec 2009

Location: New York, NY

Programs: AA Gold. UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt (Lifetime Diamond downgraded to Explorist)

Posts: 6,776

Did you just order more data-only sims or did you report to them the failure?

Feb 2, 2019, 4:28 am

#846

Michael Ad

Join Date: Nov 2015

Posts: 392

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi212

Did you just order more data-only sims or did you report to them the failure?

Just ordered more.

I still have the last failed one - I can report it if you think it helps.

Feb 2, 2019, 7:21 am

#847

Yoshi212

Join Date: Dec 2009

Location: New York, NY

Programs: AA Gold. UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt (Lifetime Diamond downgraded to Explorist)

Posts: 6,776

You should. They can't fix things if they don't know they're broken.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Ad

Just ordered more.

I still have the last failed one - I can report it if you think it helps.

Feb 2, 2019, 4:18 pm

#848

Michael Ad

Join Date: Nov 2015

Posts: 392

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi212

You should. They can't fix things if they don't know they're broken.

Yeah. True. I'm just a little jaded by their customer support and I feel like my problem won't get noted properly, so it'll be a discarded data point.

Feb 3, 2019, 11:03 am

#849

LAXlocal

Join Date: May 2013

Posts: 916

How long does it take to get the sims after you sign up ?
I do not need it for another month and am hoping for a good promo

Thanks

Feb 3, 2019, 12:37 pm

#850

Need

Join Date: Jan 2003

Posts: 3,785

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAXlocal

How long does it take to get the sims after you sign up ?
I do not need it for another month and am hoping for a good promo

Thanks

They are coming from CAROL STREAM, IL US. It takes about 7 to 10 days FedEx Ground to get to Los Angeles.

Feb 5, 2019, 7:50 am

#851

Need

Join Date: Jan 2003

Posts: 3,785

One thing I found nice about Fi is that you could call internationally (from US) at a relatively cheap rate without any special plan or app. You could call for free on T-mobile, but you have to pay $15 a month...which is not bad if you need hours of international calling per month. I wish T-mobile will lower their on-demand charge to something more reasonable. Who pays $3 per min these days?

Feb 5, 2019, 9:02 am

#852

pinniped

A FlyerTalk Posting Legend

Join Date: Jul 2002

Location: MCI

Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond

Posts: 52,573

Quote:

Originally Posted by Need

They are coming from CAROL STREAM, IL US. It takes about 7 to 10 days FedEx Ground to get to Los Angeles.

And don't forget to send it to an address where a human will be there to sign for it.

Feb 5, 2019, 9:09 am

#853

Zorak

Moderator: Hyatt; FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Jun 2015

Location: WAS

Programs: :rolleyes:, DL DM, Mlife Plat, Caesars Diam, Marriott Tit, UA Gold, Hyatt Glob, invol FT beta tester

Posts: 18,926

Quote:

Originally Posted by Need

One thing I found nice about Fi is that you could call internationally (from US) at a relatively cheap rate without any special plan or app.

It's even cheaper if you do use a VOIP app like Hangouts Dialer to make the call (in that situation even if you don't have wifi at the time of the call, using data is cheaper than voice)

Feb 5, 2019, 10:08 am

#854

swag

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: May 2001

Location: MSY; 2-time FT Fantasy Football Champ, now in recovery.

Programs: AA lifetime GLD; UA Silver; Marriott LTTE; IHG Plat,

Posts: 14,518

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zorak

It's even cheaper if you do use a VOIP app like Hangouts Dialer to make the call (in that situation even if you don't have wifi at the time of the call, using data is cheaper than voice)

This part confuses me.

https://support.google.com/fi/answer..._topic=6181106 says :
The rates for making international calls from the U.S. vary by country.
But that link goes to:
https://www.google.com/voice/b/0/rates?hl=en&p=hangout

And that page heading says:
"Call phones in Hangouts: Calling Rates"

So are these the rates if I use Hangouts? And if so, where can I find rates for direct dialed calls from the US to other countries?

Feb 5, 2019, 10:33 am

#855

Need

Join Date: Jan 2003

Posts: 3,785

Quote:

Originally Posted by swag

It's the same rate. I think Zorak was trying to say that if you are outside of US, you should use Hangouts to call instead of your normal phone's dialer because using the phone dialer would be fixed rate of $0.20 per min while using the Hangouts app would be at those listed rate + your data usage (cheaper than $0.20 per min).