Cochinoman tech, sushi, poker
Back in April, Google announced their own low cost cell phone service named Project Fi and asked interested parties to get on a waiting list. Now in June, Google has started rolling out invitations to their service by email (see below).
As you can see in the email, you can sign-up online or even call Google. What? A phone number for Google? Yes. Before you can start, you have to disconnect your Google Voice from your Sprint phone.
Next, to sign-up for the service, first, you must select the amount of data you want to pay for, which is $10 per 1GB, up to 10GB. The basic service is $20, so the lowest plan is $30 per month (+taxes & fees). This is not the cheapest service you can get, but remember that they pay you back for any data that you don’t use during the month. So if you don’t use a lot of data, you could theoretically have an account that costs only about $20 per month.
Now the bad news. As expected, Project Fi is currently only available for the Nexus 6. Yes, the only phone that makes the iPhone 6+ look small is available for $499 for 32GB, or $549 for 64GB (see below). Notice that this is cheaper than simply buying this same phone from Best Buy or Sprint. Also, you can choose any color as long as it’s Midnight blue. Interesting how there is a “Color” choice box which does nothing.
You have the option to pay the entire cost of the phone in full, or pay in installments over 2 years ($20.79 / month for the 32GB). If you select to pay in installments, Google will do a credit check. Or, if you already have a Nexus 6, you can just order a SIM card instead. It appears that getting a SIM card is free for the asking.
Once you’ve selected your phone options, you will be asked to confirm the charges (see below). Next, you will pay and wait for your phone.
Although Project Fi uses both Sprint and T-Mobile cell networks, for most people wanting a cheap carrier, this is probably not the answer, especially since the only phone you can get is the expensive and ginormous Nexus 6. In fact, even with all the cool features, the deal breaker might be the phone itself.
