Project Fi Review: Seamless Wireless Service from Google

[mikegratis1]

Have been using Project Fi since last year and am VERY happy with it. I seldom use over 1 GB of data, with the vast majority of my access being via Wi-Fi, no matter where I am. Because of this, my monthly bills are almost always under $30. You can refer other people to the service and get a $20 credit every time one of them subscribes. Calls can also be completed with Wi-Fi, which is a BIG plus when in areas with little to no connectivity. I travel all around the United States, as well as to Canada once or twice a year, and have hardly never had an issue with connectivity - When I have had a problem, once in a Blue Moon, others using different service providers did, too. I have convinced 5 people to switch to Project Fi, as well as knowing s few others who use it, and have not heard a complaint from any of them. Project Fi may not be for everyone; but it works great for us!

 

[michaeldallas]

Project Fi (and Tmobile network) has become a disaster for many international travelers who need reliable service. Tmobile implemented a new policy to ridiculously interfere with inbound international calls to the point Fi’s international calling service is unusable for many people. When using Fi outside the USA, the TMobile network (used by Fi) randomly asks and requires inbound callers to enter a two digit code to complete the call. (Sometimes users are required to enter a code. Sometimes they are not. No consistent reason has been found to explain which calls will have Tmobile interference.)

My experience is that this unexpected message universally causes inbound callers to think that my phone service is not working correctly or has been disconnected. No one has EVER entered the two-digit code to complete the call.

My conclusion: International callers who need seamless service should probably avoid Project Fi.

 

[pweiler28]

I switched to Project Fi from Verizon in August because of their international rates since I am doing an exchange program in Spain. My mom, who does not have project fi, purchased the phone and insurance plan for me and when asked for an email she put in her address. When we received the phone, I tried to put in my gmail but it would not allow me to so we called to transfer the account from her email to mine. We called the same day that we received the phone and the operate told us that this would be no problem that they could transfer the accounts along with the insurance and the two credits that we had gotten when purchasing the phone. This operator also told us that since I have a US phone number that I can call another US number for free, even if I'm overseas.
One month later I received my bill for over $320. I called to see what was going on and it turns out the information the operator gave us was completely wrong... I was being charged 20 cents a minute for international calls, the insurance plan was not able to be transferred, and the credits were not switched. Multiple operators escalated the case and I was told contradicting information from several different Project Fi employees. The operators claimed that they would review the case and then a few days later proceeded to tell me that they could do nothing... I couldn't even talk to anyone who was making the decision to find out if they even reviewed the call or how they reached the decision that they did.
After over a month of dealing with this, I am disgusted with the service that I have received from this company and the second I return home I am cancelling their service. I would not recommend Project Fi to anyone after the hours I have spent going in circles with their customer service and the sheer amount of wrong information I have been told has now cost me over $600 with the price of phone and a month and half of international calling. In addition to this, I don't have insurance on my phone so if I do break it then this will cost me an additional $200.

 

[rgd1101]

You are doing it wrong, use wifi to make call.

 

[jeff.cullison]

1. Google Fi pushed an auto update to my phone.
2. The update broke my phone. Technically "Bricked" it.
3. Called/Emailed/Text customer service.
4. Customer service found phone to be broken/bricked
5. Agreed to send phone back for replacement.
6. They said I need to make a billing ID. I said I already have one (they bill me monthly)
7. They said I don't have one and gave me direction on how to make one.
8. I went through the directions and found I did already have one.
9. Called back and said again I already have one, they said yes, or mistake
10. Tried to finalize replacement of the phone the bricked and had to jump though more hopes and repeat information.
11. The whole time no effort at all have customer service, just tried to get rid of me
12. Asked to speak to a manager
13. They resisted my request at length
14. Kept asking, put me on hold for 15min
15. They said a manger was not available
16. I have tried to call, email, and text for a customer service manager but still no one has responded.

 

[lvegasken]

Google "Unlimited" is a scam! After 16GB the speed drops down to 256k speed. snail pace

 

[rgd1101]

Google "Unlimited" is a scam! After 16GB the speed drops down to 256k speed. snail pace

https/fi.google.com/about/faq/#plan-and-pricing-6
"What if an individual on my plan needs significant amounts of high speed data?
If you use more than 15 GB of data in a cycle (less than 1% of individual Fi users as of Jan. 2018), you'll experience slower speeds above 15 GB with Bill Protection.

If you need significant amounts of high speed data, you can opt to pay $10/GB for the data you use past 15 GB in a given cycle."

 

[jconbur]

Project Fi, now Google Fi, was absolutely the WORST cell carrier I have ever used. Their phones were terrible, the Moto phones, the 6, after one month the batteries wouldn't hold a charge, they were awful.

Even worse? The service, dropped calls over and over and over again. Then the absolute worst part?
No customer service, no ability to resolve anything in a timely manner. Last December 26, 2017, my phone died, the disaster that followed with their "customer service" was a real mess. Incompetence, they lost my telephone number for 2 months, I was without a phone for over a month until my friends put me on their Verizon plan (Thank you Jesus, a phone carrier that WORKS, which is more than can be said for the awful service I had with Google Fi. Took over 2 months to get my telephone number back (???????) and then thankfully was done. WAIT! There's more! They are still billing me a year later. I finally had to block them from making charges to my credit card. DON'T. JUST DON'T, YOU WILL REGRET IT IF YOU DO.

 

[apex.vibration]

Avoid like the plague. Support is nearly non-existent, service is mediocre at best but biggest turn off is the failure of addressing customer concerns, you can read more about how many people are complaining here https/support.google.com/fi/thread/660351?hl=en

 

[apex.vibration]

Tom's Guide needs to update their rating because giving 4 stars is what people see in the search results so showing that the service has that many stars mean Tom's Guide should be held as much as accountable as Google for the inaccurate information.

 

[l3]

Regarding:
"Until about five years ago, prepaid and no-contract service in the United States wasn’t particularly popular, and was typically reserved only for those who prioritized spending the absolute least amount of money over all else."

The main users of pre-paid plans were, and still are, people with lousy credit.

 

[l3]

This article is already out of date.
Spectrum Mobile is the new best option (at least for customers of Spectrum Internet).
Unlimited data+texts+voice for $45 (data throttling after 20GB/line/month).
Spectrum is an MVNO on Verizon's network so you get the best coverage as well.

 

[l3]

@MANGANITE: Actually 5G will make carrier concentration drop massively.

 

[tplane]

I strongly advise you to check out the customer comments on ProjectFi's Facebook page before you think about signing up for Google Fi. Their customer support is just awful. I wound up with an unauthorized charge of over $200 from them on my card, and they "cannot" (meaning "will not") do anything about it.

 

[l3]

I strongly advise you to check out the customer comments on ProjectFi's Facebook page before you think about signing up for Google Fi. Their customer support is just awful. I wound up with an unauthorized charge of over $200 from them on my card, and they "cannot" (meaning "will not") do anything about it.

This is a very important point. "Search" does not need support -- so Google's no-support policy was fine. Now that they are getting into products that do require support they are going to fail miserably. People will move over to them -- and then back as they discover irreconcilable problems.

In your case file a dispute with your credit card company. Keep your records. They will reverse it.

 

[cataylor814]

Terrible customer service and terrible first impression. Sure, it's easy to get a hold of somebody, but they won't have any useful information for you. I placed my order on 1/14 with no reports of anything being out of stock. My ship date has now been changed 3 times, the latest one is 1/30. I was told somebody would contact me because the person I spoke to couldn't see any reason why my shipment keeps getting pushed out, but nobody has contacted me and the person I spoke to today still couldn't give me any confirmation that my order was actually going to be fulfilled. Horrible first impression to make with a new service Google!!!