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Comment by encryptluks2 | Hacker News Reader

I get that people hate Google but Google Fi is a nice change from all the scummy tactics that I remember dealing with from traditional carriers.

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The fact that international data doesn't cost any more than domestic is a steal on its own if you travel internationally.

When Google does it for free, you have to wonder if other carriers charging you $10+ PER DAY just to have data even enabled are charging you because they actually incur heavy costs for it, or if it's just a "Fuck you, you're traveling internationally, so you're probably rich and able to pay it" fee, existing solely to extract more money from a high-value customer.

I'm on a Google Fi Flex plan (I use < 3 GB of data per month), so I pay $10/GB. It's fun landing in France or wherever and getting the text from Google saying "Welcome to France, data is $10/GB". Same price. No extra fees.

I use it, the main downside is that I seem to have essentially no service at very crowded events. I think because it's deprioritized. So it can be frustrating if I'm trying to look something up at a crowded stadium for example. But this doesn't happen a lot for me.

They do offer 5G on some of their plans.

Something that I'm pretty sure that has happened, is that I ported a number to Google Fi from Sprint. I am pretty sure sprint somehow blocked something in their system despite reassurances which basically makes Google Fi unusable on their towers now.

Genuinely curious why anyone would choose Google Fi over a way cheaper prepaid plan that's almost half the monthly cost for roughly the same experience. Also Google support is truly terrible.

> a way cheaper prepaid plan that's almost half the monthly cost for roughly the same experience.

Which prepaids? The last time I compared Fi to my prepaid plan they were roughly the same cost.

Single user? Mint comes out to 20 a month for 10gb if you pre pay for a year. Google fi starts at 20 and then 10 for an additional gig. That's actually way more 2x the price if you use more than 2gb of data.

Pre-paying for a year is a significant sunk cost. What's the per-month cost if you don't prepay for a year?

Google it yourself

edit: nm, I misread the page.

Link the prepaid plan with unlimited data for both a phone, a tablet, and via a hotspot (and unlimited text/call on the phone obviously) each for 4 lines at $40/line/month and I'll switch today.

Us Mobile is very competitive. I use a pooled data plan tho instead of “unlimited” because it’s only $2/gig and i typically use way less than what i would need to to make the unlimited plans worth it. I end up paying $30-$40 a month total for 2 lines.

I use on average 30-40 GB/month and have hit as high as 100 in a month in the past (the other people on my plan aren't as bad, but are similar).

I understand that "unlimited" plans mean I'll generally eventually hit a limit where my speeds get throttled but $2/GB is not comparable to Google Fi at all.

They have plans similar to GoogleFi as well.

Their unlimited plans look interesting (roughly equivalent for $30/month) but I don't see any info on if they offer data-only SIMs similar to Google Fi. If they do I'd definitely strongly consider switching.

Update: US Mobile does not include taxes and regulatory fees in their listed pricing (Google Fi does), which still makes them better but not by as much.

mint is 30 a month per device for an unilimited plan but yes I understand they are slightly different plans at this tier. Google doesn't throttle until 50gb which is pretty good. But, that's not the typical use case. I'm talking more single or 2 plan setup, Google Fi is simply 2x more expensive at that tier.

Mint's $30/month plan only offers 5GB of hotspot data, and I couldn't find any info about data-only SIMs (which Google Fi provides for free). Additionally, to get $30/month you have to commit to an entire year.

Obviously, for some people, they won't care about these features/downsides and consider the plan worth it. But comparing it to Google Fi as an equivalent but cheaper option is just misleading.

Happy customer for 4-5 years here. I don't stream much over cellular -- I keep maps, music, podcasts, etc. mostly on my phone storage -- so I never use more than 1GB. Price comes out to less than $30/mo as a result.

None of the major carriers can even scratch that price point for a single device. Most are upwards of twice the price per month, plus BS activation fees etc.

I've considered switching to other MVNOs like Mint, but when I take a look at the pricing, it seems like the only way to go lower in price than what I currently pay is promotional rates. And if the price will spike after a year, I'm not interested in going through the process of switching my line over, creating a new account, and all that jazz. Fi works well and costs me a reasonable price per month so I stick with it.

Another benefit: if I ever get a cellular smart watch or a cellular tablet, you can get data-only SIMs on Fi for no monthly cost -- it just shares the same data pool as your phone. That means I could someday run a laptop, hotspot, phone, watch, tablet, etc. all off a "1 person" Fi unlimited plan for $70/mo all-in. Not too shabby.

The ease of international usage with no roaming charges or extra eSims is what keeps me using it.

Google Fi is great if you never leave the US. If you spend more than 30 days outside the US, you can be penalized due to roaming, even though they have a similar offer/capability to T-Mobile for data roaming. On top of that, it's tied to your Google account, which comes with all the drama that means like the recent story about Google arbitrarily shutting everything off (including Google Fi) for the guy who took photos for his doctor.

I spent quite literally half the last year outside of the US and suffered no such penalty. I have their unlimited plan and everything worked just fine. I don't make many calls, but when I do if you're outside of US/MX/CAN you can do so over wifi for free and my data worked fine.

Most of my time was in South America, I can't speak for overseas if this is the same.

I have never really had complaints about Google-Fi.

I'm glad to hear this. I was a digital nomad for some time, and at the time Google Fi and T-Mobile were basically the only real options for international roaming long-term, and so I associated with a lot of folks on Google Fi and it was commonplace for folks to get penalized for spending a long-time outside the US. At the time, I had an 18 month stretch outside the US on T-Mobile with no issues. Maybe they've gotten better about this.

Not sure how long ago this was for you, but I do know I've received a few notifications from them over the past couple years about how they've updated/changed stuff around international travel/roaming. So it may be quite a bit better than whenever this was.

I also spend about half every year as a digital nomad.

You got lucky. They terminated my data for "being outside the US for too long". It was a crappy experience since the whole advertisement is about the international roaming being the same price as the (overpriced) US data.

>is a nice change

Doesn't work without a google account. Doesn't work on AOSP (i.e., the carrier switching features are proprietary). Messes up google voice. Massive risk of putting even more eggs in a basket. Also, not sure how long it will be around. It's not price competitive and probably doesn't make Google much money.

My concern with Google fi is that I have had cellphone billing issues in my life, due to no fault of my own, and Google has the disturbing pattern of disabling all the things if you fall into such a state.

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