Google speeds up Project Fi network abroad
Mobile carrier prepares to expand its consumer reach
Google’s Project Fi is revving up its data speeds internationally to bolster the experience for the new mobile phone service’s customers who travel outside the U.S.
The move is a small step from a service that attracted widespread attention some 15 months ago but still has limited usage. Project Fi, which stands out for a simple pricing structure ($20 a month for unlimited talk/text plus $10 per gigabyte of data), has been held back by the limited number of phones that work with the service.
The latest developments are aimed at the more than 15% of Project Fi customers who use Project Fi overseas and is meant to give such folks a data experience that is similar to what they get at home.
Google says you can now use Fi service while you’re traveling in more than 135 countries, with the company having just added a dozen new countries. With the help of its new carrier partner Three (from Hutchison Whampoa), Google said it was raising data speeds internationally, by as much as 10 to 20 times.
According to a recent Google survey, only 20% of Americans opt to use their cellular data when traveling internationally, instead choosing to jump between Wi-Fi hotspots or scramble to find a local SIM card.
Fi made waves more than a year ago as a new U.S. mobile phone service that seemed to offer a novel alternative for cellphone customers.
It has an unusual structure. Google doesn’t make you pay for data you don’t use. Its network, which piggybacks off T-Mobile, Sprint, U.S. Cellular and, as of now, the international network Three, automatically chooses the fastest and strongest available network to glom onto, whether that’s cellular or Wi-Fi.
“I think it’s hard for folks outside of Google to truly believe us but we’re not trying to overtake the cellular industry,” John Maletis, the head of operations for Project Fi, said during a recent visit to the Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.
“What we’re trying to do is showcase what’s possible when you can manage the hardware in Nexus devices, the software in Android and the connectivity with Project Fi.”
Fi may someday still become the disruptive force in wireless that some predicted when rumors first surfaced that the Internet giant had designs on becoming an ISP (and not just with its speedy Google Fiber service). After all, Google already controls the dominant Android mobile operating system.
But if Google is planning a major shakeup in wireless, it is still counting on companies it could end up competing against. Google as an MVNO — industry short- hand for Mobile Virtual Network Operator — relies on partner carriers for cellular infrastructure.
Google has taken relatively modest steps since launch. It was only this past March that Google lifted the invitation-only requirement to join Project Fi and opened the service to anyone who asked in. And it was only in June that U.S. Cellular came on board, to help Google expand Project Fi coverage in certain rural areas of the U.S.
One thing that has remained constant so far is Project Fi’s pricing, which is not necessarily rock bottom but highly competitive. You pay $20 per month for unlimited domestic talk and text, which includes the ability to use your phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot. You pay $10 per gigabyte for data. If you exceed the amount of data that you’ve budgeted, you’ll be charged at a prorated level. For example, if you go over your data budget by 350MB, $3.50 will be added to your next bill. If you use less data, you’ll receive a credit that is applied to the next month’s bill. Fi plans allow you to send unlimited texts abroad.
“Fi is cheaper than U.S. carrier offers for low usage and more expensive for high usage,” says Roger Entner, an analyst with Recon Analytics. “One would think Internet savvy, high usage customers would be more prone to select Fi, but the economics don’t make sense for them.”
Project Fi still only works with just three of Google’s own handsets, the $499 Nexus 6P, $349 Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6 that it started with.
The three phones include special antennas and accept the designated SIM card needed for Project Fi to leverage the strongest possible network based on where the phone is and intelligently switch from one network to the other as need be (2G, 3G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi).
These are all solid phones, but Maletis acknowledges that a key thing holding back consumers who might otherwise be drawn to Fi is the small device portfolio. iPhones are incompatible. So are Samsung Galaxy’s, among numerous others.
The lack of a family plan is also a drawback for some, but Maletis doesn’t rule out the possibility that such a plan could be added in the future.
There are a few other limitations to Project Fi. While an in progress call can be “handed off ” from Wi-Fi to cellular, it doesn’t work the other way around. Newer technologies such as HD Voice (for clearer calls) are not supported.
Google won’t say how many subscribers it has for Project Fi. Millennials have been a key demographic. Maletis did say that when Google opened up Fi to anyone wishing to subscribe in March, the company missed its forecast by underestimating the demand.