I have been a happy Google Project Fi customer for a few months now. While there would likely be other (cheaper) options for those customers who only use cell service in the US, the real draw of the Google Project Fi service is the unlimited, free text messages when traveling in any of 120+ countries and the same data price of $10/1GB in those same countries. If you like to stay connected while out and about, you can now sign-up!
Google Project Fi Instant Invite
– Google Project Fi Instant Invite Link
Before this, Google Project Fi was using the Google invite system they have used with all of their other products over the years (remember the days when you needed to be invited to use Gmail?). Now, they are opening it up through tomorrow (December 30) for instant invites.
The Plan
The basic plan – unlimited phone calls and texts in the US (unlimited texts internationally) – costs $20 per month. That is no contract and you never need to pay more than that. But, data costs $10 per 1GB and you can use as much as you want and only be charged for each 1GB (or portion) that you use. When in the US, that data utilizes 4G/LTE when available on both T-Mobile and Sprint. When abroad, it only operates at 2G.
Data-Only SIMs
Now, you can also order up to 9 data-only SIM cards for use in other devices. That only costs $10 per 1GB each month and no basic service device. To order those SIMs, you must have a basic Project Fi account, but this is great if you want to use other devices. I currently use the data-only SIM in my iPhone 6 Plus without any problems at all (review coming next week as to how well this works in various countries and how to get it set up).
Instant Invite
If you are interested in this program, you should sign-up during this instant invite period. Remember, you will need a Google Nexus 6, 6P, or 5X to take advantage of the basic plan but if you get the basic plan just to use the data-only SIM, you will not need the phone.
Summary
No contract, competitive rates, great coverage, international usage – Google Project Fi checks all the right boxes for me! Now, anyone can sign-up if those things are great for you also.
HT: Slickdeals
I’ve been using ProjectFi for the past few weeks. Love it and will be testing it out internationally soon.