I use Google Fi, and I don't think unlimited data is the headline feature here. If you look at the fine print on the existing "flexible" plan (search for "that’s a max bill of"), they already cap the maximum data cost; comparing the cap to the Fi Unlimited price, Fi Unlimited saves you very little, in exchange for never letting you pay less if you use less data.
Based on that, and the fact that I rarely hit the cap, it isn't worth switching.
However, Google Fi Unlimited also gives unlimited international calls to many countries. That might make it worth switching, at least for months I'm traveling.
To stress the benefit of unlimited international calls, I recently got parents on a 'senior' plan with unlimited text/data. The catch though was $3/minute international calls even when the call is placed while on a wifi connection - their bill essentially doubled after a couple accidental international calls.
Can see the benefit of Fi for people that have to do international calls regularly and don't want to futz with switching between their cellphone and a voip service.
I switched my mom's flip phone to a smartphone and just call home with whatsapp. I was worried about the transition but she was the one asking for it since all my aunts and uncles are on whatsapp as well. All the international calling with calling cards and whatnot have all gone.
I used to have Verizon $50/7GB/unlimited plan (no contract) which was essentially unlimited high speed for me since this was roughly my monthly usage. My total payment per month after taxes was $55/mo.
I stupidly switched to Fi because I liked the idea of unlimited data sims. Now I pay $85/mo after taxes and never use the data on the additional sims.
I was excited seeing the announcement - but this offers me personally no benefit.
Google fi user here: when they throttle in areas with weak cell signal, the throttling is aggressive and internet practically doesn't work. It's very frustrating. "Throttling" isn't the right word.. maybe "crippling" is better.
> when they throttle in areas with weak cell signal, the throttling is aggressive and internet practically doesn't work.
I want to add in for those that don't know. There's a difference between throttling and deprioritization. Throttling usually kicks in as some specified speed at the IP network's level(like 256kbps). This isn't going to make a difference whether you're close to a tower or far away. It will make a massive difference on your battery life if your user equipment has to stay transmitting forever to complete transfers (this is a big problem when roaming on t-mobile's throttled international plans, battery life is obliterated).
Deprioritization is very different. The radio layer (called radio access network) of the tower (specifically the sector) that you're connected to controls how much time your device gets using a QoS scheduler. Stuff like voice always takes priority no matter what, since it all goes over the same data network now. I'm going to try to explain this below in easier to comprehend language...
In LTE, resources can be allocated out to a device as resource blocks. Each layer allows up to 100 physical resource blocks at any given time. Depending on the quality of the signal (how far away you are and how many people are using it), the blocks can be broadcast at different MCS levels. This controls the amount of error correction and the amount of data that can be carried per resource block. So when you're stuck at cell fringes and only allowed to get less than 5 resource blocks at an instant, the transfer rates will be slow. When you're close and allowed to use higher orders of modulation with less error correction (256QAM broadcast 4x4 MIMO), the performance loss isn't going to be as noticeable.
Deprioritization can be worked around by connecting to a different sector that isn't as busy. It's also assessed pretty quickly, something like 20ms the radio scheduling happens. Sprint's the only network afaik that posts something even slightly technical to the general public: https://www.sprint.com/en/legal/open-internet-information.ht...
Also a Fi user, and the quality of my internet is almost entirely based on whether the carrier is Sprint or not. Sprint, at least around here, almost always has no upstream bandwidth, so you can't even get a request to go out.
If you get the fi info app, it can fill your clipboard with a switch carrier sequence you paste into your dialer and it will switch you to one of the alternate carriers.
It's not hard to memorize it's 'FI' + $CODE. I switch regularly when I have poor connection:
##FITMO## (TMobile)
##FISPR## (Sprint)
##FIUSC## (US Cellular) <- Have never used this though
##FINEXT## (Next carrier)
##FIAUTO## (Switch back to auto)
I never got the app, though I really wanted to at first, thinking it did this automatically, but all it does is paste in the dialer codes. Why would I pay for that?
> Also a Fi user, and the quality of my internet is almost entirely based on whether the carrier is Sprint or not. Sprint, at least around here, almost always has no upstream bandwidth, so you can't even get a request to go out.
I had a Pixel 2 XL back in the old "Project Fi" days, I had to manually switch basically every time my phone selected Sprint as the carrier because it was so slow. After the rebrand and the expansion to allow other phones but only route them to T-Mobile, I switched phones, and I genuinely get better coverage. (This isn't too just due to the phone hardware, either; on my old phone, the data speed would be fine after manually switching from Sprint to T-Mobile, so the benefit seems to be that I don't actually ever get routed to Sprint anymore)
Verizon does the same thing on their unlimited plan. Even their "better" plan only allows 720p. You can upgrade from there to 1080p for _another_ $10 / month.
note I'm pretty sure it's calls from USA to other countries, and that the rates calling from outside USA to USA and other countries is the same rate as the Flexible plan.
When I'm traveling, I make almost all calls from wifi, so the "from" doesn't matter. (And I can already call home for free.) This would help in calling to other numbers in the same location.
Based on that, and the fact that I rarely hit the cap, it isn't worth switching.
However, Google Fi Unlimited also gives unlimited international calls to many countries. That might make it worth switching, at least for months I'm traveling.