http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-set-to-unveil-wireless-service-1429660082

Google Set to Unveil Wireless Service

Google Inc. is set to unveil its new U.S. wireless service as early as Wednesday, pushing the Internet giant further into telecom and injecting fresh uncertainty into a wireless industry already locked in a price war.

In a key development, the service is expected to allow customers to pay only for the amount of data they actually use each month, people familiar with the matter said—a move that could further push carriers to do away with lucrative “breakage.”

Many traditional wireless plans require subscribers to pay for buckets of data that expire at the end of each month. A 2013 study by a company called Validas, which analyzes consumers’ bills to help them choose the right plan, says smartphone users typically waste $28 each month on unused data.

But the practice is coming under pressure. Upstarts including Republic Wireless and Scratch Wireless have offered usage based models, and even major carriers like T-Mobile US Inc. and AT&T Inc. have allowed subscribers to roll over data.

Google’s service will run on the networks of Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile, which have agreed to carry the traffic, people familiar with the matter have said. The service initially will work only on Google’s latest Nexus 6 phones, and the devices will dynamically be able to switch between Sprint and T-Mobile networks depending on which carrier has the strongest signal.

The service also is expected to use Wi-Fi networks to route phone calls and data, which could further reduce subscribers’ bills.

Other specifics remained unknown. Speaking at a wireless conference in Barcelona last month, Google executive Sundar Pichai said the service was going to be a small scale experiment and wasn’t intended to disrupt the current wireless industry.

At the same time, the technological or pricing features Google adopts could put pressure on the industry’s prevailing model—which is to lock up expensive spectrum then sell lots of expensive wireless Internet service—an approach Google executives have criticized in regulatory filings.

“While Google may not be targeting huge numbers of subscribers, their entry into this market is very important, because it has the potential to disrupt the wireless industry in much the same way Google Fiber prompted changes in the cable and broadband industries,” said Rajeev Chand, head of research at Rutberg & Company, an investment bank focused on the mobile industry.

Google Fiber offers broadband Internet service to homes that is roughly 100 times as fast as the U.S. average. It is only offered in a handful of cities, but it has prompted rival broadband providers such as AT&T and Comcast Corp. to speed up their own Internet services.

Google’s wireless project has been in the works for roughly two years. It is part of a broader effort by the company to make it easier for people to access the Internet. As more consumers and businesses get online, they are more likely to use Google services like search, YouTube and work applications.

“Google argues that if wireless spectrum was used more efficiently it would resolve a lot of the wireless bottlenecks that carriers deal with,” Mr. Chand said.

Usage-based pricing would make wireless data more affordable and therefore more accessible for people, Mr. Chand said.

Google hasn’t built a wireless network, but is able to offer service via agreements to resell service on other networks. Those agreements are good business for carriers. While they bring in less revenue than when a customer signs up directly, they have high margins and low costs. Sprint had more than 10 million wholesale connections at the end of 2014.

Still, Sprint didn’t take the decision to let Google resell its wireless service lightly, according to people familiar with the matter. The decision went all the way up to Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son, the people said, and included former Chief Executive Dan Hesse. Both executives were cautious but ultimately agreed in part because Google agreed to volume limits that would let the sides renegotiate if Google’s service grew too large.

Or are they building infrastructure?

They're piggybacking off of Sprint and TMobile, but supposedly switching between both for the better connection along with a different pricing scheme.

It sounds like this is more to force competition to the wireless telecoms, in the hopes of pushing them like they have been for the wired ISP's.

they should have made it unlimited. or $5 a GB at least for the early adopters. seamless handoff between sprint/tmo/wifi will be the key here.
putting a cap on the amount of data you use is totally against what google is about. kinda dumb.

http://www.androidcentral.com/google-introduces-project-fi-new-way-keep-you-connected

$10 per 1gb is basically the overage cost for Verizon, so it's not really competitive.

Not sure why they're going this route if it's not disruptive like Fiber is.

I mean, I think it's great for non-power users.

I think the pricing is great. $10 per 1 GB is more than reasonable, being it's only counting cellular connections. If a person uses 5 GB, it's only $70. That's fair, and more than fair for no contract too. And you get a refund on data you don't use...

I really don't see what's not to like.

you can get unlimited data on sprint already
and refunding unused data seems antigoogle too.
it encourages people to not be online.

>it encourages people to not be online.
>
This couldn't be farther from the truth.

It just doesn't encourage people from using cellular coverage. And with wi-fi as ubiquitous as it is, they are banking on people not consuming as much data on LTE than they do on (hopefully someone else's) wireless connection.

ok so lets say im driving or taking a train/bus or walking. or you know commuting to work or school. you know when people use their phones alot. so no streaming music, no maps, no browsing ig or g+. all of the info google LOVES to have. location, browsing habits, what music you listen to. yeah really encourages non-power users to wait til i get home to do all that.

yup so far from the truth.

so non-power users. like my mom and sister who could give 2 fucks about wifi being ubiquitous. people want phones to just work, not connect and disconnect depending on location, and checking to see how much data i have left.

just odd unlimited is not an option. googles whole mantra of bringing the internet to the people is kinda lost here.

its fine. just not what i expected from the googs.

>
>>it encourages people to not be online.
>>
>This couldn't be farther from the truth.
>
>It just doesn't encourage people from using cellular coverage.
> And with wi-fi as ubiquitous as it is, they are banking on
>people not consuming as much data on LTE than they do on
>(hopefully someone else's) wireless connection.

But since the price per GB is more or less the industry norm, there needs to be (for me) some other sort of competitive advantage.

Reason why I'm on Verizon is solely for network coverage. Since this service is using Sprint and TMob, I don't want to risk not having coverage. Granted, I'm in a major metropolitan area where 95% of my life is gonna be blanketed by all the major carriers, but still. I have some friends that have spotty Sprint coverage during parts of their day. Could Fi's switch to Tmobile cover that? Possibly, but I don't want to leave Verizon entirely to find out.

If they were offering, say, $5 per GB (or something similar for a family plan) then I may consider switching, but as it stands the potential lack of coverage wouldn't be worth a measly $20 or so to me on a $230 family plan.

Some good maps comparing the coverage:

http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/22/8469901/google-fi-coverage-map-comparison-sprint-tmobile

I wouldn't consider the plan personally, but as a business decision I'm curious to see how this goes. Google is known for using negative or neutral cost-benefit endeavors to mine data for other projects, so I wouldn't be surprised if this is another one of those times.

I hear the same argument about healthcare - but no way a free market's going to sink to the level people want to pay for AND keep the profits the investors want.

This sounds like another MVNO, but a better deal for people who use very little data. Use under 3GB a month and it's good. Over 3GB a month and it's middlin'.

Once you *actually use* more than 3GB or more you're better off going with someone else.

Boost mobile has a $55 plan with 10GB of data.

Bright spot has a deal like that for $60.

MetroPCS has a $30 a month UNLIMITED data plan - thought anything over 1GB is router via 3g or slower. That's the same as the lowest "Fi" plan but with more data avaialble.

I think if you use very little data and travel a lot it's great. If you're in the same city and using more than 3GB of data each month it's not a great deal.

It's a tough market.

...which leads me to believe they're using Fi to gather data for some other project. There's no lucrative niche, no new services, no pricing advantage, nothing to truly distinguish itself from other services.

Nexus 6 and invite-only adds to that notion. They don't need to account for other types of phones, and they control the types of users on this network-switching algo.

Not sure I'd compare it to the healthcare industry though... that thing is its own separate beast and wholly unique vs other types of industries.

>Reason why I'm on Verizon is solely for network coverage.

and that's why I hate how they screw with all their phones.

I'm making the switch from Verizon so I'm checking this out, I'm curious to know if anyone is using this and how they like it.

My wife is on sprint, but sprint's network sucks and she ain't trying to hear that

i switched from tmobile's $60 3gb plan. i don't really see any difference as far a coverage goes. project fi in my area is mostly covered by t-mobile. i did have an issue in the beginning tho. i have a nexus 6 that i bought from motorola last year that apparently had the tmobile factory image. i found out that it doesn't play that nice with project fi, it would just stay on sprint and sprint sucks the dick where i'm at. everything was slow as shit until i flashed the phone to the project fi image and it was all good from there. i pay about $33 per month since i average a little over a gig per month. one thing i do miss tho is the unlimited music streaming but i cancelled my google music subscription so its whatever.

I'd hop all over this. Looks like this would be cheaper than the current bills I get for Ting.