Strongly considering leaving Verizon for Google Fi

[Moo Cow]

Since Verizon only cares about new customers and not about loyalty, and shafting us on new phone offers, I am strongly considering going to Google Fi, which is actually going to be a step above a lateral move if I am understanding things correctly.

First, from what I read, tell me if this is right or wrong: Google Fi is basically a Frankenstein network (in a positive way) in that no matter where you are, using a Fi-ready phone will allow you to access the best signal, whether in that case it is Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, or whatever, and it'll constantly update to get that best signal. (EDIT: Sounds like it's just T-Mobile, what's left of Sprint in the T-Mobile merger, and US Cellular, no AT&T or Verizon.)

Also, what are the true differences between pay by the GB and unlimited plans, aside from the obvious. Just the cloud storage?

And am Imagining things or did they reprice the plans this week? I feel like unlimited dropped from $150 to $120, and the pay by the GB plan also dropped while upping the GB cap before ensuing GBs are free from 10GB to 12GB.

Finally, we may initially do Google Pixel 2/2XL transfers over before getting a new phone. They are Fi-ready per the website and it gives us a start. Anyway, does Google Fi run Black Friday deals or no? Don't want to get a phone now, then a deal run, and no chance of a 30-day match, know what I mean?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Smokeaire01]

Since Verizon only cares about new customers and not about loyalty, and shafting us on new phone offers, I am strongly considering going to Google Fi, which is actually going to be a step above a lateral move if I am understanding things correctly.

First, from what I read, tell me if this is right or wrong: Google Fi is basically a Frankenstein network (in a positive way) in that no matter where you are, using a Fi-ready phone will allow you to access the best signal, whether in that case it is Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, or whatever, and it'll constantly update to get that best signal.

Also, what are the true differences between pay by the GB and unlimited plans, aside from the obvious. Just the cloud storage?

And am Imagining things or did they reprice the plans this week? I feel like unlimited dropped from $150 to $120, and the pay by the GB plan also dropped while upping the GB cap before ensuing GBs are free from 10GB to 12GB.

Finally, we may initially do Google Pixel 2/2XL transfers over before getting a new phone. They are Fi-ready per the website and it gives us a start. Anyway, does Google Fi run Black Friday deals or no? Don't want to get a phone now, then a deal run, and no chance of a 30-day match, know what I mean?

Thanks for your help!

My wife and Ihave Pixel 4a's and were on ATT. For reasons I won't go into we decided to switch to Google Fi.
First off with a Pixel there is wifi calling which we use almost 99% of the time. In fact I have cell data turned off since I work from home and the wifi calls are excellent.
As far as cell service the three available are T-Mobile/Sprint and US Cellular plus the all of the Google approved hotspots When we have been out of the house the cell service is great and haven't noticed any degradation in comparison to ATT.
Then there is the cost. The cost of our two lines on ATT averaged over $76 month with 3 gigs of data. We never even use 1 gig a month.
Our first months bill with Fi was $45. So a nice savings.
Switching to Fi took about 5 minutes, we kept our cell numbers and our account with ATT was automatically cancelled. We received our e-sims in a minute or two. Painless.
So, needless to say we are very happy with Google Fi.

 

[wcavaliere88]

I have been using Fi for about 3 months now, switched from AT&T. Overall service has been good, coverage is not as good as AT&T once you are outside of a populated area. Definitely get a phone that is designed for Fi, Sprint has better coverage in rural areas. Transfer and billing is simple and I have not had issues with customer support. I have the unlimited plan but is still significantly cheaper than what I paid with AT&T. Definitely recommend, but be sure that the tmobile/sprint network will be good for your area.

 

[Moo Cow]

I have been using Fi for about 3 months now, switched from AT&T. Overall service has been good, coverage is not as good as AT&T once you are outside of a populated area. Definitely get a phone that is designed for Fi, Sprint has better coverage in rural areas. Transfer and billing is simple and I have not had issues with customer support. I have the unlimited plan but is still significantly cheaper than what I paid with AT&T. Definitely recommend, but be sure that the tmobile/sprint network will be good for your area.

This T-Mobile stuff may be a dealbreaker for me, but I'm still researching. My brother in law has Fi so we are asking him.

 

[L0n3N1nja]

This T-Mobile stuff may be a dealbreaker for me, but I'm still researching. My brother in law has Fi so we are asking him.

It's why I've never tried Fi, Sprint and Tmobile service are junk in my area. Verizon can suck but at least they have coverage everywhere I go, I can be in the middle of no where without a building in site in the plains of North Dakota or deep in the forests of Minnesota and still get a signal.

 

[wcavaliere88]

It's why I've never tried Fi, Sprint and Tmobile service are junk in my area. Verizon can suck but at least they have coverage everywhere I go, I can be in the middle of no where without a building in site in the plains of North Dakota or deep in the forests of Minnesota and still get a signal.

My biggest complaint with verizon, other than cost, is that most unlocked phones done work with it. I haven't gotten a carrier phone in a long time.

 

[hallux]

And am Imagining things or did they reprice the plans this week? I feel like unlimited dropped from $150 to $120, and the pay by the GB plan also dropped while upping the GB cap before ensuing GBs are free from 10GB to 12GB.

As of an article posted in June the unlimited plan was $50 per line for 3 lines and $60 per line for 2 lines. The data caps were not clearly detailed in that article.

Here's that article - https://www.androidcentral.com/google-fi

 

[Smokeaire01]

It's why I've never tried Fi, Sprint and Tmobile service are junk in my area. Verizon can suck but at least they have coverage everywhere I go, I can be in the middle of no where without a building in site in the plains of North Dakota or deep in the forests of Minnesota and still get a signal.

On the Google Fi website you can check the coverage of all three cell providers (T-Mobile/Sprint and US Cellular) in your area. Maybe between the three along with wifi calling you will have good or even great coverage.

 

[cbreze]

I tried google fi for 6 weeks and came away disappointed. I used my pixel 2 to do my trial of Fi. I kept Verizon on an iPhone 7 so I could compare the two services. I carried both phones for the 6 week trial. I also went on a long road trip during this time which gave me a really good idea of how both performed. I tried to use WiFi data exclusively for the pixel and kept my first Bill down to $24. Compared to verizon at $58 this seemed like a real plus towards Fi.
However, there were a few problems with Fi. First, coverage. Pretty spotty at times and on the road no WiFi while between cities and towns. Second, and regarding signal again Verizon always had a signal everywhere. Third, my Fi enabled pixel 2 seemed to want to connect to every close by WiFi. I was in a shopping center parking lot needing to make a call and it tried to connect me to a very weak WiFi signal from apparently a dentist office somewhere nearby. Even tho T-mobile was showing 2 bars. It seems to prefer WiFi over all else even when one of the providers signals was decent. Also, while on weak WiFi’s calls would frequently sound fuzzy and sometimes drop. I ended up turning off WiFi altogether except for my home network but then I had to deal with low and spotty signals, this with three different service providers available to use. Also, while on a forest road looking for a hot springs I needed to use google maps and Fi failed me with no signal from any of the three providers. Verizon came thru again and I was able to find my way. Lastly, when I was back home where Verizon is the only provider with decent signal I had issues with dropping calls on my home WiFi network. I needed to be in the same room as the router. If to far away calls drop and callers had trouble hearing me. Even tho the WiFi signal is apparently good and works fine thruout the house for all other devices.
So bottom line for me was reliability. If that reliability costs extra with Verizon then that’s what I’ll pay for. I was greatly disappointed as I really wanted it to work. My daughter uses it in Albuquerque and has no problems at all. So best advice is test it first before you drop Verizon and compare quality of service with 2 different devices, one on Fi and one on Verizon. Hope it works for you.

 

[Smokeaire01]

I tried google fi for 6 weeks and came away disappointed. I used my pixel 2 to do my trial of Fi. I kept Verizon on an iPhone 7 so I could compare the two services. I carried both phones for the 6 week trial. I also went on a long road trip during this time which gave me a really good idea of how both performed. I tried to use WiFi data exclusively for the pixel and kept my first Bill down to $24. Compared to verizon at $58 this seemed like a real plus towards Fi.
However, there were a few problems with Fi. First, coverage. Pretty spotty at times and on the road no WiFi while between cities and towns. Second, and regarding signal again Verizon always had a signal everywhere. Third, my Fi enabled pixel 2 seemed to want to connect to every close by WiFi. I was in a shopping center parking lot needing to make a call and it tried to connect me to a very weak WiFi signal from apparently a dentist office somewhere nearby. Even tho T-mobile was showing 2 bars. It seems to prefer WiFi over all else even when one of the providers signals was decent. Also, while on weak WiFi’s calls would frequently sound fuzzy and sometimes drop. Lastly, when I was back home where Verizon is the only provider with decent signal I had issues with dropping calls on my home WiFi network. I needed to be in the same room as the router. If to far away calls drop and callers had trouble hearing me. Even tho the WiFi signal is apparently good and works fine thruout the house for all other devices.
So bottom line for me was reliability. If that reliability costs extra with Verizon then that’s what I’ll pay for. I was greatly disappointed as I really wanted it to work. My daughter uses it in Albuquerque and has no problems at all. So best advice is test it first before you drop Verizon and compare quality of service with 2 different devices, one on Fi and one on Verizon. Hope it works for you.

Interesting about your spotty wifi calls. My wifi calls have been flawless. On ATT it was less then great even though coverage was fine.
Of course as we know in all things one size doesn't fit all.

 

[cbreze]

On the Google Fi website you can check the coverage of all three cell providers (T-Mobile/Sprint and US Cellular) in your area. Maybe between the three along with wifi calling you will have good or even great coverage.

Yes, this is true however my home actually showed decent coverage while in actuality it was slim to none most of the time. So these charts need to be taken with a grain or two of salt, just my experience.

 

[cbreze]

Interesting about your spotty wifi calls. My wifi calls have been flawless. On ATT it was less then great even though coverage was fine.
Of course as we know in all things one size doesn't fit all.

Indeed, and no one wanted this less expensive service to work more than I. That’s why a trial period makes good sense. One size does not fit all when it comes to any provider coverage and/or performance including Google Fi.
As I mentioned above my daughters experience has been fantastic.

 

[Moo Cow]

Well, after another failed call to Verizon to get a deal, and reading everything posted here, we decided to pull the trigger.

If it works, we stay and will upgrade our Pixel 2 line phones. If it fails, technically, if we go back to Verizon, we are new lines of service, so we'll get our new phones that way.

Our intent is this works and we save money, but, as previously stated by another poster, we could find we just need to be on Verizon and bite the bullet we will pay more.

 

[hallux]

Our intent is this works and we save money,

One thing you can do to help with this is to cache things where possible. Pre-cache podcasts, music, maps, etc. I have maps for my local area and music cached and will download new episodes of podcasts to listen to during my commute. My net result is that I rarely go over 1 GB of data used as I have WiFi at home and at work.

 

[Chuck Finley69]

Well, after another failed call to Verizon to get a deal, and reading everything posted here, we decided to pull the trigger.

If it works, we stay and will upgrade our Pixel 2 line phones. If it fails, technically, if we go back to Verizon, we are new lines of service, so we'll get our new phones that way.

Our intent is this works and we save money, but, as previously stated by another poster, we could find we just need to be on Verizon and bite the bullet we will pay more.

Just open new account in different name, spouse or yourself and transfer everything. I did with AT&T several years ago. Started new account in my name and changed service to new account from wife's account.

 

[steveh552]

I have found Straight Talk from Walmart to be really good and reliable service. I pay $35 a month for 5 gig, and you can get 25gig for $45 and unlimited for $60 I think it is. They use all four of the major carriers towers so you pretty much should be covered. I have yet to come close to my 5gig but in all honesty I have been confined to the Hospital and home until just recently due to an infection in my brain so I was on wifi quite a bit of the time. Over all though it cant be beat. My best friend has it and he has never not had service except in the deep insides of some casinos.