Data Plan Question - Pro/Con to choosing anything over 1GB

[allen g]

I am nearly ready to pull the trigger on a trial run of Google Fi. After doing some research on data plans I am under the impression its $10 per 1GB. If you go over your plan's limit you will just pay for the data you use on top of that under the $10 per 1GB ratio. If that's true, what is the benefit for choosing a data plan over 1GB if your always paying for just the data you use?

 

[LeoRex]

Good questions.... Seems to me that you should just set it to 1G and leave it there. Unless Google goes in and automatically bumps you up if you go over (so you just go back in and turn it back to 1G).

The slider is kind of silly. If you always only pay what you use, why couldn't they have just said ($20 base + $1 for every 100MB).

I guess they wanted to go with the whole 'keep the change' marketing angle. "YOU GET MONEY BACK! (that you didn't need to pay in the first place)"

dunno

 

[trojanman]

I am nearly ready to pull the trigger on a trial run of Google Fi. After doing some research on data plans I am under the impression its $10 per 1GB. If you go over your plan's limit you will just pay for the data you use on top of that under the $10 per 1GB ratio. If that's true, what is the benefit for choosing a data plan over 1GB if your always paying for just the data you use?

Good questions.... Seems to me that you should just set it to 1G and leave it there. Unless Google goes in and automatically bumps you up if you go over (so you just go back in and turn it back to 1G).

The slider is kind of silly. If you always only pay what you use, why couldn't they have just said ($20 base + $1 for every 100MB).

I guess they wanted to go with the whole 'keep the change' marketing angle. "YOU GET MONEY BACK! (that you didn't need to pay in the first place)"

dunno

I think the intention of setting a data limit is to help you budget the monetary cost per month (along with everything else in your life such as rent/mortgage, groceries, entertainment, utilities, and so forth). Whether you go under or over each month doesn't really matter since the cost per GB will always be the same...in some months you may be credited for what you didn't use, in others you'll be charged more. But by setting a data budget, you at least know what you would like to spend, and I believe the app will notify you once you get close to your budget, so you can adjust as necessary.

I don't think Google is pushing the "you get money back" marketing, but more so "you pay for what you use." And Google adds that extra element of being able to set a monthly monetary budget. I think it's a great idea, it's similar to how most of us pay for electricity, water and gas...we pay for what we use.

 

[Downwind]

I asked a couple of Fi reps about that and they had no answer. I decided to sign up for the minimum on the principle that they can bill me for overages and I don't have to prepay them for stuff I may not use. We'll see how it goes when I get my new 5X.

 

[AlexMadarasz]

I am nearly ready to pull the trigger on a trial run of Google Fi. After doing some research on data plans I am under the impression its $10 per 1GB. If you go over your plan's limit you will just pay for the data you use on top of that under the $10 per 1GB ratio. If that's true, what is the benefit for choosing a data plan over 1GB if your always paying for just the data you use?

Well, since after your up-front payment when you join Fi you'll only pay for what you use, think of the "extra" money you pay up front for more than 1GB as pre-paying your own personal 1-month "Kickstarter" / "venture capital" funding to Project Fi. They hold it for one month, then kick it back to you based on what you use every month after that.

Me - after joining Fi and paying $33.26 up front for the 1GB - I've since had 4 Fi bills all for less than $24 (>> $9/month credit for unused cell data). Consider me the poster child for the ideal Fi low-data user - I spend the vast majority of every day at home, on home WiFi and in Airplane mode (due to Fi issues when on WiFi with Sprint connected), and I just don't use much cell data when I'm out.

--
Alex

 

[nickacs]

Great discussion. I've been someone who, the last couple years, has been bouncing around to different carriers to get out of paying Verizon's ridiculous monthly family plan of about $150. After about 10yrs with them and getting married and on family plan, I finally switched us both to Straight Talk when I bought my Nexus 4 and my wife on Iphone. Sure, we paid like $90, but the service/data/signal was the WORST. Then, I switched us both to TMobile family plan and was about $95 and lived with that for about a year here in Atlanta. Signal around town was 90% ok, but travelling to both our parents houses in MD and MI proved that TMO sucked. Yea, we only travel a couple times a year, but during those times, I NEED signal!!
So, last November, I switched us both back to Verizon and sucked it up for $145 family plan and I bought a Moto X 2014 and my wife a Note 4.

Signal has been awesome, but I'm searching to lower our monthly bill and have been looking into PF for us, esp now that I just ordered a Nexus 6P

I'm a low cell user, like you guys, home/work is 100% WiFi and occasional cell when outside in the city for dinner/errands/etc. My wife on the other hand is a FB "nut" (LOL) and travels around the city a lot for her cleaning business. She still uses WiFi whenever she can, like home of course.
She uses about 2-3GB, while I'm like 1.5GB a month.

Like you guys said, is it worth just signing up for the lowest 1GB and let PF just charge us for anything over? I could see my wife maybe signing up for the 2GB plan easy, but me prob 1GB and see what happens.

Interested in hearing from people who's had PF for at least a couple months and have gone over, their thoughts. Thanks!!

 

[21stNow]

Like you guys said, is it worth just signing up for the lowest 1GB and let PF just charge us for anything over? I could see my wife maybe signing up for the 2GB plan easy, but me prob 1GB and see what happens.

Interested in hearing from people who's had PF for at least a couple months and have gone over, their thoughts. Thanks!!

I signed up for the 1GB plan and have gone over for every billing cycle (clearly, Fi isn't for me but that's another story). Google just notifies you of what your next bill will be and will deduct the payment from your Google Wallet account the same way whether you go over or not.

 

[Topweasel]

For me its nice to be able to budget the 4GB and just know that it'll make my next payment that much cheaper if I don't go over it. Right now I am at 300mb used with the cycle starting over tommorow. I might lower the a little bit. But I think knowing my bill and getting money back is better than going into each month worried what I am going to get charged next month will be.

What Project Fi has taught me is that I was going out of my way to use cell data on Verizon. I had unlimited and was averaging 5-10GB a month. On PF for this last month I just made sure I was on wireless at home and work and didn't change my use when on the go.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[spyderveloce]

Coming from Verizon, where my wife and I shared a family plan and 4GB of data, we would frequently come very close to our 4GB every month (even with using wifi at home and work), to the point that I would split the data and cap it on our phones via the Data settings (60/40 split between my wife and I). Don't even get me started on the fact that Verizon wants $5/line to impose a hard limit. Now that I'm on Fi and my wife is still on Verizon (she won't jump till she sees that I'm not having issues) I find that I'm using way less data, even with Facebook active all the time (I used to hibernate it with Greenify) and my wife appears to be using even more data than before. I have to wonder if Verizon somehow inflates the data usage with all their extra crapware that comes on their phones. I have 9 days left in my billing cycle and I'm on track to use less than 1GB of data. When I signed up I set my data at 1GB thinking I'd just pay for what extra I used, but I never expected to come in under 1GB.