Google Launches Fi, a New Way to Say Hello
Robert Ainsworth / 10 years ago
Google have launched another massive project today; the American based company have announced that they are now releasing a new wireless service.
The service, called Project Fi will be will be the first wireless network to seamlessly change between wi-fi and LTE, constantly working out which is strongest and selecting that one to transfer calls and data; two of the networks that currently support this feature are T-Mobile and Sprint. To use the new service you will need a Nexus 6 device as it requires a special sim card. Don’t be worried about this though, Google have hinted that the nexus will be first of many devices.
Google posted this on their blog earlier today:
“Project Fi works to get technology out of the way so you can communicate through whichever network type and device you’re using. Wherever you’re connected to Wi-Fi—whether that’s at home, your favorite coffee shop or your Batcave—you can talk and text like you normally do. If you leave an area of Wi-Fi coverage, your call will seamlessly transition from Wifi to cell networks so your conversation doesn’t skip a beat”
Thats pretty neat eh? The company has also said that they are changing the way phone numbers work on their service. Phone numbers will be hosted in the cloud so you can talk and text with your phone number on just about any phone, tablet or laptop providing it can run Google Hangouts.
Googles new service is going to be well priced too, for $20 per month you can get all of the basics (talk, text, wifi tethering and international coverage in 120+ countries) and an additional $10 per GB of cellular data used while in the US or internationally. 1GB is $10 per month, 2GB is $20 a month and so on. The clever part of this is that you only pay for what you use. For example if you pay for 3GB with $30 and only use $1.4GB you’ll get $16 back.
Google have also released a short video about the project.
Google are currently running an early access program to invite people to sign up to the service. If you have coverage and live in the US you can request an invite at fi.google.com; to check your fi coverage you can visit here.
Thank you to The Google Blog for this information.
Images courtesy of The Google Blog.
