California – Google Inc. [NASDAQ:GOOG] has ventured in wireless carrier service by launching Project Fi in US. Google’s service would ride on Sprint and T-Mobile network and would work only for Google Nexus 6 devices. Fi Project aims to provide a unique solution of switching between Wi-fi and wireless data on fly to reduce the mobile phone bill.
Google has been developing this service for quite some time and aim to provide enhance service to its Nexus users. Google is riding on the Network of T-Mobile and Sprint to provide this service. Fi Project network runs on the 4G LTE service. The biggest advantage of the Fi Network is that it gives the user benefit of running on two network providers at once.
Depending on the signal strength the user is moved to the better 4G LTE service provider in a location to provide fastest available speed.
The advantage of Fi project to consumers is that the service automatically switches between the carrier networks to wi-fi depending on the signal strength. Google has tied up with 1 million open free wi-fi spots to offer pre-authorized and reliable network. Fi Network users would also be able to call over the wi-fi network. Google offers automatic encryption of data over these wi-fi hotspots for security.
This would be a Network of Network service and would potentially help a consumer lower the data plan cost. The service will cost only $20 a month for basic calling and text and flat fee of $10 per GB of data transfer. Google is also offering money back on unconsumed data.
If a subscriber subscribes for 5 GB of data for $50 and consumes only 2.6 GB of data, he will be charged only $26 and he can seek $24 in refund. This would come out to be much inexpensive than a traditional data plan offered by Telecommunication companies like Verizon, AT&T, etc.
The service is currently limited to Nexus device so it won’t be a disruptive service in the Telecom industry. Google can easily use this service to test waters and can launch it commercially on other devices if the pilot is successful. Such service will force the established telecommunication operators to offer better services and offer cheaper plans.
The current program is in invite only phase and subscriber can request invitation from here. Google has created a site explaining their Project. The site could be accessed from here. There is a beautiful video demo for this project which can be accessed from here:
