from the like-the-good-old-days-of-compuserv-and-prodigy dept.
Google is launching a wireless service soon that will charge you for data used, not bulk rates like current carriers:
The service, which would compete with local wireless providers like AT&T and Verizon, is expected to let customers pay only for the data they use on the network. That would mean users only pay when they make calls, listen to music or use apps, as opposed to common wireless service agreements that charge a bulk rate for a certain amount of data.
What Google wants to do is somewhat unique, according to the Journal's report. The company plans to offer two types of services that overlap. When users are on Wi-Fi, their phone calls and other data would use that connection. When not on a Wi-Fi signal, customers would use common cellular radio signals, which are more costly.
Google isn't building its own wireless network to do this. Instead, the Internet giant has reportedly made a deal with US carriers Sprint and T-Mobile to use their networks. For now, this scheme is only expected to be available on Google's Nexus 6 smartphone.
The devil is in the details, of course, what price the data? How good the coverage? Google has tantalized us for years with prospects of its Fiber, unfortunately still unavailable in backwaters like New York City, so it's a bit hard to get excited about this one. On the other hand, maybe it could disrupt cell carriers everywhere?
Update: Google's Project Fi service has been officially announced. It is currently limited to Nexus 6 owners in the United States.
With Project Fi, Google starts plans at $20 per month for unlimited domestic calling and unlimited domestic + international texting. On top of that you can select how much data you believe you will need, with the cost being $10/GB. The unique aspect of Project Fi when compared to other network operators is how Google is changing the situation with unused data. Rather than rolling it over or having it disappear, Google simply credits you for the difference. For example, a user who pays $30 for 3GB per month may only use 1.4GB that month. In that situation, Google will credit them $16 for the data they did not use. [...] Given the rounding, they might as well just charge $1 for every 100MB used, as any overages are charged as the same rate as the data in the plan itself.
Google is also taking much of the pain out of roaming in other nations. The data you purchase for your Project Fi plan is usable in 120 different countries, although it's limited to a speed of 256Kbps. Google's network also extends beyond cellular carriers, with Google's network configured to automatically utilize public hotspots as part of the network itself. WiFi calling is supported, and so the transition between cellular and WiFi should be seamless in theory. Google is also promising that information will be encrypted so that users can have their privacy preserved when using public WiFi.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Appalbarry on Wednesday April 22 2015, @11:22PM
On one hand, I really don't want any more Google tentacles in my life. I'm already trying to extract myself from as much of the Googleverse as is practical.
Still, as a victim of the Canadian cel phone triumvirate I would be VERY interested in this. if it made it into the Great White North.
Right now I pay $50 CDN/month, which includes a massive TWO GIGABYTES of data. Adding another couple of gigs would cost me half that much again.
If I wanted a "free" phone I would have to cancel this plan, and open a new one which would - I kid you not - increase my monthly spend to $100 for exactly the same package. In other words, that free phone, over a two year term, would cost me an additional $1200 bucks.
Needless to say I'm now among those who buys phones outright and who will hang on to this grandfathered plan until the execs at Telus are long dead.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday April 22 2015, @11:32PM
Yeah, since its Nexus 6 only, you'd have to get a new phone just to try this plan. That's over 600 bucks right there last time I checked.
On single line plans this might work. But those of us on family plans can get 10 or 15 or 30 gig plans for way less.
Even AT&T's "Next" plan (bring your own phone) is $25/mo with 3 gigs included, but things never seem to come out at what the advertised price seems to show.
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(Score: 2) by Appalbarry on Thursday April 23 2015, @12:15AM
things never seem to come out at what the advertised price seems to show.
My favourite up here is the included voice mail package that is limited to THREE messages. If for some unholy reason you need more than that it's a further five bucks a month.
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Thursday April 23 2015, @03:08AM
I'm in Canada, and pay $25 for 1GB of data, and effectively unlimited minutes and texting. ... as I use a VOIP provider and just got a tablet plan for my phone. Great deal (well, for Canada) and good quality for calls. The only bad part is that I need to use my VOIP app rather than the built in phone client on Android, which is nicer and better integrated. There was a bit of a threat when I signed up that if the provider found out I was using a phone rather than a tablet they'd cancel the plan, but it never materialized. I was actually looking forward to taking them to court for it. Anyway, if you can put up with a VOIP client, it's a great solution for saving some money. I've set up quite a few people with this solution and all are happy.
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Thursday April 23 2015, @03:30AM
This just got me looking around and I'd never realized that Android has a full SIP client built into the phone app. Time to try that out ... I miss my integration with Tasker, etc.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday April 23 2015, @03:31AM
Who do you use as your voip provider?
Do you have to use a slim codec to stay within your 1 Gig?
On mine, I use CsipSimple for calling Europe (mostly) and both ends are SIP, so I don't need a POTS gateway. Quality is astounding on Wifi or LTE, but then both ends are using pretty fat codecs.
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(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Thursday April 23 2015, @11:16AM
I'm using Fongo, and must admit I don't use voice calling much. It seems pretty slim though, maybe 1MB/minute?
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday April 22 2015, @11:23PM
The official release does not make it clear if you pay for data when on wifi.
It kind of hints that you might because of their (somewhat mysterious, but probably just a VPN) encrypted data layer. They never officially say you Don't pay when on Wifi.
Also, 10 dollars per Gig is pretty expensive. You wouldn't want to stream much on that.
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(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday April 22 2015, @11:30PM
It says $10 per GB for cellular data.
What I want to know is, what is the point of Wi-Fi calling when you have unlimited minutes? Security?
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(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday April 22 2015, @11:42PM
It says $10 per GB for cellular data.
I went looking and couldn't find those words. Maybe I just missed it.
What I want to know is, what is the point of Wi-Fi calling when you have unlimited minutes? Security?
It reduces their costs. (What they shell out to the carriers).
Especially if what you say is true, and there is no charge for data over wifi.
Still, hand-off of a call from cellular to wifi (or vise versa) is black magic these days.
You are lucky if you can hand off a streaming music from cellular to wifi, let alone a call.
(In fact it would have a better chance of working if ALL the calls went over data (SIP/VOIP) rather than cellular voice.)
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(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday April 22 2015, @11:45PM
They claim to have nailed the "seamless transition". I'm sure the early adopters will let us know more...
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(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday April 23 2015, @01:54AM
Yeah, but the only way that can work (regardless of their uninformative info-graphic) is if the call is ALWAYS going via VOIP/SIP, most likely to Google-Voice servers.
Because, otherwise, as you walk away from the coffee shop, your wifi gets weak, they would have to initiate a voice call over carrier's facilities, but the other say a land line, is already busy, and you can't call it.
Same when walking into a wifi area, from cellular. You have to terminate the cell call, establish a sip/voip connection, without disrupting the call.
Even T-Mobile (who offers wifi calling) tells you that calls transitioning from wifi to cellular or back is likely to be dropped.
Third party sip clients can carry a call as you transition, because its all TCP. I've done that successfully with CSipSimple. (its never as clean a handover as from cell tower to cell tower, but it does work).
Wifi-Calling has been built into every Android phone from the beginning, but banned by most of the carriers (hence the name wifi-calling). Its nothing but sip/voip I'm betting google has talked them out of that ban, and is doing it all via wifi calling, probably using just about zero carrier minutes, - all data.
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(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday April 23 2015, @02:08AM
Actually, if you look carefully at that animated info-graphic, you see it goes from wifi to LTE and back again.
LTE is a designation for a data network, not a voice network. That info-graphic never says it goes to the carrier's voice network.
In truth, LTE means long term evolution, where all voice is going to go tcp on the net, When completed, LTE will mean there won't need to be any voice service, only data.
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(Score: 4, Interesting) by iwoloschin on Wednesday April 22 2015, @11:47PM
It expands network coverage. If you're in a large office building and there's no signal, you're sad, unless you have wifi! If you're out visiting relatives in the middle of nowhere, you're sad (or paying a *ton* of money to Verizon), unless they have a cable modem and wifi!
To be completely honest, I'd love this more if there was no $20 charge for unlimited minutes/texts. I just want a raw data connection. For now, Ting is better for me, but I'm still eagerly following Project Fi because it does some very neat stuff, mostly combining two cellular networks and a VPN'd wifi network.
(Score: 1) by ncc74656 on Thursday April 23 2015, @12:19AM
Quality, I'd think. They should be able to do at least POTS-quality over WiFi.
It'd also extend coverage into areas where cellular coverage is weak or nonexistent. I have pretty weak service at home and in my office; calling over WiFi (which I can kinda do now with Google Voice) gets around that problem.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 23 2015, @02:07PM
10 dollars per Gig is pretty expensive
It is fairly in line with what other providers are charging. Which is not surprising as they are on top of other peoples networks.
They are an MVNO with a decent contract with the providers they resell thru.
The refund thing is an interesting twist. Basically they can play with the float of 8-20 bucks per month off their customers. Float is what made mr warren buffet a very rich man.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday April 23 2015, @05:38PM
Its a mixed bag.
ArsTechnica [arstechnica.com] did a whole article comparing costs. It turned out to be a difficult thing to compare.
Ars had this to say:
Project Fi is great for people with fluctuating data usage though. Take me for instance: most days, at home and at work, I'm on Wi-Fi, with barely any data usage, but there are those months where I travel a lot, and then my data usage spikes. Project Fi would give me money back for the low-data months, while flexing to a larger plan when during busy months.
The refund is, as you mention, an interesting wrinkle. One that might cause other carriers to offer reduced bills instead of roll-over, or maybe in addition to roll-over.
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