Review: Google Fi – The US & International Cell Service

So many anniversaries are sneaking up on me lately. I feel like we were just in Maine deciding to switch from Republic Wireless after 5 years to Google Fi, and now I’ve already been with them for a whole year! So let’s get into how it’s going with Google Fi and if I’m going to stay with them for another year.

The Purchase

When I decided to switch phone services a year ago, I did it for a few reasons. The main one was my need for reasonably priced international data. As part of my international nomad retirement, I always planned to switch to a provider that has cheap international data and Google Fi fit the bill.

I love being able to get off a plane and immediately have data on my phone. No need to go find a sim card store or do anything else. I can use my phone immediately to call a ride share and navigate to my Airbnb. Easy.

However, this international data plan has one caveat: Google Fi wants to be a US based plan, so if you use it outside the US for more than 6 months or so in a year, people have been told they will turn off your service. So just a heads up about that!

Anyway, the other reason I decided to switch providers almost a year before I planned to travel internationally, was when I learned that Dish acquired Republic Wireless.

Well shiiiiiit pic.twitter.com/b5E4Og0LOo

— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) March 10, 2021

As a result of this announcement, I decided to nope the fuck out while I easily could and while Google Fi was having an awesome promotion that allowed me to get a free phone out of the deal 🙂 .

So I went on Google Fi, chose the same awesome Moto G Stylus phone I already had and loved, and got excited to receive my new phone so I could set up the service.

The Set Up

My phone came promptly in the mail and like the millennial I am, I dropped everything when it was delivered because I have MAIL! It’s basically Christmas 🙂 .

I followed the instructions given and it was almost a seamless experience. The only weird thing was that it didn’t download all my text messages. I wasn’t told it would, but I had backed up my whole phone before porting it over and only some texts were on there. Weird, but not the end of the world. It’s also possible it was some kind of user error 😉 . Overall, the set up went better than I expected (#pessimism).

One time consuming thing that was totally on me, is that since at the time I didn’t yet have the awesome 1Password service, I had to manually type in all my passwords for my apps. However, this won’t be a problem next time 🙂 . Next time, I’ll be able to get into all my apps with one click. Woohoo!

Another thing I want to point out is that porting everything over and updating the phone required that I restart the phone about 5 times after setting it up. It would update in the background and it didn’t force me to do it, so I could restart at my leisure. Restarts didn’t take a long time, but I was glad that I had a free afternoon where I didn’t need my phone just in case 🙂 .

The Service

So I was all set up and ready to hit the town! It’s been one year of using this service. How has it been? Amazing 🙂 . I’ve had absolutely no issues having service or using my phone in the last year while being all over the US as well as in Singapore, Thailand and Mexico. Within a few minutes of turning my phone off airplane mode in another country, I get a fun little pop up:

The Cost

One of the things I’ve loved most about this service – besides the fact that it works 🙂 – is the cost and its cost structure. Unlike Republic Wireless, you only pay for the data you use – and not in 1 GB increments, I mean EXACTLY how much data you use – that’s all you pay for each month.

So I like that I don’t have to pay for a full GB of data AND I like that I don’t have to buy more gigs individually like I did with Republic Wireless. They would alert me and I would have to make a purchase for my phone to keep working. In comparison, Google Fi’s solution is seamless. No extra work or money needed from me.

To help this go even further, I’ve recently started using the Data Saver option on my phone and it’s made a huge difference. It basically limits what background functions your phone does while you’re out and about, and it’s been perfect. Since I’m not working, I don’t need to receive all my emails immediately for example. They’ll load if I click on the app, but otherwise they don’t constantly pop up when I’m using data. Works for me!

Anyway, overall, I’ve usually been paying $25-30 per month for my phone on a flexible group plan that I share 50/50 with my partner. Totally worth it for great service all over the world 🙂 .

Customer Service

So it was almost like the universe knew I was writing this review because I hadn’t had any interactions with customer service until recently because everything worked perfectly. Well, the other day, I saw a charge on our bill for international calls.

They weren’t even trying to hide it – it was a front and center alert when I opened the app. I looked into it and realized that:

1. We shouldn’t have been charged this money because calls between the US, Mexico (where we were) and Canada are free
2. We didn’t even make those calls – they weren’t in our logs (we don’t edit or delete them) and we didn’t even know the numbers in question (and we don’t pick up the phone unless we know the person)

So I contacted support within the Google Fi app. I was 27th in line to chat, but got through in about 10 minutes at 8pm CT on a Monday. Then they resolved the issue quickly and said they would give me a credit for the charges and that it won’t happen again. The credit showed up on my next bill and I was good to go! Resolving an issue with customer service was super easy, quick and professional. I took a survey after and gave the experience a 5/5 🙂 .

Conclusion

So that’s been my experience using Google Fi for a year! Not a lot to report because luckily, it’s all gone well. I’m loving having access to international data and only paying for the data I actually use 🙂 . Cheers to another great year! Also heads up: if you’re interested in Google Fi and use the above link to sign up for their service you get $20 off your first bill. Sweet!

What phone service do you use?