Google Project Fi Review (with Nexus 6)

dgstorm

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We are excited to bring you an awesome exclusive review today. Our very own back-end server admin, @veraderock, recently decided to try out Google's new Project Fi wireless internet. He also purchased a new Nexus 6 to go with the service (as required, since he didn't already have one).

The following is a summary of his impressions while using Project Fi and the Nexus 6 for the last couple of weeks. Let's start off with a quote on what @veraderock was most happy with regarding the service and the new phone.

"The main difference is that I no longer worry about reception when I'm either at home or at work. I used to have to check both my cell service and WiFi service and now I don't really watch either since I've had no reception issues anywhere to date. The fact that it switches seamlessly between WiFi and cell service for the phone means it's something I don't event think about anymore.

I have made quite a few calls now, and received several here at the office, where I wouldn't have had adequate service before Project Fi. The calls have been fine. In all cases I could hear the other party clearly and they seemed to hear fine as well. There may have been a slight delay from my end, but not enough to cause a problem with the call.

However, I have not yet tested (or noticed) a switch between the wifi to network during a call yet."


To put this in perspective, previously he had a Samsung Galaxy S3 on Sprint, and most recently he had an HTC One M8 on T-Mobile. With both phones and their respective carriers, he received very poor cell reception and poor LTE data connections. He also shared that he has traveled around the city and the new phone seems to work flawlessly. It switches between WiFi and LTE easily and with no issues.

We did a speed test on his device using both WiFi and LTE. With the WiFi connection, the phone averaged a 17ms Ping, a 30.27 Mbps download and 10.53Mbps upload. On LTE it averaged a 138ms ping, a 12.06Mbps download and a 0.36Mbps upload.

Additionally, @verdarock had this to add for those curious about how the device and service get setup:

"There's a "Project Fi" app that you install on your phone with account info, billing, etc. The first screen you see when you open that app shows your current data usage in an elegant line graph. To date, it shows me that I've used 114MB in 2 weeks. My usual data consumption previously was between 600MB-1GB; with Project Fi I am on track to consume around 250MB this month. This means I am on track to receive a $7.50 credit next month on the $10/GB plan I'm on... It seems to be pretty good about preferring WiFi to data which will end up saving me money on my data plan. :)"

Finally, in regards to the phone itself, our super-admin only has a couple of qualms. One is the massive size of the Nexus 6 device, although he indicated he is actually getting used to it.

The other complaint was easily fixable. He didn't like how the Nexus 6 defaults to using Google Hangouts for all of its text messages. Once @veraderock figured out how to change that over, any complaints he had (beyond the large size) have disappeared and he is quite satisfied with the service and the phone now. He even shared the procedure on how to change those settings over, which we will detail in the thread below, along with several unboxing pics!

We knew many of you guys were curious about the quality of Google's new cellular service, and this should give you folks a pretty good idea of what it will be like in most of the major metro areas around the country.
 
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dgstorm

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Here is the breakdown from @veraderock on how to switch the Nexus 6 over to using Messenger for its default SMS:

To properly switch the phone over to using the "Phone" and "Messenger" apps as opposed to Google Hangouts, I did the following:
* open Hangouts
* slide open the menu from he left
* go to "Settings"
* click on your account email address that is associated with Project Fi
* look under "Project Fi Calls and SMS - (###) ###-####
* uncheck the box beside "Incoming phone calls"
* uncheck the box beside "Messages"
 
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dgstorm

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Here are the first set of our Project Fi with Nexus 6 welcome kit unboxing pics:

project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-1.jpg

project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-2.jpg

project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-3.jpg

project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-4.jpg

project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-5.jpg

project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-6.jpg

project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-7.jpg

project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-8.jpg

project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-9.jpg
 
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Here are the rest of those unboxing images:
project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-10.jpg

project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-11.jpg

project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-12.jpg

project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-13.jpg

project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-14.jpg

project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-15.jpg

project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-16.jpg

project-fi-nexus6-unboxing-17.jpg
 

FoxKat

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Nice writeups. I am awaiting my approval for the request made a bit ago. Hopefully I'll see it soon. I have WIFI available at home and work so like 90% of the time I'd be on WIFI. This could be a really neat option for me, however it also means I'll have to break out the Nexus 6...
 

RyanPm40

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Wow I hadn't looked into Project Fi before but this sounds like a very cool, very affordable project! I would love to be a part of this some day as it grows.
 

Mustang02

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I hope this takes off. I would love to cut my cell phone bill and I'm near wifi almost all the time.
 

thunderbolt_nick

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That is some beasty stats for network. Curse me and having to pay off my N6!! I would be all over that if I could.
 

Jonny Kansas

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Yup. If they had better cell coverage in my area, I'd love to jump on this service. I'd be fine at home and work, but the areas in-between are all labeled as 2G on their coverage map since Sprint and T-mo don't exist here. No thanks...
 

thunderbolt_nick

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Yup. If they had better cell coverage in my area, I'd love to jump on this service. I'd be fine at home and work, but the areas in-between are all labeled as 2G on their coverage map since Sprint and T-mo don't exist here. No thanks...

Yeah, I have a feeling we are going to be waiting another 1-2 years for a wider coverage area that rivals the competitors.
 
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