Google’s Project Fi is a cellular network that lets you connect to T-Mobile, Sprint, or WiFi to make calls and connect to the internet. The blending of different connections is only one of the things that makes the service special though.
Since it launched 10 months ago, Project Fi has only been available for folks that had received an invitation to sign up for service… but now Google is removing that restriction.
Anyone in the US can now sign up for Project Fi… and for a limited time Google is offering new customers a chance to pick up a Nexus 5X smartphone for $199 when they sign up (normally it sells for $349Â and up).
Project Fi is designed to leverage multiple network sources to give you the best available connection at any time. When I tested the service a few months ago it performed reasonably well… but I still occasionally found myself in areas where my Straight Talk phone on AT&T’s network received a better signal than a phone with a Project Fi SIM card.
But Project Fi has a few other special features:
- Only US customers can sign up, but they can travel to over 120 countries and use their phones without paying any extra fees.
- Connecting to public WiFi spots can help reduce your mobile data usage.
- Google refunds you for data you don’t use at the end of each month.
On the other hand, there’s at least one serious limitation to Project Fi: it currently only works with three phones: the Google Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, and Nexus 5X.