Google's Project Fi wants to fix your phone bill
Google's Project Fi wants to fix your phone bill
2:54

Google's Project Fi wants to fix your phone bill

Tech Industry
Google has it's own wireless plan to go with it's phone. I'm Bridget Carey and this is your CNET update. [MUSIC] Google is challenging the status quo for the wireless industry. It just launched it's own mobile service in the US called Project Fi and it is so crazy simple It could change the future of wireless service if other companies follow. Not everyone can sign up right away. You have to request an invite and it only works on the Nexus 6 phone. Google developed a special SIM card for the Nexus 6 that jumps between multiple networks. You see, Google didn't build its own infrastructure from scratch. Google is piggybacking off Sprint and T-Mobile's cell towers Switching you between whichever carrier has the stronger signal, it also automatically connects to nearby open wi-fi hot spots when available. Because open wi-fi is sketchy, Google says it is encrypting your data to protect it from hackers. Now pricing for Project Fi is very straight forward and there's no annual contract. Everyone pays $20 a month for unlimited calling and texting, data is $10 for every gigabyte. That's it. So if you want three gigs of data every month your bill comes out to $50. But what if you don't use all the data? Google will credit you back on the next bill for data you didn't use. if you had 800 megabytes to spare one month, you get eight bucks back. The opposite is true for when you go over. You are only charged for what you needed. If you went over 400 megabytes you're only charged an extra $4.00. International travelers will also like this feature. You won't be charged more for using data when you travel to over a hundred and 20 different countries. International texting is included in the plan and international calls are 20 cents a minute. Even though most people won't be able to switch to this, Google will still influence change in the industry. When google shows consumers there is. If there's an alternative out there, other carriers may follow with more attractive offers. And that's all google wants. If this service leads to better plans, and we're gulping down more content from the web, no matter which company we get our service from. It just benefits Google. We saw this with Google Fiber, the home internet service that is 100 times faster than what most folks have a home. The prices and availability of one gigabit speeds encouraged competitors like AT&T to expand coverage and keep with Google's prices. Google's not alone in some of these ideas. Republic wireless, a small company based in North Carolina, announced it will also pay back customers for unused data. The wireless world is changing fast, and there are new ways to think about how you pay for service. Take for example the messaging app, WhatsApp. Android and iOS users can now both make voice calls though the app. So you can talk to anyone internationally over a data connection. That's your tech news update. You can head on over to CNET.com for more. From our studios in New York, I'm Bridget Carey. [MUSIC]

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