The new Google "fi" phone service is a wifi based cell service with data and is supported by multiple networks towers -- that only costs $30 a month per line (including a gig of data on top of the unlimited calling and texting).

It is not as cheap as Republic Wireless, which only costs $24 a month per line (with options to go as low as $10 a month per line).  RW is not as nice as Google fi, but it is running around half the price and that makes it a better deal to me.

Neither are as good price-wise as VIBER which is a within-group app based service that you get all your people to sign on to and then everybody can talk and text within VIBER for free using wifi capable cell phones over wifi even those phones that are out of service with any carrier.

Viber also works with most tablets as long as they have a mic and a speaker -- how's that for amazing?   You can make wifi phone calls without even using a phone.

VIBER is good anywhere in the world and is always free within-group.  VIBER also will function while you are still using a carrier on the phone, and people will do that just to cut down on roaming and other rip-off level charges.

Example, when you go out of country on vacation and are faced with international roaming rates to call home, use VIBER instead and save hundreds of dollars in roaming charges.

What does this all mean to you?   Go look at your cell phone bill.

Dropping $40-$60-$80 per line for cell phone service is NO LONGER NECESSARY.     Paying big big bucks for roaming isn't necessary either.


  .... so, why are you still doing it?  

Me, I pay $12.83 per month for my Republic Wireless phone service after buying the RW Moto G phone outright for $149.

Justin,

Google intends to make the point that wifi being freely available all over the place makes these current extremely high monthly carrier charges somewhat ridiculous, and some cooperation between the carriers would mean NOT having to build all those repeatedly duplicated towers all over the place.  

That is corporate ego in action -- grotesque amounts of wasted money due to NON-cooperation.

We are paying WAY too much for cell phone service right now and part of it is some intentional historical manipulation by AT&T and Verizon.

DID YOU KNOW that you pay on average $16 a month for 2G data service that you don't know about and would never ever even use even if you did know about it?   It is part of what is called "breakage" and it is built into all the big guys monthly charge rates.  

Did you know you get OVERCHARGED 15%-20%  for the data plans you did sign up for just to cover the people who go way way over on their data plans each month?   They wind up paying a huge penalty in the next month too, but the carrier wants to have the funds on hand to pay his own bills in the month they come due, so you all pay more "breakage" to cover the carrier's monthly cash flow.

Both Google fi and Republic Wireless will credit you back month on month for any data you do not actually use in that month.   The other guys will just bank this "free money" into their own bank accounts.   You are being ripped off, systematically, and then charged "breakage" on top of that.

Did you know that ~$695 per two year period is built right into your plan to cover the "replacement cell phone costs" -- in an era where NO cell phone cost a carrier much more than $400 even for the very most expensive phones out there, and you personally can buy good LTE serviceable phones now for as low as $150 direct from Amazon?  

That that "free upgrade phone" you sometimes get for "free" still costs you $695 or thereabouts?    Yep, built right into the plan ....  a $500 extra profit per each free phone for the carrier.

You are being shagged, lined up and bent over the service counter.   And charged "breakage" for your trouble to boot.


    If your cell phone bill is over $150 in total for a family of 4, you simply aren't doing it right AT ALL.

Good analogy -- nobody builds duplicate bridges because of "corporate ego" now do they?


https://republicwireless.com/labs/maestro/      click on it then click on the video and watch it

Back in the day, my brother and I used yahoo friends list to "video chat".... and saved bundles on phone charges.
Was pretty kewl.... we could take the laptop and turn it around and show off our newest purchases or projects we had just completed.
Kinda sounds like the "Wi-Fi" thingie.... if you have internet access, you have the ability to "chat" with anyone, and can do so instantly..... if they are online...
What does the Wi-Fi phone do? if you are not near a source? does the program save the call? or message?

Going to download Viber to an old HTC smart phone.... The one I have been using Omand maps on....

Changed my mind when I looked at what they want access to be able to do, "record audio, take pictures and videos" , why they want to be able to do that? The even state they want to be able to "disable keylock", what the?
I know most programs want to be able to edit your files to install or update... but why do they want to disable my personal keylock?  and use my phone to record audio, and take videos? seems a little personal..
I had not really noticed all that stuff before... thought I would read it and see what I was agreeing to.

Quote:


Couple of years ago, bought a new phone.
(One that made ‘phone calls’, not a hand held computer that was, ’supposed’ to be ‘glued’ to the side of my head)

Next bill I got, (Verision), their was a 30.00 charge for, ‘new equipment’.
I promptly called them up, and, ‘gently’ explained:
“I do NOT, pay more for gas, when I put new tires on my car”
They, promptly credited my account.

But, now many several hundreds of thousands of, shepoll,
Just, ‘paid’ that 30.00 bucks, resulting in a million + dollar bonus, for the company, each month?

Simple, the Vast, VAST, Majority of shepol, will just pay it with out question. So, most people, will do it again, and again, and again !

Just like the spoiled 6 year old, in the store, who cry's, and yells, and throws a tantrum, for a bag of candy.
That child, KNOWS, (has learned from past experiences).
That the Parent, 'gives', in, rather than, the parent giving a swift slap on the butt, or grabbing their hand, and walking out of the store.

Google fi only works on Nexus 6 (which is a BIG ARSED phone with non-removable battery and either 32 or 64 megs of on board memory and no SD card slot).

RW is coming out with some new phones, but if you don't like the Moto X you probably won't like the new phones either.

Still, RW w/data is $24 a month and Google fi is $30 a month with data (but they give you credit back month on month for unused data).

Point being, DON'T PAY THE HUGE RATES AT AT&T AND VERIZON WITHOUT KNOWING THERE IS OTHER STUFF OUT THERE.

Yup, and if you take the $10 plan you have cell phone calls, texting and wifi based data services all the time -- that is 95% of what I do anyway.

Data is interesting -- I can log on to a wifi anywhere I go and get full unlimited use of Data.  Most stores have wifi now, so if you are shopping somewhere you are likely covered.

HOWEVER, if I was going on vacation I'd turn on the $24 plan for just the days I was out on vacation.   This gives me EVERYTHING, talk text and cellular Data everywhere Sprint goes, which is coverage on all cities and interstates everywhere on the East Coast.

So my steady plan is the $10 plan and my vacation plan (just for the days of vacation) is the $24 plan.

The $5 plan would work at the house just fine like you said, or anyplace I went that had good wifi, but the reason you spend the additional $5 to get Sprint cell tower coverage is the seamless transfer from wifi to Sprint towers when moving in a car, etc.   By seamless, I mean you really never notice it going on -- it is just that even and smooth.

Now Google is working on the cell tower guys to make it possible to have plans that seamlessly swap freely between different carrier's cell towers and standard wifi.  They have it working good at LTE speeds with both Sprint and T-Mobile and standard wifi right now which is where it will stay for a while since both AT&T and Verizon have got a stick up their butts about sharing anything or cooperating with anybody right now.

I changed my wife over this week to Republic Wireless, so far she hasn't hit an issue that wasn't just "learning the buttons" on her new phone.

    (knock on wood)

The stuff WORKS .... and my per line total monthly charges AFTER TAXES are $12.87 per line which is less than the monthly surcharges and "taxes" I used to pay per line per month from Verizon the rip-off store.  Yep, the actual taxes on a line are supposed to be only $2.87 a month -- go see what AT&T and Verizon are charging YOU per month and get a flavor for what "breakage" really is for you right now.

=======================================

I was curious about the ongoing charges and I just looked at last month's credit card hit from Republic Wireless.    It was $24.36 for TWO lines on the $10 a month plan, so they actually charged me less in taxes than what they estimated they were going to.

========================================

So, Google fi is worth looking into if you are a high roller, Republic Wireless is worth looking into if you are NOT a high roller.

The 3G issue no longer worries me, btw, because I just found out the hard way that the only 4G/LTE towers in my town are by the mall, directly downtown and by the interstate -- and definitely NOT out where I live.  

Paying for 4G/LTE is pretty much a waste of money both on the cost of the phone and on the monthly plan charges unless you live in a MAJOR city with complete 4G/LTE coverage.