Google Officially Launches Wireless Service

(RTTNews) - Google on Wednesday introduced Project Fi, its much awaited U.S. wireless service, in partnership with Sprint and T-mobile as part of efforts to enhance the efficiency and affordability of mobile service.

Fi will be available on the Nexus 6 smartphone, and the service will be accessible in most U.S. cities, Google said in a blog. The company said it has an early access program that invite people to sign up for the service.

Fi is a program that explores new ideas, and by working with leading carriers and hardware makers, it can push the boundaries of what is possible, Google said.

Phones on the Fi service will switch between the two networks depending on which signal is stronger, and will be easier on subscribers' cellular bills.

To put it in perspective, for $20 a month, a user gets all the basics (talk, text, Wi-Fi tethering, and international coverage in 120 plus countries), and a flat $10 per GB for cellular data while in the U.S. and abroad. 1GB is $10/month, 2GB is $20/month, 3GB is $30/month, and so on.

Google said the service is pro rata; since it is hard to predict data usage, users will get credit for the full value of their unused data. For example, a user goes with 3GB for $30 and only use s1.4GB a month, then the user gets back $16.

With Fi, users' phone number lives in the cloud, so one can talk and text with the number on just about any phone, tablet or laptop.

The unveiling of Fi shows Google's eagerness to partner with telecommunication companies, and to some measure, also be a competitor.

In March, Sundar Pichai - senior vice president at Google overseeing Android, Chrome, and Google Apps - said the company would eventually roll out a wireless service. At that time, he said the service would be limited in scale and would not take on entrenched players such as Verizon Communications Inc (VZ) and AT&T Inc (T).