Google’s Project Fi creates its own version of an unlimited plan now caps data bills at $60

Google’s Project Fi creates its own version of an unlimited plan now caps data bills at $60 Google’s Project Fi service is designed for those who would rather not pay a flat monthly fee for wireless service. Instead, users are only charged for the data they use.Google simply offered data at $10/GB/month and would give you a refund for any data you paid for but didn’t use. Now, however, it’s taking its own stab at what is essentially an unlimited data plan. With its new ‘bill protection’ feature, Project Fi users who use more than 6 GB of data in any given month will never pay more than $60 for that (plus the standard $20 for unlimited talk and text). A Google spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company also changed how the data billing for Fi works now. You now pay for the data you use at the end of the month, so there’s no need for refunds anymore. We have amended this post to reflect that. So now, you will simply pay for the data you use, but once you hit 6 GB of data, your overall cost for the month won’t go beyond that $60 limit. Because no unlimited plan is ever unlimited, Google, too, will slow your data speeds once you hit 15 GB of data. The company says only 1 percent of current Fi users actually use that much, but then that number may go up once you don’t have to pay $150 for using that much data. If you go over 15 GB, you can always opt to pay $10/GB to get faster speeds again (or, in Google’s word, “opt out of slower speeds”). The bill protection feature includes international data (which is always included) and also applies to data-only plans for laptops, tablets and cars. If you are on a group plan, the bill protection kicks in at different levels, depending on how many people are on your plan.There’s a lot to like in this new Project Fi plan. Even compared to T-Mobile, which has the simplest and most transparent pricing of any of the big four carriers, this is a simple and customer-friendly move. No existing Project Fi customer is going to pay more under this new pricing scheme, and adding certainty to your phone bill — no $300 shocks! — is a big selling point for customers these days. But the latest trend in cell plans is unlimited data, and from that perspective, Google’s system has always been expensive. No wireless plan you can get now is really “unlimited”: they all have deprioritization limits, after which your data speeds get throttled, that kick in somewhere between 20GB to 50GB. Those plans cost $60-$80 a month for a single line, which is a whole lot cheaper than the $200-$500 you’d have to pay Project Fi for the same amount of data. Project Fi Data Bill Caps Number of people in group plan When bill protection kicks in for group plan Calls, texts, and unlimited data 1 person 6 GB $80 2 people 10 GB $135 3 people 12 GB $170 4 people 14 GB $205 5 people 16 GB $240 6 people 18 GB $275]]>