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I've been reading through the forum and the Project Fi waiting room thread kind of touches on my subject but there is some digging that has to be done to find post about how their experience has been so far now that they are on the Fi Network...
I've been activated for about a week now. So far the service has been pretty good. I spend most of my days on WIFI so it's a good fit for me. I've only had a few issues so far.
1. My office is really big with many APs, when on a call and walking through the building it gets confused on what it should do. As my phone switches between APs it will move the call over to cell towers and then back to wifi and the end user says that I am cutting out really bad...
2. When I don't have WIFI available and connected to the sprint network I cannot use data and talk on the phone at the same time.. I guess this is what all sprint users currently deal with and is a limitation of technology but I've been with ATT for a long time and am not used to this. I don't believe its just because they are CDMA. Verizon has been doing this for a while now, correct?
3. If I'm connected to the sprint network and on a call then move to an area where tmobile has better service, when I get off of the call my service will go unavailable for multiple seconds while it disconnects and reconnects to the tmobile network.
4. Slowness to send and receive sms/mms to other carriers. This is not recreateable and is random.. Maybe 5% of the time.
5. Reduced daily battery life. Maybe 15%ish.. I think I was able to correct a lot of this by limiting background data.
I don't think this thread is duplicated but if it is point me to the correct location.
I've been activated since May 26. The only difference I notice between Fi and my previous carrier AT&T is the $50 I'm saving every month.
There were some minor hiccups at various points along the way. I had intermittent mobile data for about 48 hours and the first week for a couple days only Hangouts would ring, not the phone. Those problems are long gone now, though. As far as I'm concerned this is the best thing Google has done since Search.
Project Fi user (4 months)
Project Fi is something I wish everybody had a chance to experience. Honestly it is one of the best cell providers in the US. Customer service is amazing, the cell service is great, maybe a few things here and there, but an overall really good experience for this being a beta. Google is doing a really good job! Keep it up
Ive had Fi for 4 months, I live in a very rural part of Illinois. Service is great. I have a lot of 3g, but I am ok with that. I would never switch back to big red. Ive heard things about T-Mobile expanding more in my area so.. that would make my service even better..
I activated Fi in June and have had only minor issues related to network switching. They seem to have been resolved over time and I can't really see any difference in service than when I had TMO or VZW. I live in Orlando and don't travel extensively any more but coverage is more than adequate. And the savings are incredible.
I've had it for a couple months, and I'm satisfied with the service. I noticed my data drops out in certain areas when I'm driving, but it works fine at places I spend most of my time at.
My signal at home is only so-so, as far as internet goes, but that doesn't matter much, as I'm on wi-fi at home, anyway. One minor annoyance I've run into, however, is that occasionally my Fi signal seems to die completely for a brief period of time, and when it does, it crashes whatever app I'm in. It's often during a game (and with my luck, it's usually when I'm doing well...). But it's not a huge deal or anything.
I've been on Fi since early August. Came from Sprint "unlimited" plan, which was not doing me much good because I can't get decent Sprint data coverage at my workplace. And of course I use WiFi at home. So the addition of T-Mobile made a much better network for me. In fact, the switching algorithm keeps me on T-Mobile most of the time as I am out and about town.
Overall, I doubt that the sum of the Sprint and TMO network footprints match the coverage of Verizon. The question is: Is it good enough for you for the price? With one big caveat (see below), for me the answer is yes.
The switching is not perfect, especially on roadtrips. I believe there is a learning algorithm baked in, which includes localized geofencing. But while this improves things over time in routine places, I don't think it works so well the first time you go elsewhere. Gratefully, at least for now, there are leaked -- and not officially supported -- dialer codes to force switching between Sprint and TMO when you must.
Coming from unlimited makes for a paradigm shift because now I pay for cell network data by the megabyte. This is very cost-effective for someone who can stay on WiFi most of the time. I do, so my bills are very low. But if you cannot do that, and you are a heavy data user, this plan is not for you.
The big caveat for me right now is that Marshmallow reportedly breaks data service on TMO Band 12, which is what reaches into my office building with Lollipop 5.1.1. That is why I am in no hurry to upgrade to 6.0 unless and until this gets fixed. B12 coverage is increasingly a big deal for TMO's network footprint. So without it, much of the benefit of a dual network would go away.
I switched from t mobile unlimited. Whenever I'm on sprint on a call, data doesn't work so I manually force the phone to be on t mobile literally all the time which kind of defeats the purpose of having another network. I honestly don't think project fi is a significant improvement over just having t mobile. Adding sprint to fi is kind of like giving a crutch for a dwarf to a normal sized person. The reason I will stay on fi is because I don't believe Google well stop at t mobile and sprint only.
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Been on fi for a few months now and overall it's been great. My bill has been a couple of bucks less than my prepaid $30/mo tmobile plan. Even though sprint has fairly good coverage in my area, I mostly connect to tmobile networks.
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be happy with just the sprint network. Even though sprint has about the same # of cell towers in my area, signal strength between sprint towers seems to drop off rapidly compared to tmobile's towers. To be competitive, sprint needs to have more than twice the cell tower density to compare to tmobile's coverage. But it's still good to know I have sprint as a backup.
darthmtb said:
Project Fi is something I wish everybody had a chance to experience. Honestly it is one of the best cell providers in the US. Customer service is amazing, the cell service is great, maybe a few things here and there, but an overall really good experience for this being a beta. Google is doing a really good job! Keep it up
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I'd love to join Fi but t-mobile gave me such a good plan (grandfather discount). It will be a big lost if I leave.
I've been on Fi for about 5 months and have used it all over the US, South America, Europe and India. When roaming outside the US, it works exactly like the T-Mobile service it replaced. When I'm home and it runs on Sprint, it sucks. Phone doesn't ring and I miss texts. My service is actually better when I put the SIM card in a T-Mobile phone that can't switch to Sprint.
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i did sign up to fi, and got invited. and i did tell them j wanted to use fi. so they sent me a sim, and the "gifts". but i have no wifi at home, and i average about 25-40gb a month in data usage(tmobile, unlimited). i did the math in my head and it just didnt make any sense to me to switch. i definitely would, but the data costs are just to high. so i wrote them explaining about my data use, and they thanked me. and i havent been bugged by them in the last 2 months at all.
I'm on Verizon unlimited old plan and with great regret decided to try out Fi since they are increasing the price. I don't think anyone can match Verizon's network and I'm paying a reasonable $55 incl taxes. I wish I used more data, I hear people use 6-10GB on average on these unlimited plans, I guess I don't travel as much.
I am sort of afraid what Fi will mean since its after all a beta service. As an MVNO it is not price competitive, $10/GB is a lot for an MVNO to charge, Cricket is much better pricing, but I dont have their signal at home.
I'm glad to see the positive experiences with Fi. I ordered my Nexus 6 and Fi SIM card at lunch today and will activate Fi in a couple weeks once I get a credit back from T-mobile and can properly close my account with them. I'm looking forward to saving about $60 a month with Fi.
I've been activated since June. I came from T-mobile, so the change was all benefit for me in terms of coverage. I came from a Nexus 5 which doesn't have band 12 support. It was nice to be able to use T-Mobiles band 12 once I was on fi with the Nexus 6.
I rarely see sprint in my area, since T-Mobile is much better, but when I get out into the country, I have been connected to sprint where I used to have nothing at all. That's a plus. Also, sprint service allows roaming on Verizon 1x towers, and I have been connected to Verizon a few times.
I got a Fi invite instantly yesterday.
My N6 is stock unrooted Lollipop LMY48T, and uses my Verizon unlimited data SIM, my T-Mobile "WalmartPlan" $30 5gig SIM, or my cricket/aio prepaid SIM, depending.
I only use Google Voice through Hangouts for all my calls, so unlimited talk is not important to me.
If I order a Fi SIM, will I still be able to switch Sims freely or does the phone get locked to Fi only ?
I have heard some rumor that if I accept a Marshmallow OTA or sideload the M images, I will lose T-Mobile band12 LTE. Hope that is not true, since T-Mobile seems to be moving from band4 to band12 everywhere now.
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trent999 said:
I have heard some rumor that if I accept a Marshmallow OTA or sideload the M images, I will lose T-Mobile band LTE. Hope that is not true, since T-Mobile seems to be moving from band4 to band12 everywhere now.
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The loss of data on Band 12 has been reported by several users who flashed the Marshmallow build. Apparently the difference is in the radio module, because some of them have reported that Band 12 data service is restored by flashing back to one of the latest Lollipop radios on top of the new build.
We don't know if this is by design or a bug.
I have no personal experience myself because I remain on 5.1.1 build LYZ28M.
Seems like going to Marshmallow would be a huge problem for Fi users, then, unless Fi doesn't use band12 LTE?
For quite a while the Nexus6 was almost the only phone out that would support T-Mobile band12, except for a couple of Samsung's. Big part of why I bought mine.
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trent999 said:
Seems like going to Marshmallow would be a huge problem for Fi users, then, unless Fi doesn't use band12 LTE?
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Yes, it is a big open question right now. Google and Fi management have been silent about it. The issue may or may not be related to Google's need to certify the new Nexus devices for use on the TMO network directly (using T-Mobile SIMs). We don't know how these requirements relate to the Fi-TMO MVNO agreement, if at all.
It may be that there is just a bug in the Marshmallow 6.0 radio.
trent999 said:
If I order a Fi SIM, will I still be able to switch Sims freely or does the phone get locked to Fi only ?
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Several Verizon users have reported (a thread in Q&A section) difficulty returning to VZW from Fi.
So I returned my Designed by You DT2 to a V store and got a 32GB DT2 because my calls kept fading out according to people and clients I call. So now I'm having the same issue with the new DT2, so before I throw in the towel and completely return this device, I want to know if anyone else is having the same issue. Calls fading in and out.
I've reset my phone twice, and played around with the Advanced Calling feature by turning it both off and on. I'm just really bummed because I'm really liking this phone now.
Only use advanced calling if you live/work in a very strong LTE network.
elzeus said:
Only use advanced calling if you live/work in a very strong LTE network.
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Yeah I guess that is it. I guess for some reason I always thought it was on on my DT1. My 4G LTE coverage at my house (where I also work) is typically bouncing between 2-3 bars out of 5 bars of service.
Yeah I've noticed issues too. I got 2 bars in my house with both my DT2 and my old Moto X 2013. Although audio is choppy at best and some calls are dropped altogether with my DT2. I saw the same thing with the Nexus 5X I test drove though.
Advanced calling is a new feature for the Verizon network. I live in a major metro area and I have no issues. I am not always so lucky when I'm travelling. This is a limitation of the Verizon network. If you want simultaneous voice/data on the newer devices with a single radio, you need HD Voice enabled. Otherwise, if you'll need to switch carriers, or downgrade to an older device with dual radios. Unfortunately, there is no free lunch. Progress comes with transitional pains.
Martingitdave said:
Advanced calling is a new feature for the Verizon network. I live in a major metro area and I have no issues. I am not always so lucky when I'm travelling. This is a limitation of the Verizon network. If you want simultaneous voice/data on the newer devices with a single radio, you need HD Voice enabled. Otherwise, if you'll need to switch carriers, or downgrade to an older device with dual radios. Unfortunately, there is no free lunch. Progress comes with transitional pains.
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Yes it does!
Altogether I'm happy with my 32GB vs the Design Your Own 64GB simply because I have rather large micro SD cards...lol So I don't really care how much onboard storage I have. But it does suck having to learn this lesson the hardway, a little part of me was looking forward to the design refresh I'll admit, but it's not the end of the world. =)
I have a love/hate relationship with Verizon . My Note 3 is soon to be long in the tooth when marshmallow is more imperative than it is now, i'll likely buy a 6P. So , I am planning for a few months in the future. I l,ike the idea of buying a 6P to see if the stronger radio end my problems with verizon at home-- and if not i will move to t-moble or Fi.
1. are there any major advances hi tech verizon service that do not easily function on the 6p?
2. t-mobile's band 12, wifi calling and hi def will they are ultimately work well on the 6p?
when everything is a fixed as it will get, i will figure out what to do
i would appreciate thoughts and suggestion from those more knowledgeable then i am.
I'm currently on T-Mobile and band 12, WiFi calling, and HD voice all work on my Nexus 6P after the most recent 6.0.1 update. I can't comment on Verizon though since I'm not on that network.
I'm on verizon. I don't use visual voicemail, but I've read that people have had trouble with it. So if you use it, you might want to look into that. Otherwise, VOLTE (having LTE active while on a call) works great. I used to have a Note 3 and hated the signal strength that i had. With the 6p, signal's been great. I used to switch to 3g all the time at work and even at home sometimes. With the 6p, i've not had a single instance of it switching to 3g.
pipnmike said:
I'm on verizon. I don't use visual voicemail, but I've read that people have had trouble with it. So if you use it, you might want to look into that. Otherwise, VOLTE (having LTE active while on a call) works great. I used to have a Note 3 and hated the signal strength that i had. With the 6p, signal's been great. I used to switch to 3g all the time at work and even at home sometimes. With the 6p, i've not had a single instance of it switching to 3g.
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I have been using the 6P on Verizon for over a month now. Below are my thoughts:
1) Visual voicemail does not work, but you can use youmail or Google Voice without issues.
2) Signal has been outstanding. I came from the 6s plus which would drop to 3G all the time. This has not been an issue on the 6P.
3) VoLTE works flawlessly.
slimc84 said:
I have been using the 6P on Verizon for over a month now. Below are my thoughts:
1) Visual voicemail does not work, but you can use youmail or Google Voice without issues.
2) Signal has been outstanding. I came from the 6s plus which would drop to 3G all the time. This has not been an issue on the 6P.
3) VoLTE works flawlessly.
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I have a iPhone 6 Plus for work, also on Verizon. My 6p has been much better for signal strength.
Thanks.......
Bob in miami, fl
I have both a Verizon and T-Mobile SIM that I swap between my 6P and have no problems. I get band 13 and 4 on Verizon and bands 2, 4, and 12 on T-Mobile. I easily get around 100Mbps on both carriers. I don't use WiFi calling however.
does wifi calling on t-moble work with:
-t-mobile; or
-project Fi
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do t-mobile advanced features and band 12 work with project Fi?
i travel by car from miami, fl to orlando
-verizon has good coverage in the rural ares
-does t-mobile or project Fi have good coverage from pt st lucie to south of orlando eg yee haw junction[this is a real town]???
So far I have been using T-mobile and it has been outstanding (Actually T-mobile is better than AT&T's coverage) and when it hits, it switches to a different network with the roaming stuff. For the voicemail, there is an excellent app called youmail, which is better than the normal voice mail because you can customize a lot of stuff in it.
I was wondering what your guys experience has been with project Fi on this phone. If any of you have this service with your phone. Mine doesn't seem to be really good. Since Everytime I'm in the middle of doing something it switches carriers and makes my entire phone either lag or crash. So much for the "seem less" switching. But it is fast and does have signal everywhere so I'm very happy about that.
Just wanted to know everyone else's experience :good:
I just switched to Project Fi from AT&T, which I had been on for ages. Over 10 years. So far I really enjoy Project Fi. I haven't had any of the problems that you describe here. When I first got the phone it was on the T-Mobile network. I did a speed test on the 4G LTE and it scored over 30 Mbs down, so I was cool with that. On day two with the phone, the first time I went across town, the network switched to Sprint and never switched back to T-Mobile, even after I got back home. I speed tested Sprint 4G LTE and the speeds are basically the same as the T-Mobile results. I live in an area with good coverage on either network. I haven't traveled with the phone yet so I can't speak to how the coverage or switching works elsewhere.
I will say that I love the simplicity of how the cell phone plan is organized. Coming from AT&T, Project Fi's bill is like a breath of fresh air. There are many times that I use less that 2GB of mobile data in a billing cycle, and I am looking forward to the savings that I will be able to rake in because of that. So for myself personally, the service has worked 100% flawlessly, and I really enjoy the way the plan works. I am satisfied with Project Fi so far.
that seems weird. Been on project fi for over a year now and got a new sim when I got the XL. Works as good as it ever did. I would try calling support and/or getting a new sim. Its free; cant hurt
What you're reporting used to be one of the most common topics on the fi forum. Some people had two devices in the same household and one would stay on the weak network and the other would switch normally. In some cases it was people changing from one to another model, in others they and their spouse had different phones, and sometimes it was 2 of the same model right next to each other.
I never saw any resolution in the threads I looked at before. But I did look today and someone said you need a new sim when changing to a Pixel. If you've already done that, then nag support. Seems like they manage to tweak the algorithms over time so that the phones do a better job at network switching.
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/project-fi/BfnwynJrT3E;context-place=forum/project-fi
I am testing it against ATT right now and have been in Europe for 10 days no. Very high marks over here in Germany and Italy. Coming back to US and driving from Maine to Texas with both ATT on the 6p and Fi on the Pixel. If all is well, I am switching to Fi. US Cellular is better in Maine than ATT. I think they will be equal on the interstates driving to TX. If so, on to Fi.
My signal is better on the Pixel XL compared to my 6P.
Went from Tmobile to Fi and coverage wise its as good if not better. I havent had any connection issues. The only "issue" i have now is I actually have to be mindful of how much data I use. Thats new to me as prior to tmo i had unlimited on Sprint. I dont use a ton of data but if I use 2-3GB I might as well go back to tmobile where I dont have to worry about my usage. After 3GB per month I end up spending more on Fi also. Right now im at like 400MB with 17 days to go. However things I took for granted like streaming music and youtube are things I try and avoid now which kind of sucks.
I really hope that at some point they offer a competitive unlimited plan, otherwise I may not stay long.
I'm planning on switching from Verizon. I'll be using both devices old and new for a month side by side before I cancel my Verizon and move over. I'll save on average about $30/mo, making my Pixel purchase $0 out of pocket with financing.
I've been on Fi since i got my pixel. Honestly love it more than verizon (previous service). although i never seem to be on any other carrier other than tmobile where i live. Only time it is switched is inside the place i work and it goes to Sprint.
Switched to Fi when I got my p-hone, have had sprint, AT&T, tmo and Verizon before, all for at least a year. Had 0 problems with the service, have a long commute through some rural areas that had poor/no reception and now I can keep a call connected, Pandora on through all of the areas I wasn't able to before
Xt51 said:
I was wondering what your guys experience has been with project Fi on this phone. If any of you have this service with your phone. Mine doesn't seem to be really good. Since Everytime I'm in the middle of doing something it switches carriers and makes my entire phone either lag or crash. So much for the "seem less" switching. But it is fast and does have signal everywhere so I'm very happy about that.
Just wanted to know everyone else's experience :good:
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Works great for me. I've had Fi for about 1.5 years and I've taken it everywhere, Europe and to many states in the US and it works well everywhere. It rarely loses the signal. It switches networks of course but usually that's quick. Sometimes it takes 30 seconds or so if you are on the highway but that's the longest it takes to switch. Overall Fi gets an A from me:good:
The back story is that I bought 2 of the Max 2 phones, one x820 and one x822, one of which was supposed to be grey, but the seller screwed up and sent a rose gold. So I have two in that color. The wife fell in love with her phone, and I really liked the build quality, as I have broken lesser phones. Otherwise, I probably would have dumped them and bought something else.
So here's what I have found so far:
AT&T: If you are in an area with good coverage (multiple towers or access points), these phones will probably serve you well. In my case, I was not so lucky. My home usage is in an area that is too close to the only tower in my area. You read that correctly, I am too close to a tower. Full bars, but unable to make or receive a call on 3G. And if you happen to share my unfortunate circumstance, then there are no options to make the phone work for you, with the exception of a microcell, which has very limited range in such a situation. No WiFi calling, and while LTE works perfectly, no VoLTE on AT&T with this phone makes this a non-starter. If you can work within the limitations of the network, any of the available ROMS will likely work well.
T-Mobile: This is the best carrier I have found for this phone, if you are not concerned with the lack of LTE in areas where T-Mobile does not have native coverage. You must also enroll in a pre-pay and autopay plan, to make sure that you will not be billed roaming charges in these areas. While I am still in an area served by AT&T, T-Mobile offers WiFi calling features which actually work with the US 16s ROM on my two phones. Not only does it work, but it works well, with HD call quality between two capable devices. Call quality is even improved by the WiFI calling to standard devices. This solved my issue of the phones not working in my home location, and they still work fine on the AT&T network (used by T-mobile for roaming) a couple hundred meters from the problem area. I also recently visited an area served natively by T-Mobile, and the experience was even better. Fast LTE data, and unlike AT&T, when a call is made while connected to LTE, it does not drop to 3G. The phone stays on LTE and VoLTE works great. Even when calling landlines, and other non-VoLTE capable phones, the phone stays locked onto LTE frequencies. Again, with the US 16s ROM. Until developers can incorporate WiFi calling and VoLTE as implemented by this ROM, it's really the only option if you need both of these features. VoLTE may work with T-Mobile on other ROMS, but you may experience issues in some areas while roaming off of their network.
So I have finally found a workable solution which allows me to keep and make good use of my X820 and X822 phones, and that was switching to T-mobile. I feel that this company is simply structured better to support unlocked, lesser known phones. And based on my limited data usage, I'll probably even save $20 a month (bonus.)
A lot of this information is scattered through multiple threads, but I thought it might be a good idea to have a dedicated thread to discuss or share real experiences with carriers in the US for the x820, X822, x829, etc... phones. It would be particularly interesting to know if someone has actually been able to use these phones on the Verizon or other CDMA networks with a SIM card. All of this info will be helpful to others.:good:
Thank you very much for your feedback.
I recently purchased an X829 that arrived with the modified US 5.8.16 rom, and i have been seriously considering installing either the latest indian rom, or one of the custom eui roms (Cuouco92, SmallEUI... Etc), but the possibility of losing VoLTE and Wifi Calling, has stopped me from doing it, since it works so well for me with T-mobile.
I am interested to find out about Verizon 4G as well, several sites are reporting that it will work, but I need someone to confirm it from a 1st hand experience.
My Lenovo Zuk Z2 is working on VZN 4G with no issues.
Trentbg were you able to figure out if Verizon works on the le max 2?