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Since its launch in April 2015, Project Fi, Google’s mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), hasn’t offered a particularly wide selection of devices — the list initially included no more than Nexus- and Pixel-branded smartphones. But that’s changing. The Mountain View company announced today that the Lenovo Moto G6, LG G7 ThinQ, and the LG V35 ThinQ will join the expanding Project Fi family and will be sold from the Project Fi website.
“[O]ne of the top requests that we hear is for more choices of Fi-friendly phones,” Google said in a statement. “While these phones run the gamut of prices and features, they have a few things in common: large screens, portrait mode-equipped cameras, expandable storage, and of course Project Fi.”
The Moto G6 is available from Project Fi starting today for $199 ($50 off MSRP), with the LG G7 ThinQ and LG V35 ThinQ to follow in the coming weeks priced at $749 and $899, respectively. Folks who preorder either the G7 or V35 will receive $50 in bill credits.
The trio of phones joins the Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 2, Pixel XL, Pixel, and Motorola Moto X4 among the list of Fi-compatible devices. Those are in addition to tablets supported by Project Fi’s data-only SIM cards and unlocked GSM phones that aren’t technically supported but that can connect to T-Mobile’s cellular network via Project Fi.
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Project Fi, which is available in more than 170 markets and starts at a flat rate of $20 per month for unlimited calls and texting and $10 per gigabyte (GB) of data, is one of the few wireless carriers that refunds subscribers for the data they don’t use. (If a customer burns through 3.5GB of a 4GB plan, for example, they’re credited the remaining 0.5GB.) It’s built on the backs of three different cellular networks — U.S. Cellular, T-Mobile, and Sprint — which Project Fi-compatible phones can switch between depending on factors like signal strength and network congestion.
Project Fi’s other perks include 4G LTE international data and text messaging in more than 135 countries around the world, including France, Italy, Russia, Spain, and more at no additional cost, and Wi-Fi Assistant, a background service that connects to “more than a million” public hotspots automatically and facilitates Wi-Fi calling via a Google-hosted virtual private network. Google introduced group plans, which start at $15 per user per month, in October 2016, and more recently rolled out bill protection, which caps overages at 6GB of data per month on single-line plans (subscribers who exceed the limit pay a flat $80).
