Google Fi wants to do its part during the coronavirus pandemic. The carrier has announced a number of measures aimed at helping those stuck at home and relying on fast internet speeds.
For starters, the company will now extend its grace period to 60 days, allowing those having trouble paying their bills to continue to get access to their phone plan. This policy is effective as of March 1.
Perhaps more important, however, is the fact that Flexible and Unlimited plans will now give customers 30GB of data before users are throttled to 2G speeds or they pay an extra $10 per gigabyte. Previously, the Flexible plan capped out at 15GB before throttling set in, while the unlimited plan offered 22GB.
Google Fi is also quick to note that support channels are a little limited right now, considering the fact that they’re operating with limited staff.
According to Google, these changes are temporary — however it hasn’t announced a specific date for when the plans will return to normal. Presumably, the carrier will wait until the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is over.
Google Fi isn’t the only carrier to announce perks for its customers during this period. The now Big Three carriers — AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile (which now includes Sprint) — have all announced offers of their own. For example, AT&T has lifted data caps, and is offering a new $15-per-month plan, while T-Mobile launched a new $15 5G plan. Verizon announced that it would give customers extra data.
Google Fi itself relies on the T-Mobile, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular networks, and essentially only charges customers for the data that they use, at a rate of $10 per gigabyte. Of course, that could quickly add up if you’re a heavy data user — but the carrier also offers a bill protection feature, where the price is capped at $60 for the month. In other words, after you pay for 6GB of data, you can use as much data as you want without being charged extra. Previously, the limitations were that you would be throttled to 2G speeds after 15GB of data on the Flexible plan, or 22GB on the Unlimited plan — however as mentioned, those limits have now been lifted to 30GB for both plans. Customers can also save money by adding more lines.
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