Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. News

Google Fi temporarily increases data limits to 30GB per month

Christian de Looper
By

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.

Recommended Videos

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.

Related

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.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper
Contributor
Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…
Google Fi: Phones, plans, pricing, perks, and more explained
project fi

In 2015, Google launched Project Fi, a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) compatible with Nexus and Pixel smartphones (and the Motorola Moto X4). Three years later, the company announced the project had been brought directly under Google's branding with a name change to "Google Fi." Since then, Google's MVNO has gone from strength to strength, and today, it is compatible with the majority of Android devices, and it even works with iPhones.

Here's everything you need to know about Google Fi, including plan pricing, phones that are compatible with Google Fi, and more.
Google Fi at a glance

Read more
T-Mobile lures subscribers with 500GB of Google One cloud storage for $5 a month
T-Mobile smartphone.

Starting October 12, T-Mobile and Sprint customers are eligible for a new and exclusive plan that will allow them to pay $5 a month for 500GB of Google One cloud storage.

The plan, announced Monday morning, allows for cloud backups of photos, videos, and contacts; extra storage for services such as Google Drive and Gmail; file storage and access from any compatible device; and the ability to share the extra storage with up to five additional people, who don't all necessarily have to be on the same T-Mobile account.

Read more
ZTE Axon 30 Ultra vs. Google Pixel 5: Head-to-head comparison
The app display on the ZTE Axon 30 Ultra

The ZTE Axon 30 Ultra is a seriously powerful smartphone for its price. At only $749, it still provides the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, a big 6.67-inch AMOLED screen with a 144Hz refresh rate, a long-lasting 4,600mAh battery, and a quad-lens rear camera. It's a phone to take seriously if you're in the market for a new Android phone, even if the lack of 5G support (in the United States) and wireless charging is less than ideal. But it isn't the only impressive smartphone in its price bracket, and top of the list of its rivals must surely be the Google Pixel 5, which for $699 gives you one of the best cameras around, as well as great software, decent performance, a sharp OLED screen, and an endurable battery.

So which one is best? To answer this question, we put the ZTE Axon 30 Ultra and Pixel 5 through their paces, weighing them up in a head-to-head comparison test. We examine their specs, designs, displays, performance, cameras, and special features, putting all of these areas together to find out which is the better reasonably priced Android overall.
Specs

Read more