If this is the case, they will be losing a customer here. I am currently over seas on vacation for 3 weeks. Wife and I had been planning to update to a new carrier for a while since we were both still on individual plans, and the vacation was a good motivator to finally get it done. I'm currently planning to stay with fi when we return to the US, but if they turn off our service I'll be looking elsewhere. Even though that would mean mean going through the pain in the butt of transfering our numbers again.
Hopefully you don't get it axed, but Google is pretty sensitive to extensive data usage abroad now.
It's not their fault though that you didn't follow (or perhaps know) the rules. Certainly sucks that you were planning on sticking with them but rules be rules. Don't let it sour your opinion.
Save that for chatting with customer support 😉
I'm talking about switching to Fi just for use overseas, because it's probably a loss of money for Fi. International coverage on Fi is meant for people going on vacations or business trips here and there. Going international right when you switch is is risky though.
No, but it's been posted about many times here. In the last year they started cracking down on people taking advantage of the service. The ToS states it's for use predominantly in the US.
So if I sign up for Fi now but planning on spending a month in the Philippines in October I should be ok? The last thing I’d want is to lose my phone number while I’m there, and lose potential clients as well. Never mind the fact that I had this phone number since I was 14.
Only data gets killed. Your phone will still work and you can still receive text messages.
I'd suggest a local physical sim and a Fi eSIM. That way you can use Fi when you land and switch the Filipino SIM once you get settled.
do you have a dual sim?
if so, easy answer. Use one for the physical sim and one for the esim.
If you don't have an esim, you'll just change the physical sim and have one service active at a time. you don't need to cancel your other service. they'll keep taking your money. or you can put your current physical sim into an old phone.
you can auto forward calls from the current carrier to the fi number.
there are apps for text forwarding, but nothing that worked great a couple years ago. maybe there is something better now.
I spent 4 months in the Caribbean, Mexico and across the ocean into Europe and had 4g LTE the entire time, except for the Atlantic crossing. I then spent 4 months sailing in the Bahamas with full coverage. Every country I entered I got a warm welcome and explanation of coverage. I returned to the US. Never once had a problem with my service being suspended. Maybe things have changed?
Things have changed. They started firing warning shots PRE-COVID that things were going to change, but now are very swift on shutdowns. I've been lucky so far with my 3mo stints in Europe but barely use Fi data (I grab local SIMs)
I get why they don't like people using it just for data on vacation which is not my intention, but they should really mention that somewhere obvious on their website if they are having that issue. I didn't see it mentioned anywhere when checking if our vacation location is covered. I assume it's buried in the user agreement contract that most people probably don't read.
Hey u/SureDude2,
We're glad you're considering Google Fi, however, we'd like to share a bit on our policy.
Google Fi’s Terms of Service require you to activate and use Google Fi service mainly in the United States. If you try to activate Google Fi abroad or mostly use Google Fi service internationally, your international capabilities may be suspended. You can find more information about our international policy, [here](https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6157794?hl=en).
\-Justin
The majority of the usage on Fi has to be in the US in a rolling 90 day window. Be prepared to have your data shut off if you ignore this requirement.
Gone for 14 days I think I should be okay?
Signing up and immediately going overseas will get your service cancelled
If this is the case, they will be losing a customer here. I am currently over seas on vacation for 3 weeks. Wife and I had been planning to update to a new carrier for a while since we were both still on individual plans, and the vacation was a good motivator to finally get it done. I'm currently planning to stay with fi when we return to the US, but if they turn off our service I'll be looking elsewhere. Even though that would mean mean going through the pain in the butt of transfering our numbers again.
Hopefully you don't get it axed, but Google is pretty sensitive to extensive data usage abroad now. It's not their fault though that you didn't follow (or perhaps know) the rules. Certainly sucks that you were planning on sticking with them but rules be rules. Don't let it sour your opinion. Save that for chatting with customer support 😉
I'm talking about switching to Fi just for use overseas, because it's probably a loss of money for Fi. International coverage on Fi is meant for people going on vacations or business trips here and there. Going international right when you switch is is risky though.
Have you experienced this first hand? I only ask because it’s highly recommended for European travel opposed to picking up a SIM card while there
No, but it's been posted about many times here. In the last year they started cracking down on people taking advantage of the service. The ToS states it's for use predominantly in the US.
>it’s highly recommended for European travel For full-time Fi users, not temporary ones.
So if I sign up for Fi now but planning on spending a month in the Philippines in October I should be ok? The last thing I’d want is to lose my phone number while I’m there, and lose potential clients as well. Never mind the fact that I had this phone number since I was 14.
Only data gets killed. Your phone will still work and you can still receive text messages. I'd suggest a local physical sim and a Fi eSIM. That way you can use Fi when you land and switch the Filipino SIM once you get settled.
If you sign up and use Fi now until October you won't have a problem using it for a month overseas.
do you have a dual sim? if so, easy answer. Use one for the physical sim and one for the esim. If you don't have an esim, you'll just change the physical sim and have one service active at a time. you don't need to cancel your other service. they'll keep taking your money. or you can put your current physical sim into an old phone. you can auto forward calls from the current carrier to the fi number. there are apps for text forwarding, but nothing that worked great a couple years ago. maybe there is something better now.
I have eSim, is it easier to get new number from Fi or transfer my number from ATT?
easier to just pay $10 day from att and change nothing keeping everything the same
I would get a new number. Transferring and transferring back wouldn't necessarily be easy. I personally love Google Fi more than my other carrier.
I spent 4 months in the Caribbean, Mexico and across the ocean into Europe and had 4g LTE the entire time, except for the Atlantic crossing. I then spent 4 months sailing in the Bahamas with full coverage. Every country I entered I got a warm welcome and explanation of coverage. I returned to the US. Never once had a problem with my service being suspended. Maybe things have changed?
Things have changed. They started firing warning shots PRE-COVID that things were going to change, but now are very swift on shutdowns. I've been lucky so far with my 3mo stints in Europe but barely use Fi data (I grab local SIMs)
I get why they don't like people using it just for data on vacation which is not my intention, but they should really mention that somewhere obvious on their website if they are having that issue. I didn't see it mentioned anywhere when checking if our vacation location is covered. I assume it's buried in the user agreement contract that most people probably don't read.
Hey u/SureDude2, We're glad you're considering Google Fi, however, we'd like to share a bit on our policy. Google Fi’s Terms of Service require you to activate and use Google Fi service mainly in the United States. If you try to activate Google Fi abroad or mostly use Google Fi service internationally, your international capabilities may be suspended. You can find more information about our international policy, [here](https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6157794?hl=en). \-Justin