As expected, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) unveiled its "Project Fi" MVNO yesterday. For $20 per month plus taxes and fees, the service offers access to around 1 million U.S. Wi-Fi hotspots and unlimited domestic voice and texting, as well as unlimited international texting and low-cost international calling in more than 120 countries. Customers pay $10 per GB of data on top of that. At the end of the month, Google will credit users for their unused data, so that customers only pay for what they use.
Those are the basics. But there are some questions about how Project Fi handles voice calls, and it only works on one device for now, the Google-designed Nexus 6, which costs $649. Customers with that phone also need to receive an invitation from Google to join. So, is this a game-changing service for the industry, or just another ho-hum attempt by Google to get into the game? FierceWireless Editor Phil Goldstein provides a full analysis of the move and what it means.