Confirming reports late last night that Google would be launching its highly-anticipated wireless service today, the company has launched Google Fi. Combining the wireless services of Sprint and T-Mobile, Google intends to disrupt the wireless market in much the same way that it disrupted the cable and Internet market with Google Fiber. The services is currently invite-only and is limited to Nexus 6 users, but should it prove successful, you can expect it to expand at a much faster rate than Google Fiber has.
We knew it was coming, and now it’s here: Google Fi is the tech giant’s disruptive move into the wireless telecom market. Like many other Google projects before it, from Glass to Loon, it’s both experimental and innovative at the same time. The idea is simple: Sign up for Project Fi, and wherever you wander with your phone, it will automatically connect you to the fastest possible network. That could be a Google-approved public Wi-Fi spot; or it could be a 4G LTE link from one of its partners (Sprint and T-Mobile are on board to begin with). It’s a more advanced, more ambitious version of the cellular/Wi-Fi switching we’ve already seen from Sprint and T-Mobile, functionality that lets you seamlessly swap from one to the other. Google’s new service, promises to be more expansive than ever before. Project Fi goes beyond switching from Wi-Fi to cellular connections and back again, though. It also incorporates a truly cross-platform experience, where you can (for example) forget your phone at home and still make calls and texts from your work computer.
