Good morning to you all.
I had been a VZW customer for over a decade, using phones from a RAZR to Blackberry to Android. iPhone's never appealed to me because I'm not trendy in that way and never thought a phone should cost half a month's salary. My approach to life is more utilitarian: things I use have a purpose and it isn't to impress others.
For the past year or so I had been looking at Google's Project Fi system because Big Red just annoys me. Last month I purchased, through the Google Project Fi website, a Moto X4 Android One phone. The previous phone I had been using was a Moto Z Play (1st gen) which I really like. The X4 was $250 new (plus taxes, fees, whatever) so to me was more of a budget phone that had pretty good reviews. Originally it was a $400 phone when it debuted around October 2017.
My personal assessment of the X4 is I like it. Android One is basically pure Android. Moto did add some of their apps to enhance the phone which I have liked including chopping to turn on the light or twisting to turn on the camera. Those of you that know Moto phones are familiar with their enhancements. This X4 is running Oreo 8.1, the latest (at this time) release of Android OS.
My personal assessment of the Project Fi network is mixed. Voice seems to work pretty much everywhere VZW does though I'm on a different network than VZW. Project Fi uses T-Mobile and Sprint networks (GSM vs CDMA for VZW). Data, on the other hand is spotty. The phone may show that I have LTE connected but I don't always have data access. Project Fi also automatically switches to WiFi which they "verify is fast and reliable." There's even a symbol at the top bar of the display that shows you're connected to one of these WiFi networks they've verified.
First major instance was I took my son to dinner at a restaurant near IH-35 and Parmer Lane in north Austin. A very busy area full of businesses and residential neighborhoods. Being right along a major interstate I figured I could easily check in to Yelp. Nope. The phone displayed LTE and 3 bars of signal but I had no data throughput.
Second major instance was at a local WalMart. My wife was looking for a specific item so I opened up their app on my phone and was going to search the item so the app would tell me which aisle it's in. The phone showed the symbol at the top stating I was connected to a "verified fast and reliable" WiFi but all I got was the spinning circle signifying no data was being exchanged.
There have been other minor instances of data not working but have been in outlying areas where cell coverage is weak at best.
I am not a heavy data user. If you are stay away from Project Fi because it's not designed for people like that but for light users like myself. Still, I want my data to work and it almost always did when on Verizon, not so much on Project Fi. For giggles I looked up my data usage for this billing period, which has 4 days remaining, and I've used just 0.68 GB. Stay under 1 GB and I pay just $10 for data on top of the $20 for service which comes to just $30 for the month (plus mandatory fees). When I was on VZW I think my average monthly data usage was around 2.5 GB's and service was about $70. With Project Fi you only pay for data you use unlike VZW where you pay for data ahead of time (even if you don't use all the data you pay for the best they do is rollover that unused portion to the next month). So for now this is about a 50% reduction in my cell bill.
Now take into account that Sprint is probably in their death throws as a carrier. They do not have enough capital to fund their business to stay competitive with the likes of AT&T or Verizon. T-Mobile is coming along but still isn't there yet. T-Mobile wants to purchase Sprint. As far as investment goes that's a risky deal as Sprint is literally dying a slow death. They have not gotten the spectrum needed to move forward for 5G like the other 3 major companies have and they can't invest money to upgrade their entire system to 5G to remain competitive because they're cash-strapped. Granted T-Mobile would inherit the infrastructure of Sprint towers and equipment (and spectrum licenses) which may be why they're trying to acquire Sprint.
That leaves me to: what is the future of Project Fi if it's tied to T-Mobile and Sprint? At least in central Texas where I live. Project Fi also uses US Cellular in other markets which isn't available where I am.
Looking ahead when I purchased the Moto X4 I knew it was unlocked and a SIM card change will make it work on any network so if I want I can go back to Verizon I can keep the X4. Afterall, it has a headphone jack!
Project Fi is an MVMO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) which means it piggybacks on someone else's system just like Cricket, Boost and other cheaper providers do. They are also treated as secondary and that means I have to wait to use data on T-Mobile's network after it provides data needs to T-Mobile customers first. That may have been the problem described in the "first major instance" I described. The area could have been saturated already with T-Mobile users and the system put me on hold until it had the time to get to me, being a secondary MVMO user.
My conclusion is I will most likely go back to Verizon (my wife is still using them) because being on an MVMO is not for me, mostly because of the data gaps. I like being a primary user on a network even though VZW's network gets overloaded sometimes around major functions like local college football games, etc. I had a hard time getting data at Circuit Of The America's during the MotoGP races a few years ago (the only time I went). VZW's network wasn't able to handle all the traffic. But that''s almost expected, at least slow downs for major events where possibly tens of thousands of people are trying to use a single cell tower for a weekend. It's still better than being on an MVMO where you may not get data even along the major interstate in a supposedly technology friendly city like Austin, TX. I'll give Project Fi one more billing cycle before decided to go back to Big Red (or even try AT&T again). Man I hated VZW's bloatware on their phones and ultra-slow updates to Android. At least with the X4 with Android One I'll get updates as quickly as Pixel phones no matter who I'm with.
