Gadgetory

hello everybody I'm Lynne la for Xena and today we're going to take a closer look at Google project fly launched on April 2015 project Phi is a tech giant's take on a mobile wireless service it enables you to make calls send text and surf the Internet by default it uses local Wi-Fi networks the same kind you have set up at your home or find in a coffee shop or airport because some Wi-Fi spots are public Google promises to encrypt your data so it is secure if Wi-Fi coverage is unavailable or too weak you'll automatically and seamlessly be switched to either Sprint or t-mobile cellular network for now you can only use project fly on Google's flagship handset the Nexus 6 that's because there's a specialized radio inside the phone that supports multiple cell networks and it works with a unique project by SIM card that has multiple carrier support as well part of the services appeal is it's easy to understand pricing structure the base cost is $20 a month which gets you unlimited calls and texting in the u.s. unlimited international texting in the US to 120 and more countries and Wi-Fi tethering if you want data that costs $10 a gig per month so for example if you sign up for four gigs that'll cost $40 bringing your total monthly bill to $60 whatever data you don't use at the end of the month gets refunded back to you if you end up using 3.1 out of the allotted four gigs this month that means you have nine hundred megabytes left over and you get nine bucks back now some of our own preliminary testing has shown varying data download rates have ranged from 3 to 13 megabits per second while upload rates range from 1 to 18 megabits per second of course take these results with a grain of salt data speeds vary widely for a number of reasons including location and time of day what we're observing here is just a miniscule sample size in our San Francisco offices now Google isn't alone in its wireless endeavors carriers like republic Wireless and scratch Wireless offers similar services with the former charging $10 a month for talk techs and Wi-Fi and $15 per gig of data Google has described project Phi not necessarily as a competition to its carrier partners but rather an ongoing experiment that will hopefully push these companies to offer cheaper and more efficient services if you're interested in experiencing project 5 for yourself you'll need to go online and request an invite and for more information on this and other tech news be sure to check out cnet.com