The Switch to Google Fi

Not Google Fiber, which we would like to come to our little town, but Google Fi as in a WiFi capable cell phone.  We were with Republic for years and liked the service.  It ran on whatever WiFi you were on at the time and the calls, after the first one of the day, worked well.  If you went out of range of a signal, it would switch over to a Sprint tower and you'd be off and running...most of the time.  We switched to Republic from Sprint PCS after having them for over a decade and it saved us over $100/mo on our bill.  That $1200/year has been nice to have around.

Basic service from Republic was around $25 and with Google Fi it jumped to $35.  The phone we picked from Google Fi is a 32G Nexus 5X.  It functions just like the phones from Republic, but instead of just dumping onto Sprint, it checks to see whether a TMobile signal is stronger at your location and choses the stronger signal.

The thing that killed us with Republic was the limited phone offerings.  We had the 1st gen Motorola MotoX.  It was a pretty good phone a few years ago, but it came with so much bloatware that you didn't have much room for apps.  The DefyXT that we stared with was even worse.  These phones are aging and have suffered normal wear.  Mine even hit the ground a few times and the screen finally shattered.  To replace the screen/digitizer on my MotoX would cost as much as a new phone, but there are only two Motorola phones offered and neither of them are setting the world on fire.  Republic has been chirping about "new phones are coming" for a long while and only yesterday did they announce an official list of phones.  It contains some of the same units used on Google Fi, but the pricing seems about 20% higher and there's still not a hard date on when they'll arrive, just a sign-up for notifications.

We're pleased with the Google Fi service and the 5X, even though it does have that USBC cord that nobody else seems to use, but that's easily remedied with adapters.  I've already picked up a case for it so that I can hopefully guard against my own clumsiness.

It's a good service for kiddos who are earning their first phone.  CP does the dishes and cleans catboxes for her $25 phone payment every month and is looking forward to her latest hand-me-down phone.