You can now sign up for Project Fi, Google’s first foray into offering its own cell phone service, without an invite.
The service, which launched ten months ago, was an invite-only project until now — though getting an invite wasn’t all that hard. Starting today, anybody in the U.S. can simply sign up for the service without having to jump through any additional hoops.
To promote the service, Google is also making its Nexus 5X phones available for $199 — that’s $150 off its current retail price — for the next few months (assuming you buy and activate it through Project Fi).
With Fi, which runs on the networks of T-Mobile and Sprint — depending on which one offers better receptions in a given area — customers pay a base fee of $20 per month and then an addition $10 per GB of data.
If you overpay for your data in a given month, the service simply refunds you the difference.
Unlimited domestic calls and texts, WiFi tethering, (3G) data coverage in 120+ countries, as well as international texts are also included in the plan.
Google says more than 15 percent of its customers have used Project Fi abroad already.
The biggest drawback, though, is that Fi is only supported on Google’s own Nexus phones (the 6P, 5X and Nexus 6). There have been reports that it also works with a few other unlocked phones, but your mileage may vary (and you won’t be able to switch between networks).
Fi also works on a number of LTE-enabled tablets, including the LTE versions of the current Nexus tablet line-up, as well as a number of modern iPads and Samsung tablets.