Google Fi introduces cheaper unlimited plan, offerings are getting confusing

When Google launched its MVNO carrier known as Fi, it had one unconventional plan now known as Flexible. It allowed you to pay for your wireless service in an “a la carte” fashion, only buying what you need.

In 2019, Google Fi added a new plan to the line-up, known as Unlimited. With the Unlimited plan, you paid a flat $70 fee for your service, allowing you to avoid monitoring how much data you’re consuming. Now, Google is rolling out a second unlimited plan called Simply Unlimited. Meanwhile, the previous Unlimited plan has now become Unlimited Plus.

Related: Live in a rural area of the US? Here are your best wireless carrier options.

That brings three wholly separate plan options to Fi: Simply Unlimited, Unlimited Plus, and the original Flexible. With three different plans, Google Fi appears to be stepping further away from its original intentions to become a fairly traditional MVNO.

Google Fi plans: What’s the deal now?

As of today, here are the Fi plans and the essential information you need on each one:

• Flexible: This is the original “a la carte” plan. You only pay for what you use.
• Simply Unlimited: This plan offers you unlimited data, voice, and text service across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It costs $60 each month before the usual taxes and fees.
• Unlimited Plus: The most premium Google Fi plan, as its name suggests, is the Simply Unlimited plan with some extras. It costs $70 each month and includes hotspot tethering and international calls and data on top of the unlimited data, text, and voice services.

Regardless of the plan you choose, you are still going to face throttling if you exceed 22GB of data in any one-month period. You also can get discounts if you add more lines to your account.

For more information on Google Fi, check out our explainer article.