Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
Google Fi could disrupt the mobile industry in more ways than one. For starters, the new carrier will only charge customers for the data they use. Most carriers charge customers a flat rate. Combine that with no contracts and a bill as low as $30 a month, and companies like Verizon and AT&T may face some stiff competition.
Fi piggybacks on T-Mobile and Sprint’s networks, connecting to whichever signal is strongest. Ryan Knutson covers the telecommunications industry for the Wall Street Journal. He tells Take Two that, if the service becomes widely available, it could be a game changer.
“Consumers [could] start pressing on their carriers, saying, ‘hey, why do I have to buy a big data bucket when I don’t even use it half the time? Why can’t I just pay for exactly the service that I use?’ And carriers might have to respond.”
For now, the service will only be available for owners of the Nexus 6.
Press the play button above to hear the Wall Street Journal’s Ryan Knutson talk about Google Fi’s potential impact on the smartphone industry.