Last year I tried to use Google Fi in China but was shut off immediately (because I purchased it the day before traveling).
If I buy it now, use it for a bit, and then travel to China in a month or so, will it still be shut off?
Thanks!
It worked for me last time I was there in December 2019
Say you’re planning to use it for 2 weeks in China. I would make sure you have a month of use in the Sates first.
Fi’s current terms uses wording that the majority of use needs to be domestic over a 90-day period. From a math perspective what that means is if you use it domestically for 46 days prior to international use, you can get up to 44 days of uninterrupted international data. Functionally or practically we don’t really know if Google imposes secondary restrictions, like an actual data usage breakdown, meaning if you activate domestically but don’t have meaningful domestic usage, they can, at their own discretion, allow less or even no international use. It seems like fewer and fewer cases of trying to exploit Fi’s more liberal international usage rules end up working.
It works every time I visit. No problems
If you activate service in the next couple of days, you should be fine.
I’ve been using Google Fi for 2-4week trips to China since 2017. It’s worked well for me every time. Given, I only stay in large cities so I can’t speak to more rural areas.
Worked. There right now.
Funny how Google Fi works in China, but Google is banned by the Great Firewall.
Works well. WiFi spots will show not connected though they will work. As other mentioned it is the firewall
I was there in January and it worked fine
Against TOS so nobody can guarantee but if you have it for a few months, it should be okay for a short trip.
If you didn’t want to risk it not working due to account newness, check out Fonus
I lived in China for years and used Fi. The catch was after six months they cut off my data, but I could still call and send SMS for years after.
if youre buying fi just for travel and not use in the states at all… youre at risk of getting service suspended due to breach in ToS. majority of your service needs to be in the United States unless you or family member is in the military.
You need like a minimum 24hours from activation within the primary usa for roaming services to be usuable. If in a 90 day span the majority use of service is outside usa there is a likely chance of data suspension and it may occur even faster if you use alot of international data in a short time.
having a international data plan on any network for a long period is costly so i’d suggest getting a local sim card when youre abroad for primary data service
i am majority of the time in korea and sometimes in japan and the rest in usa. my korean sim i pay only 21usd per month for 15gb of 5g data and 300minutes calling and 200 sms/text. I still have google fi active all the time and it forwards calls from my other line and i am able to receive 2fa text messages through another sms forwarding app.
2019 it worked and I did not need a VPN unless I switched to a WiFi data connection. Side note Google maps was horrible over there since they are in a pissing match with China, Apple maps at least showed the bus route numbers on my friends phone. I was on an android with Fi.
Make sure you activate the device in the US and use fi services for 24 hours inside the US primarily and contact Google fi support and ask if there are international restrictions on your Fi account. if there is not, you’re good to use in China without any issues for a month or two. I work in Google fi
It’s much, and I mean much, cheaper to get a HK roaming SIM than Fi.
3 HK has prepaid roaming eSIM for mainland and east asia. Look into these first I’d say.
Would you be willing to update on what method you went with? I too, am a Google Fi user about to head to China in September.
It worked, you just have to have the Fi Unlimited Plus plan. Make sure you set up an always on VPN before you go, don’t download any of their apps, and you should be fine.