You can call Google the jack of all trades — search engine, browser, mobile platform, maps, wallet, email client, cloud services and Internet service provider, to name a few, and now you can add wireless service provider to its growing list of services.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, Google unveiled its wireless service called Project Fi in hopes of unburdening consumers from paying too much for the mobile data they use. So how does this new wireless service work, and is it something service providers need to worry about?

Pay for only what you use

Traditional wireless plans require subscribers to pay a set amount to get access to a certain amount of data per month, such as paying $50 a month for 1GB of 4G LTE data and unlimited data, but at a lower speed, plus unlimited talk and text. Not everyone can consume 1GB of 4G LTE data, so some of these wireless service providers now offer a rollover feature wherein unused data will be rolled over to the next month’s allotted data. This allows customers to pay the same monthly amount but have more data to use.

For Google’s wireless service, it will only allow customers to pay for the amount of data they actually use each month. If they are not heavy-data users, they can save up to $200 each year, which according to a report from Validas, is the typical amount being wasted on unused data.

Will this cause problems for network carriers?

According to Sundar Pichai, Google’s senior vice president of products, the wireless service will be rolled out as a small scale experiment and is not intended to disrupt the wireless industry. Also, Google will be paying T-Mobile US, Inc. and Sprint Corp. to carry its traffic and allow people to switch between the two services depending on which one has the stronger signal. Subscribers will also be able to use Wi-Fi networks to route phone calls and data, which can further reduce their bill. This part may be what could causes trouble for other network carriers.

Availability

For now, Project Fi will only be available for the Nexus 6, Google’s latest smartphone offering, which was created in collaboration with Motorola. Google cites software and hardware requirements that are unique to device as the reason for the limited availability of the service.

The Nexus 6 features a 6” Quad HD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core 2.7GHz processor, Adreno 420 GPU, 13MP primary camera and 2MP front camera. It comes with a 3220 mAh battery and is available in 32/64GB storage sizes. Despite being available only for use on the Nexus 6, the service will be available in 120 countries but not all of them will be offering 4G LTE speeds.

Pricing

For $20 a month, subscribers will get unlimited talk, text, Wi-Fi tethering and international coverage in 120+ countries and an additional $10 per GB of cellular data while in the U.S. or abroad. You pay $10 per month for 1GB of data or $20/month for 2GB of data and so on. The price hikes up an additional $10 for every GB of data you consume. The great thing about this is you pay for 3GB of data, which is $30 per month, but if you only use 1.4GB for the month, you only get charged for what you consumed ,which means you get $16 back.

photo credit: Michael Kwan (Freelancer) via photopin cc