When I was in Berlin in 2019, T-Mobile canceled by International High Speed Roaming plan, claiming I was using too much roaming while traveling.
I switched to Google Fi, which has served me well since fall of 2019. But my dissatisfaction with their support from India and their surprise per call per minute billing of voice calls rerouted by Google Voice was starting to wear a little thin.
Now, according to articles on Reddit, Google is sending out many cancelation letters to digital nomads, turning off their International Mobile High Speed Data roaming in 30 days. I received mine today.
Their T&C’s do say the Google Fi is designed for use primarily in the United States and only occasional international travel. So, I have to find new high speed international data roaming at reasonable prices.
Last year, I ported my Google Voice number to iPlum, a VoIP provider which is downright inexpensive for the great service they offer. This stopped the behind-my-back rerouting of my voice calls from free to $0.20 per minute.
On iPlum try $4.99 a month for the line, with $0.01 per minute for calls back to the U.S. from overseas via any kind of data, Wi-Fi or Cellular.
Time to convert my iPhone 12 Pro Max to 100% data only, with no cellular voice or phone number assigned to my iPhone.
I will cancel Google Fi, where I am paying $20 a month for the line and port that number to iPlum as well, where it costs $4.99 for the line.
Now I need to find a replacement for Google Fi high speed cellular data roaming for situations when there is no free Wi-Fi nearby.
I found an eSIM provider called GigSky. They offer a pre-paid timed service. The Global Plan offers 5 GB of data for $59.99 for 30 days. The Latin American plan is $39.99 for 5 GB for 30 days.
The comparison to Google Fi is GigSky runs between $8 to $12 per GB prepaid, compared to a flat $10 a GB on postpaid GoogleFi. The advantage to Google Fi is being able to go over 5 GB in a month and get free, unthrottled data roaming. But GoogleFi requires that $20 per month line charge. But there was always the fear that Google Fi would cancel my international high speed data roaming.
Using a lot of roaming data lights up the robots at Google Fi, and they start looking at how much I am roaming internationally. Hence, the cancelation letter. I am OK with getting rid of Google Fi.
Anyone knows of any other global cellular data providers with high speed roaming for sale to digital nomads?
Looking for a company similar to GigSky, who do not care where I live and will never cancel my International Data Roaming simply for being away from home a long time.