My experience using Google Fi in 15 countries

International roaming for most carriers is either extremely slow or expensive. Google Fi offers a great value proposition for international travelers who want high-speed cellular data without paying an insane amount or deal with getting a new SIM or WiFi hotspot at each destination. I used Google Fi for 3 months visiting 15 countries and 19 cities and documented the internet speeds hoping to help anyone else who is considering doing the same but is unsure how well Google Fi works in reality.

As a quick overview, Google Fi offers international roaming in 200+ countries for $10/GB up to 6GB, anything over 6GB is free up to 15GB, at which point data speeds will be capped. With a $20 base plan covering unlimited calls and text in the U.S (additional charge for international calling), I paid $84.82 total per month when I maxed out my data. I used an iPhone XS for the speed tests below.

Speed Tests

[Left] Madrid, Spain [Middle] Marrakech, Morroco [Right] Athens, Greece

[Left] Dubrovnik, Croatia [Middle] Naples, Italy [Right] Amalfi, Italy

[Left] Rome, Italy [Middle] New York City, U.S [Right] Tokyo, Japan

[Left] Kyoto, Japan [Middle] Seoul, South Korea [Right] Xian, China

[Left] ChangZhou, China [Middle] Suzhou, China [Right] Shanghai, China

[Left] Taipei, Taiwan [Middle] Denpsar, Bali [Right] Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[Left] Singapore [Right] Dubai, United Arab Emirates

As you can see from the speed tests above, I was able to receive pretty decent speeds from most of the countries supported.

Issues

• Montenegro is supposed to be supported by Google Fi but I was not able to get any cellular connection as soon as we crossed the border
• I encountered spotty internet coverage in parts of Naples and Bali
• Network selection is automatic by default, but sometimes a bad provider can be chosen which can result in slow or no internet connectivity. I encountered this once in Malaysia

If you are getting slow or no internet with the current network provider, you can turn off automatic network selection temporarily and select a different one that works -

Conclusion

I hope this article has been helpful for determining whether Google Fi fits your use case, I personally recommend it as it has been invaluable for staying connecting while city/country hopping.