Project Fi Bill Protection Caps Bills, Throttles Heavy Data Users

Google is rolling out an interesting new feature called Bill Protection to Project Fi subscribers today. Bill Protection seems to be Google's take on unlimited data plans from the big four, which were all launched early last year in quick succession. There are, of course, a few difference between Project Fi's Bill Protection and unlimited data plans from the other carriers, and those might make a jump to Project Fi worth it.

Before we dive into what Bill Protection entails, let's go through a quick refresher of what Project Fi already offers. Subscribers to Project Fi pay $20 a month for unlimited calls and texts, then $10 for every 1GB of data used each month. This has been well received by subscribers, as you pay less during months that you don't use a lot of data.

With Bill Protection, you'll still pay $10 per gigabyte until you reach 6GB of usage. After that, you'll stop being charged $10 per gigabyte, but you'll still be able to use high-speed data. This essentially caps your bill at $80 each month, helping you keep your monthly phone bill under control even if you're a relatively heavy data user.

So, what's the trade-off? As always, we come to that word no one is particularly fond of: throttling. If you're using Bill Protection and you use more than 15GB in a single month, data speeds after that first 15GB will be throttled. This threshold is different depending on how many users you have on your plan, as Project Fi's bill calculator shows us.

You can avoid getting throttled by opting out of Bill Protection and paying the standard 10GB a month for each gigbyte you use, but that only seems necessary if you're a heavy data user month-in and month-out. Google says that Bill Protection applies to all Project Fi data, whether that's domestic, international, or the product of a data-only SIM card. Bill Protection is rolling out today to all Project Fi subscribers, and you'll see it kick in on your next billiong cycle.