Owning a smartphone in the U.S. does mean having to make a choice between which carrier you will go with. As well as competing with each other on the price of their plans, carriers also compete with specific promotions geared towards the latest smartphones. After all, taking advantage of carrier smartphone promotions is sometimes the most affordable way (in the short term) to pick up a new smartphone. However, Google looked to somewhat change the status quo by announcing they were entering the carrier business with the launch of their Project Fi network. A service designed to offer more affordable plans and plans which are based on your actual level of usage.
At the time, this was particularly big news although once the details started to come through it became a little less relevant to a number of Android smartphone owners due to the restrictions in place. This was not actually Google acting as a carrier but instead Google adopting an MVNO status and combining the networks of T-Mobile and Sprint to form the basis of their network. Not to mention, that you also had to own one of the latest Nexus devices to make use of the service and also had to get an invite to even be able to test out the service to begin with. Aspects which immediately reduced its appeal to a number of consumers.
Since then though, Google has lifted the need for an invite a little, by occasionally opening up invites and now it seems Google is looking to take Project Fi to the next level, as they have today confirmed that invites are now gone forever. As a result, anyone interested can now order a Project Fi SIM to test out the network without having to worry about getting an invite first. Although, it seems you do still need to have one of the more recent Nexus smartphones to use the SIM. That said, Google also today announced that they will be dropping the price of the Nexus 5X to only $199 for the next month to celebrate the next step in Project Fi. Which is not only an ideal way for new customers to pick up one of the two latest Nexus smartphones at a very affordable price, but also to test out Project Fi at the same time.