Google about to launch its own wireless service in the US on Wednesday

Google is all set to launch its own wireless service in the US on Wednesday according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. This service will run on Sprint and T-Mobile’s networks and will only work on Google Nexus 6 as of now. The phone will switch between two networks depending on stronger signals, says The Verge.

This service will enable users to pay only for the data they have used each month. Wireless carriers in the US charge a fixed rate for buckets of data, which expires at the end of every month if not used. Google plans to do away with that. According a 2013 study by a company called Validas, users end up losing $28 each month on unused data.

Just like Google Fiber, the new Google wireless service will not be a mainstream offering, in the beginning at least. Sundar Pichai had said at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that the wireless service was going to be a small scale experiment and would not disrupt the current wireless service provider industry.

According to Rajeev Chand, head of research at Rutberg & Company, an investment bank focussing on mobile industry, Google’s move into wireless services is important as it has the potential to disrupt the wireless industry just like Google Fiber has shaken up the cable and broadband industries.

According to WSJ, the Google wireless project has been in the works for two years now and is part of an effort to make internet access easier for people. Usage-based pricing is also expected to make wireless data more affordable for users said Chand.

Sprint chairman Masayoshi Son has agreed to carry Google’s wireless traffic only on the condition of volume limits and the ability to renegotiation if the Google service becomes too big and overshadows Sprint’s service in any way.

Posted by : Gizmeon