Google Pixel XL review and Project Fi cellular coverage, awesome and cheap together over time!

OK, I admit that this blog entry is coming from someone who has existed in the cell phone Dark Ages for years. That revelation from ThatCyberSecurityGuy, LLC might seem amazing but as a cyber security business I don't like having the whole world spying on everything I do. Therefore, I was in no hurry to upgrade to the latest spying stupid phone at great expense to my business. However, in this day and age, I need the most advanced, "spied upon" technology to conduct my business. The Google Pixel encrypts all my Wi-Fi activity, which we will get into, so it is a compromise.

I was using a Samsung Galaxy S2, which I had upgraded to the JellyBean Android OS until November 2016.  I started out with the S2 on the T-Mobile Walmart family plan, and then had mixed feelings. It worked OK, but was dropping calls as I moved around. T-Mobile, back in the day, did not have great coverage years ago but the savings on a $144 a month Verizon plan was amazing. I eventually converted the phone over to AT&T's Walmart Go plan, which was much better coverage but still not great at $45 a month. Calls were still dropped when I traveled and visited friends and family, AT&T had its dead spots as well. I have been watching the cell phone market for years trying to find the right deal to make a new plunge into the 21^st century and the new Google Pixel phone combined with their Project Fi coverage plan was it. As I conduct radio, and hopefully TV interviews and such, I can no longer afford to have a phone that drops calls or have audio that is not clear in dead zones or on speaker.

ThatCyberSecurityGuy was expecting the phone to be priced similarly to their Nexus phone at about $499 but in October or 2016, had a stroke when the price was $649 for the base model in October of 2016. I expected and wondered if the price would come down for some sort of holiday special if I waited but all indications were definitely NOT after calling the Google sales team! An irrelevant detail (except to my wife) was that Google offered a FREE Virtual Reality headset with an early October purchase of the phone and that sealed the deal for me. I have friends who have VRs that let me try them out on their iPhones / Samsung Galaxy's and I can't wait to see what Google has come up with. My VR headset is still on backorder and I will review it in December when I get it. I imagine the headset will sell for near $100.

Now here is heart attack number two, as the base 5" model only came with 32GB of memory. To upgrade to the 5.5" (I'm old and need BIG) and to increase the memory to 128GB brought the price of the phone up to $921 with taxes! In my wife's words, "you are out of your mind if you think paying $921 for a phone is a good idea," and I had to agree at first. I questioned my judgment, as the excitement factor for me was raging, as I had waited years for this phone. This is the first truly Google phone they have produced since for years they contracted out their other Nexus phones, which were released in 2015 and in my opinion, was substandard.

Given the entire above, why did ThatCyberSecurityGuy, LLC make the plunge into the new and very expensive Google Pixel phone:

1. If you watch TV, Verizon is advertising the Pixel as an exclusively Verizon phone for a contract (how this is legal I do not know). Anyone who buys into a Verizon Pixel phone plan is a fool. I'm not trying to be cruel, I just state reality. Google has Project Fi https://fi.google.com/about, which is a wireless service from Google where they are partnered with three leading national carriers to give you access to three 4G LTE tower providers for faster speeds in more locations.
2. The phone, with Project Fi, will also connect to over a million Wi-Fi hotspots as it automatically shifts over for faster calling, data and texting. This is all done with encryption to keep your data safe.
3. OK, I admit I have dreams of international travel for my business. The Pixel with Project Fi offers in Google's words, "Unthrottled high-speed data works in over 135 different countries and territories. No need to call ahead for a different plan. You'll pay the same price for data that you do at home."
   
4. My wife retired April 2016 and I'm a disabled veteran. I work to reduce monthly costs at every opportunity I can find. Project Fi starts at $20 per month and $10 per GB of data. If you are connected to Wi-Fi you don't have to worry about data and I'm connected about 90% of the time with this phone. Therefore, my cell phone bill is reduced from $45 on the AT&T Go plan for unlimited (Text, Data, Voice) to $20 per month. Even at the $921 cost the phone will rapidly pay for itself.