Google Project Fi – New Era for Mobile Technology?

Google Project Fi is a new program launched by Google that claims to deliver fast, easy mobile service in partnership with leading carriers to create a unique experience for its subscribers. Below is a summary of its key features as advertised:

Google Project Fi uses LTE (from Sprint and T-Mobile) and Wi-Fi for both data and voice.
At any time, it uses the network that provides the best quality. Automatically switches if the quality on the currently associated network degrades and a better alternate network is available.
Seamless voice session roaming from Wi-Fi to LTE – if you are on a voice call inside your home over Wi-Fi and walk outside, the ongoing voice call automatically moves over to LTE
The selection of the network is completely transparent to the end user.
Currently Nexus 6 is the only phone that supports Project Fi.

‘Network as a Service’ Disrupting Carrier and Wi-Fi Industry

I view Google Project Fi as a disruptor, from both technology and business model standpoint, for three reasons:

For the first time, we are witnessing a MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) piggybacking on multiple major national mobile carrier networks, in this case Sprint and T-Mobile.
And for the first time again, an operator is successfully marrying the cellular and Wi-Fi network in a fashion that has not been done before on this scale, at the same time being completely transparent and seamless to the end user
If Google Project Fi manages to seamlessly transfer (roam) both voice and data sessions from one carrier to another, that’s again another industry first.

Google has created a model where a subscriber can tap into a pool of available network resources –Wi-Fi and cellular networks offered by Sprint & T-Mobile. By combining different wireless technologies (cellular and Wi-Fi) and by aggregating multiple operators’ cellular networks, the value of Google Project Fi to the consumer is suddenly magnified. It is much larger than the sum of each network’s value by itself.

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Technical Underpinnings of Google Project Fi

Multi cellular network support

Google likely signed roaming agreements with Sprint and T-Mobile, and the SIM selects the best network to connect based on the quality of the networks available. This model is quite scalable, as adding new cellular networks to the Google MVNO network pool is just a question of signing business agreement with different operators.

Single mobile number

Irrespective of which network the phone is connected to, there would be one number assigned to a user through Google Voice. The phone would use Google Calling App as the default application to place and receive voice calls.

Network selection

The phone requires some intelligence in its software to measure the quality of each network (multi cellular networks & Wi-Fi), and use the better one for data and voice. It also needs to continuously monitor the quality of current connection, so when it degrades, the phone’s software automatically switches to an alternate network. The client software could also potentially choose to use different networks for voice and data.

Data roaming between networks

Data roaming between the cellular networks, or from cellular to Wi-Fi is not a problem. Most streaming applications like YouTube, Netflix have intelligence in the client side (buffering and HTTP based streaming) to seamlessly stream data even if they roam between networks and the IP address changes. Users would hardly notice any impact on non-streaming applications like web browsing because of roaming.

Voice roaming between networks

For seamless roaming to work across multiple networks, there needs to be one aggregation point for all the voice traffic. In this case, the Google Voice infrastructure could be that single aggregation point. The phone creates a secure Layer-2 tunnel to the Google Voice Infrastructure, over any existing network connection be it cellular or Wi-Fi. The secure Layer-2 tunnel is always on, and since the tunnel terminates at a single aggregation point, the phone can retain a single IP address through the tunnel. The layer-2 nature of the tunnel also ensures the carrier has visibility to the device’s MAC address. As the phone roams from one network to another, the Layer-2 secure tunnel gets re-established through the new network connection and the phone retains same tunnel IP. The voice is always routed through the tunnel to the Google Voice infrastructure and this way has a single point of exit and entry.

My Wish List for Project Fi

Below is a wish list, but something Google can definitely pull off once the number of Project Fi subscribers reaches an inflection point

Google can make a case to get Verizon and AT&T into its pool, however I doubt that it would happen easily.
Initiate roaming agreements with international mobile operators for international roaming.
Partner with mobile phone makers to support Google Fi natively. This could be publicly available through some version of Android in future.
Launch a business program where any cable operators and Wi-Fi MVNOs like Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Boingo, etc. can sign up as providers to the Google’s network pool.

Google Project Fi is a giant leap towards making mobile connectivity ubiquitous, and Wi-Fi has a critical role to play. This will only accelerate the adoption of newer wireless standards like Hotspot 2.0 that improves the user’s experience.

The future of Wi-Fi has never been so exciting, so buckle up!

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