Hello
I traveled to Nice in 2018 and found that Google Fi data roaming did not work at all. Has anyone had recent experience with Google Fi in France? I was thinking it was my smartphone (Moto x4) but now from what I have been reading it may be Google Fi itself.
It may help you to know that I live in France and have never heard of Google Fi - which should answer your question!! :)
I think it is coming to France soon, according to what I read today.
Posters on Trip Advisor say that getting an Orange SIM card is the way to go.
I've never had a problem using Google Fi anywhere in France, including in the mountains and at my sister-in-law’s in Menton, next to Nice. My last time was in September. I’ve used it with both my old LG and now with the Moto, as has my husband.
My phone usually picks up the signal while the plane in taxiing to the gate. My phones have picked up the signal everywhere in Europe, the Caribbean, and on Madeira.
You might want to check first with Google Fi and then Moto. I had some failures with the LG and it took some repeat calls to get things taken care of. If the phone has a problem, check for guarantees and credit card guarantees.
Google doesn't have phone service anywhere. They have roaming partners. In the US, they use T-Mobile, Sprint, and US Cellular. In France - Orange or SFR would be my guesses. You might have to choose a specific mobile network. If your phone automatically connects to say SFR and that isn't Google's roaming partner, nothing is going to work; you'd have to search for networks in your settings then choose the right mobile network that will work with Google.
I haven't been overseas with my Moto X4 yet, but I used my Moto E4 in Europe last year in Spain and Portugal. I had at least 3G service almost everywhere except remote areas and sometimes LTE (the E4 has only one European LTE band, LTE 7), with my Dutch Vodafone SIM. I think the X4 has more LTE bands so I probably would have had LTE most everywhere with the X4.
You don’t have to choose a network; the phone finds it and connects automatically.
And to answer your other question about the battery draining: you need to get the phone exchanged. It sounds like you have a lemon. Don’t take a bad ohone overseas with you.
No idea why his phone didn’t work. My Google phones have always worked.
On the other hand, I avoid Orange like the plague. We’ve had dealings with them in our family’s former house in Burgundy and it was a nightmare. I switched to Bougues years ago for when I need a French phone number.
The privatization of PTT and creation of Orange took a very heavy toll on the telecommunications workforce.
I still think it’s your phone or a switch that’s off. Here’s where it’s worked for me in the past year in March, April, August, September, Brittany, the Ventoux including on top of Mt. Ventoux, Avignon, Orange, Nice, Roquebrun Cap Martin, Menton, and several more quite rural. So don’t give up. It works perfectly well in France. My data is rarely off when in France and we use our phones as GPS.
I used Fi in Paris, Vezeley, Beaune, and Lyon a few years ago. it was seamless and flawless.
If you had a problem, did you try the usual troubleshooting steps? Did you ask at the Fi help forum?
Another French resident who has never heard of Google Fi as well. But then again, I generally eschew Google products so perhaps I'm somewhat out of the loop.
Google Fi is available only to Americans. I'm not surprised people who live outside of the US have never heard of it, just like most US residents have never heard of Orange or SFR.
Like the other US mobile providers, Google Fi has no service in France or anywhere outside the US. Instead, they have roaming partners (like Orange or SFR - not sure which one, probably one or the other, maybe both). I'd guess any issue with data in Europe with Google Fi has to do with the network it is connected to, but I've never used it.
Sometimes you need to set the Access Point Name (APN) to get mobile data to work when roaming. Here is how one person set his (Google Fi used to be called Project Fi - they are the same thing):
https://www.whistleout.com/CellPhones/Faqs/115014797887-Project-Fi-APN-Settings
Every phone is a little different. Some phones seem to pick up the APN automatically and other need to have it manually set. My Moto E2 and E4 phones automatically picked up the APN for my Dutch Vodafone SIM wherever I've used it in Europe. Some more expensive phones and newer phones do not so the APN must be set manually (which is surprising - but that's what people who had problems say they had to do). I have a Moto X4 now but haven't used it overseas yet.
