Google Fi revives automatic switching between US 5G networks

The feature is available to customers with Google Fi active on eSIM and any non-Fi SIMs disabled. Fi has not identified the two networks it will use. Senior product manager Jane Harnett told The Verge that the company stopped offering domestic switching because “the wireless landscape consolidated via mergers and limited our ability to offer multiple networks within the US.” Switching has continued to be available internationally. Google Fi’s FAQs currently identify T-Mobile as its coverage provider.

When Fi launched in 2015, customers could switch between T-Mobile and Sprint. That option ended after the carriers became one network following T-Mobile’s 2020 acquisition of Sprint. Harnett said the returning feature uses eSIMs’ ability to connect to multiple carriers at once and is faster than Fi’s previous approach.

Previously, Fi used single-SIM switching, which connected to one network at a time. A phone had to lose service completely before it began a slow SIM-profile change, without knowing whether the other network offered better coverage, Harnett said. Fi also tested dual-SIM arrangements requiring both a physical SIM and an eSIM, which could take longer to switch. Harnett described the new launch as bringing additional networks back to the US.