Google is close to launching its own wireless service and may officially reveal it on Wednesday, according to The Wall Street Journal. As previously leaked, the service is said to run on Sprint and T-Mobile's networks, and only work on the Nexus 6 (above) at first; the phone is expected to be able to switch between the two networks depending on which signal is stronger. The WSJ also says that customers will be able to pay only for the data they use, rather than buying a set amount each month and losing the unused portion.
Sprint reportedly had concerns about carrying Google's traffic
Like Google Fiber, Mountain View's foray into high-speed broadband, the wireless service won't be a mainstream offering — at least at first. "We don't intend to be a carrier at scale," Google senior VP Sundar Pichai said at Mobile World Congress last month. "I think we're at the stage where we need to think of hardware, software, and connectivity together. We want to break down the barriers on how connectivity works."
Still, Sprint reportedly had concerns about carrying Google's traffic, with chairman Masayoshi Son said to have agreed to the deal under the condition of volume limits that allow for renegotiation if Google's service becomes too big.