You’ll have to surrender your Google Voice account to use Project Fi

Project Fi is here. Photo: Google

Project Fi is here. Photo: Google

Google has begun sending out invites for its new Project Fi wireless service, but they come with a big catch; those who sign up will have to surrender their Google Voice account, along with its history.

Project Fi is Google’s very own wireless operator, and for now, it’s exclusively for the company’s Nexus 6 smartphone. It uses existing the T-Mobile and Sprint infrastructure to deliver talk, text, and data for just $20 a month, but for now, you need an invite to sign up.

Those invites are now going out to a select few, and screenshots posted on Reddit reveal Project Fi’s sign up process. There’s good news and bad news if you’re a Google Voice user.

The good news is, Project Fi will let you keep your existing Google Voice number, and continue to provide you with things like call forwarding, voicemail transcriptions, and cheap international calls. The bad news is, the Google Voice account you have now will be gone.

Once you’ve signed up to Project Fi, you’ll no longer be able to use the Google Talk or Google Voice apps, which means you won’t be able to use the Google Voice service for texting and voicemail. Furthermore, all of your Google Voice texts, voicemails, and call history will be wiped.

Screenshot: idreamincode/Reddit

Screenshot: idreamincode/Reddit

For some, this will be a small price to pay to gain access to Project Fi, but long-time Voice subscribers who don’t want to lose this data will want to back it up first.

To see more screenshots from the Project Fi signup process, check out the original Reddit thread via the source link below.