I have been an enthusiastic customer of Google’s Project Fi cell phone service for more than three years. I also always have a VPN (that I pay for) running all the time in my cell phone. You can read my past articles about the Project Fi cellular service by starting at: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Aprivacyblog.com+%22project+fi%22&t=h_&ia=web.
I received a pleasant surprise today when I learned that Google is now offering a FREE VPN to all users of the Google Fi cell service and the VPN will be enabled all the time, whether connected by a cellular service connection or a Wi-Fi connection.
All phone calls, text messages, and data will be encrypted for privacy purposes all the time. The always-on VPN will need to be turned on in the Project Fi settings, where the feature is called “Enhanced Network” and labeled a “beta.”
The “Enhanced network” feature should pop up in the settings later this week for Fi-compatible phones running Android 9 Pie.
Details may be found in an article by Ron Amadeo in the Ars Technica web site at: http://bit.ly/2TfKX6i.
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Categories: Cell Phones, Telephone Security
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Privacy Blog 
I thought your blog was about privacy.
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—> I thought your blog was about privacy.
Correct. Adding a VPN, especially an always-on VPN, adds a lot of privacy and security to cell phones. VPNs should be able to block hackers, government spies, foreign governments, your own government, politicians, and other people and groups who wish to spy on you from being able to listen to your phone calls or read your text messages or read your email messages or tap into your cell phone’s browser as you surf the web.
Read my earlier articles at https://privacyblog.com/2018/10/24/china-and-russia-are-listening-to-trumps-phone-calls-says-the-new-york-times/ and at https://privacyblog.com/2018/10/30/other-governments-are-listening-to-the-cell-phone-calls-of-heads-of-state-and-maybe-to-your-calls-as-well/ for information about individuals who obviously need a VPN in order to protect the privacy of their sensitive conversations.
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With respect, I doubt that Google would be the safest place to go looking for a VPN or mobile service…or privacy.
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‘Google’ and ‘privacy’ shouldn’t be in the same sentence. I use Mullvad VPN and it’s just $5 a month. They don’t ask for your name, email address, and they take cash!
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