Google Fi now available in 33 countries with RCS support, but India isn’t on the list

Google has announced that it’s now rolling out RCS Chat on the Google Fi network, besides improving data speeds for the users who roam. Google Fi now supports 33 countries in a broad expansion move in most European countries, Hong Kong, and Israel among others. However, the list of Google Fi-supported countries does not include India as of now.

The RCS, otherwise known as Rich Communication Services, rollout follows limited support on Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile in the US and other supported countries. Google is making RCS available on a broader array of phones including all the Pixel phones, LG V35, LG G7, Moto G6, and Moto X running Android One. It may also work on other Google Fi-enabled Android phones, provided you download the Google Messages app. Other networks have launched the Universal Profile (the interoperable version of the standard) RCS Chat on just a few phones, including some Samsung phones on T-Mobile and the Pixel 3 on Verizon in the US.

It’s been a bit weird to see Google Fi lagging behind other carriers when it comes to supporting RCS, especially since Google has been a booster for the SMS replacement standard. Reliance Jio has already been testing RCS in India for some time, while other carriers are in the process of finalising the infrastructure before the rollout happens.

RCS is the next-generation replacement for SMS, and maximum carriers are defaulting to calling it Chat. It offers many of the features users expect from a texting client: higher-resolution video and images, Wi-Fi texting, read-receipts, typing indicators, and better group chats. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer end-to-end encryption to protect users’ privacy. In fact, Google would stop offering users any other messaging app on Android: as Hangouts is increasingly designed just for enterprise use and Allo is winding down.

Alongside the RCS Chat announcement, Google has also announced that it’s improving data speeds for users who roam outside the US. It partnered with Three, two years ago, to offer LTE speeds for travellers, and now it’s moving to ‘faster’ 4G LTE speeds in thirty-three of the countries it now covers. As before, Google Fi doesn’t charge roaming fees for that data usage, making it one of best carrier options for people who travel internationally.