A couple of days ago we reported that Google had pretty much confirmed that they plan to launch their own wireless business. This isn’t so much Google becoming an actual carrier themselves, but will instead piggyback on other carriers to help provide coverage to their customers.
That being said it seems that there is a small catch to using Google’s service. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, it seems that out of the door, only the Nexus 6 handset will be supported by Google’s network. What this means is that customers who own other devices hoping to use Google’s network will be out of luck, at least initially.
If you’re thinking that this might only be limited to Nexus handsets, think again because sources familiar with the matter claim that even older Nexus handsets like the Nexus 5 will not be usable at least at the start. The reason behind this is because of how Google’s network will basically be able to swap between T-Mobile and Sprint’s services, and to achieve this both hardware and software have to work in close coordination.
Presumably the Nexus 6 was designed with this in mind which might explain why the Nexus 6 could be the only supported handset at the service’s launch. It is unclear if this means that older devices will forever be unable to use Google’s wireless service, but either way hopefully we will hear more about Google’s plans in the near future.