I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi • Hacker News Board

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#41

Post by roland35 » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 9:30 PM UTC

drewblaisdell wrote: post #24

Maybe someone on HN will know the answer to this: is it easy to enable/disable service with Google Fi? My use case is to use Fi while traveling internationally for a few months out of the year while switching back to my existing plan in the US. I only want to pay for Fi in the months when I'm out of the country.

I haven't disabled my service, but it was pretty straightforward to enable and everything can be managed through the website/app! Things seems to be easier now than before since you don't need a Fi-specific phone to activate

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#42

Post by sithadmin » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 9:30 PM UTC

drewblaisdell wrote: post #24

Maybe someone on HN will know the answer to this: is it easy to enable/disable service with Google Fi? My use case is to use Fi while traveling internationally for a few months out of the year while switching back to my existing plan in the US. I only want to pay for Fi in the months when I'm out of the country.

You can pause Fi service for a few months at a time.

However, Google will catch on to your proposed usage pattern and will eventually boot you from the platform. Majority usage outside the USA violate ToS.

There are plenty of stories on r/projectfi about this. I've also had a personal friend that was booted after he subscribed to Fi, then moved out of the USA month later for a temporary work assignment, and was booted from Fi a few months later for violating ToS.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#43

Post by devicenull » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 9:31 PM UTC

I've been trying to get Fi to resolve a billing issue.... I'm stuck in a loop with support where they keep asking me for a security code, then the next day they'll respond back saying it expired and they need another one. The codes only seem to be valid for 30m, so I don't have any idea why they keep asking for them...

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#44

Post by deburo » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 9:31 PM UTC

iandanforth wrote: post #29

The lede here is somewhat burried: "From what I’ve since learned, if a card in your Google Pay is stolen, or someone uses your Payments account fraudulently, or anything happens that leads to a security flag being raised, it can lead to your Google Payments account being frozen. ... If you can’t use Google Payments, you can’t pay for Google Fi This, fundamentally, is why I can’t suggest anyone use Project Fi anymore.…

Well, that's pretty damning. I hope this gets an answer from some Googler now that's it's out in the media.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#45

Post by aaomidi » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 9:31 PM UTC

Companies like google shouldn't be allowed to just ban someone's account and leave it at that. We actually need to regulate how OUR data is handled and managed by companies. Google thinks just because they provide an email service, they own all the emails in their service. This should not be the case and with all our reliance on cloud services, we need to be assured that our accounts are safe and we won't be denied access over stuff that isn't in our control.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#46

Post by derimagia » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 9:31 PM UTC

drewblaisdell wrote: post #24

Maybe someone on HN will know the answer to this: is it easy to enable/disable service with Google Fi? My use case is to use Fi while traveling internationally for a few months out of the year while switching back to my existing plan in the US. I only want to pay for Fi in the months when I'm out of the country.

Can't give you a definite answer, but it's easy to activate an account and they have a wizard for cancelling a plan with what looks pretty quick. https://i.imgur.com/lBv5NUw.png

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#47

Post by zenexer » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 9:31 PM UTC

ronsor wrote: post #40

iandanforth wrote: post #29

The lede here is somewhat burried: "From what I’ve since learned, if a card in your Google Pay is stolen, or someone uses your Payments account fraudulently, or anything happens that leads to a security flag being raised, it can lead to your Google Payments account being frozen. ... If you can’t use Google Payments, you can’t pay for Google Fi This, fundamentally, is why I can’t suggest anyone use Project Fi anymore.…

This is a general issue with google. If their system decides it doesn't like you, then you're out of luck. You'll never get them to fix it.

I recently had nearly the same exact problem with Microsoft. Security department is a black box—zero communication. A friend working for Microsoft even escalated my case internally at the time, but nobody could do or see anything. My account was eventually unfrozen without so much as an email to notify me, never mind an explanation.

The point is, this issue isn’t limited to Google.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#48

Post by atomical » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 9:32 PM UTC

ForTheTimeBeing wrote: post #36

faitswulff wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not T-Mobile?

My wife and I just traveled to Korea and Japan for the better part of December. And I have a Google Fi plan while she is with T-mobile. My service was superior in several ways: 1. Better and more reliable coverage 2. Roaming surcharges for my (Google Fi) calls where less (albeit, nominally so) at $0.20/min vs $0.25/min 3. While she had some problems enabling her data, the transition of my service in this respect was…

I'm a T-Mobile customer. I use EasyTether to tether wherever I am.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#49

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 9:32 PM UTC

jahabrewer wrote: post #27

AlexB138 wrote: post #10

She's definitely right that the quality of their support has tanked. I've had significant connection issues where people on other carriers have none and their support personnel sent me useless boilerplate questions after I requested support. They then followed up with a multi-page incoherent trouble shooting doc that seemed aimed at their own engineers. One of the worst support experiences I've had, even from Google.…

She

[deleted]

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#50

Post by NorthOf33rd » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 9:33 PM UTC

ronsor wrote: post #40

iandanforth wrote: post #29

The lede here is somewhat burried: "From what I’ve since learned, if a card in your Google Pay is stolen, or someone uses your Payments account fraudulently, or anything happens that leads to a security flag being raised, it can lead to your Google Payments account being frozen. ... If you can’t use Google Payments, you can’t pay for Google Fi This, fundamentally, is why I can’t suggest anyone use Project Fi anymore.…

This is a general issue with google. If their system decides it doesn't like you, then you're out of luck. You'll never get them to fix it.

Yep. a few years ago I signed up for a promo where if I spent a certain amount in the app store, I'd get a free chromecast. Never got it. No recourse available. At all. It's really strange that this level of "service" is acceptable.