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I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

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Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#81

Post by StillBored »

radicaldreamer wrote: post #4
anamexis wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the appeal of Google Fi for me is the unlimited free international roaming. Do you know if there's any competition in that area?

And no other carrier offers up to 9 additional data only SIMs on the same plan without additional charges.

Because they charge by the byte, rather that the sim card. I find it hard to believe that is a generally useful feature unless you happen to have a network of IoT devices with 100MB of data usage a month.

Whatever you do, don't give one of those sim cards to my kids, which somehow manage to burn multiple GB a month each with the occasional music/youtube video in the car/whatever when they are away from the home/school/etc wifi.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#82

Post by fakename »

holidaygoose wrote: post #19
ndiscussion wrote: post #2

Google Fi sucks, it's way too expensive. The last several years have seen an explosion of MVNOs, mobile virtual network operators. I use Mint Sim and get 3gb LTE/month with unlimited talk and text, and unlimited throttled internet after the 3gb, for $15/month.

I'm perplexed. I can see hating them for other reasons, but expensive would not be the word I associate with Google Fi. I pay $22 including taxes/fees per month, but it's probably not a good carrier for people who watch a lot of video on their phones. * they're also probably one of the only honest carriers in terms of taxes/fees. My previous carrier had a much higher tax % which I thought was normal, but now I realiz…

How are you managing such low data use? I easily burned through 1gb in my first week (partly due to my podcast app downloading 400mb -> me changing the settings -> it downloading 200mb the next day -> me finding the right setting to block it from using mobile data).

I've been keeping mobile data turned off unless I explicitly need to use it. I turned it on last night to google something quickly, and it managed to use 60mb.

Can't wait to go back to mintsim after I satisfy the 4 month requirement from their cyber Monday deal.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#83

Post by ronsor »

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #76
NorthOf33rd wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>No recourse available. You can sue Google in small claims court for the value of the undelivered Chromecast and for the court fees you spent on suing them.

but it's generally not worth your time or money to do so

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#84

Post by AlexB138 »

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

Ah, you're correct. I mistook the top poster here, iandanforth, as saying they were the author. Edited.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#85

Post by netinstructions »

This really hits home. Probably 99.999% of users won't have issues with Google's products / services, but if you're one of the unlucky few, you're helpless.

All you can hope for is to make enough noise on the internet to get a Googler's attention. None of the normal escalation channels work.

My issues with Project Fi / Google Store were not resolved via their online chat, nor their phone support, nor emails to their product support, nor any of my posts on their product support forums, nor any tweets at various Google accounts.

Only after a blog post received attention on Reddit did I get a call from head of support who was able to resolve my issue.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#86

Post by walterbell »

rootusrootus wrote: post #71
mcrae wrote: post #33

Despite everything else said, I’ve gotta say that there’s no better feeling than touching down in a new place, turning on your phone, and having it just work . No stupid voip apps. No managing prepaid balances. No switching sims. Just direct dial and go. Fi service is incredible for the mobile roaming alone and I’m not quite sure why nobody else can do it. I love it so much and it’s my favorite product. It makes a me…

Is that not normal with other carriers? I've made multiple trips abroad and aside from an occasional delay of a few minutes, my phone just works wherever I go.

How much do you pay for international data?

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#87

Post by metalliqaz »

pdx_flyer wrote: post #68

A credit card pushing post veiled as a Google Fi review. Awesome. My wife still loves Fi, and I love having a Fi data sim.

You're not wrong, but you don't have to point it out like it's a revelation. The disclosure is prominently displayed at the head of the article.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#88

Post by Someone1234 »

deburo wrote: post #44
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.

I think the whole crux of the issue is that any one Googler wouldn't have enough oversight to answer.

Google is too complex of an organization, and the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. So issues become lost between CS, security, and accounting.

I've seen this from the other side. I've also seen it get mitigated by giving someone (customer service) ownership of the problem, and giving them enough organizational support to twist arms in other departments as needed.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#90

Post by Thriptic »

andr wrote: post #26

I had a few unsuccessful back and forths with different Fi agents about an issue, and after a couple of weird remarks, I developed the theory that first level agents get their performance scores penalized every time they escalate an issue. I would have them go through the same script over and over for over an hour, and even sometimes admit that I had an issue, but refuse to press that button. I have no hard evidence,…

I actually had the polar opposite experience. I had a complex support issue with my pixel 3 delivery and I got irritated because support was constantly escalating and shunting to different teams. While it was a bitch to fix the problem and took awhile, to Google's credit they did eventually do so and went the extra mile for me to extend a promotion and honor a referral code which they certainly didn't need to do.
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