I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi • Hacker News Board

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#121

Post by magduf » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 10:06 PM UTC

sithadmin wrote: post #6

I abandoned Fi after a trip to western Europe, where I was billed for 6 GB of usage in a single day on one of my data-only SIM cards, despite that the device the SIM was installed in (a 4G hotspot) registered only 200MB of usage that day. Support was completely unhelpful, and after escalation reported back that the Fi team has zero visibility into chargebacks from their carrier partners and ergo could not diagnose th…

I just went to western Europe (Germany specifically), and spend 15 Euros for phone service there. It's simple: I just bought a SIM card at a shop (O2) and put it in my Verizon phone. I got a prepaid card that had unlimited text/calls (within Germany only), and 3GB of data, which was far more than enough for my 2 weeks there.

Cellular service is much cheaper in Europe than in the US, so you might as well take advantage of it. International calling plans for American phones are horrendously overpriced.

Of course, the downside is that I couldn't call or text anyone in the States, but who cares? That's what apps are for. I was able to talk to and message friends/family in the US using Facebook messenger and LINE. While on my hotel's free WiFi, my VoIP calls cost me nothing.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#122

Post by skolos » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 10:07 PM UTC

Throughout years Google showed that if you make any of their products essential for you, there is big chance you are going to be screwed. In the end all they care is web search.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#123

Post by saagarjha » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 10:07 PM UTC

jonny_eh wrote: post #110

rachelbythebay wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please tell me more if you can. gmail account matching this one or https://rachelbythebay.com/contact/ - thanks.

Do you work for Lyft or something?

No, but she used to work for Google and Facebook.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#124

Post by jessriedel » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 10:08 PM UTC

> Google Fi won’t restore service or allow your number to be ported out until the bill is paid, so around and around we go.

I'm surprised this is legal. Number portability isn't something phone companies offer out of the kindness of their heart; it's required by law. Does the law really allow them to hold the number hostage as part of a payment dispute?

EDIT: Nope, this is illegal:

> Once you request service from a new company, your old company cannot refuse to port your number, even if you owe money for an outstanding balance or termination fee

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/porting-keeping-your-ph...

I looks like the OP should file a complaint (and if necessary sue?) over this point.

Indeed, this is so clear cut it makes me doubt the OP's story. Does Google Fi say they do this anywhere?

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#125

Post by tracker1 » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 10:08 PM UTC

013a wrote: post #57

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.…

One thing I can suggest; if you're deep into google products, you should be paying the $5/month for a G-Suite account with your own domain. You get access to better business-class support. Fi is now also supported on G-Suite accounts. It's a no-brainer. It sucks that their personal account support is so bad, but there is a solution.

I don't generally get a response back, but more often than not, a negative tweet on twitter gets a resolution within a day or two.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#126

Post by woolvalley » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 10:08 PM UTC

magduf wrote: post #111

jlarocco wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft saw how much money Google saves by not having support, and decided to follow their lead. They used to have decent support.

With Microsoft, it makes good sense for them to not have any support. They can save a lot of money that way, and there's simply no downside. Does it anger customers? Sure, but who cares? It's not like the customers are going to abandon Microsoft. With Google, there is at least a chance they could move to the Apple ecosystem.

Why wouldn't I abandon MSFT? There is google docs, chromebooks and mac os already. Only a small power user use case needs to stick with office specifically nowadays.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#127

Post by will_brown » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 10:08 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.…

I had a similar problem with Apple.

I made an in app purchase (with a YC company nonetheless) and the company gave a limited period to cancel the service for a full refund. I cancelled the service within the deadline, and didn’t get a refund. I requested the refund from the YC company who said “they can’t” refund and I have to ask Apple. So I asked Apple for the refund included the YC company policy/purchase date/cancellation email and Apple told me I had to be refunded by the YC company.

With no recourse I did a chargeback and Apple blacklisted my debit card which basically bricked my ability to use my phone.

All these tech companies have their heads so far up their asses when it comes to cost cutting/customer service, it’s no wonder services like Twitter/FB serve as public shaming, complaint tools to access the otherwise inaccessible tech elite.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#128

Post by chris11 » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 10:09 PM UTC

teraflop wrote: post #70

mcrae wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TMO only gives 2G internationally which, while it doesn’t sound terrible, it ends up being unusable in practice. Your experience may vary though I guess.

T-Mobile's throttling does a great job of highlighting how bloated a lot of modern websites have gotten. The last time I tried using it overseas, text-heavy sites like HN loaded almost as fast as normal. Reddit was mostly usable, but certain subreddits were painfully slow due to image-heavy custom styles. But try to load an article from a typical news website, and the connection would time out before it managed to re…

It's not a horrible solution though. I'm kind of cheap, I don't want to pay for unlimited data. So I have an inexpensive plan with T-Mobile that gets throttled. But I can still have some internet access for free once I go over my limit.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#129

Post by sogrady » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 10:09 PM UTC

I can understand why people criticize it, but I personally like Fi. The multiple carriers give me coverage in areas I don't expect it like Maine islands or the Sangre de Cristo foothills, and the price is reasonable if not the lowest available.

Additionally, the one time I've had to contact support, I had an email reply in 27 minutes.

Throw in perks like the seamless international support (if you travel internationally at all this is tremendous) and the data SIM for an iPad, and I've been pretty happy with the service.

That could all change the next time I need support if they're still overwhelmed with new users, but so far so good.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#130

Post by ploxiln » Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 10:09 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.

This is also a problem with Square, and Stripe, and Paypal ... it's an unsolvable fraud/scammer problem.

Basically, if there was customer support that could fix the problem, then skilled scammers can get money and control out of them. They can do it a lot better than you can get your stuff re-enabled, they know just when to say what to whom.

Verizon just accepts the inefficiency, and also over-charges random customers, sometimes hands over control of a phone number to a scammer so they can get auth codes over SMS, has clueless support, etc. Google hasn't accepted this way of the world yet (but in scaling up the support has necessarily become disempowered).

It is very frustrating. It's a nature of things going mass-market. Just a few people, everything can be nice. Too many people, scams and fraud become big problems.