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I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

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Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#271

Post by behringer »

mjevans wrote: post #240
ploxiln wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 customer…

I believe these issues could be solved by actually taxing corporations and providing the service they clearly so desperately need. An /actual/ (inter)national ID and Identity verification service. One where disputes about identity and authorization can be escalated somewhere that makes sense, to the jurisdictions issuing these IDs. Ideally someone should be able to go to a police station (locally for local IDs, if on…

We already have this system in the US. It's called a notary public. It works pretty well. Google just chooses to not use it.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#272

Post by jasondclinton »

Someone1234 wrote: post #88
deburo wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 o…

Actually, former Payments Googler here. I have a pretty good idea what could have happened. I will escalate this internally. And no, it shouldn't require a Googler to fix it; something has gone wrong.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#273

Post by r00fus »

JohnTHaller wrote: post #247
r00fus wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple blacklisted my debit card which basically bricked my ability to use my phone You are hyperbolizing. You can just use a different card. It's not like they killed your AppleID which wouldn't kill your phone regardless.

Ever occur to you that someone using a debit card may not be able to "just use a different card"?

Perhaps this is an America-centric point of view, but almost everyone has multiple cards.

You can also use a prepaid credit or cash gift card to create an account or pay for Apple content.

Perhaps this US centrism colors Apple's view as well?

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#274

Post by IOT_Apprentice »

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.

someone should take that do not pay bot that fights traffic tickets and apply it to suing Google et al over these issues. https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/12/15960080/chatbot-ai-legal...

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#275

Post by r00fus »

rroblak wrote: post #100

Google is, fundamentally, an engineering company. Despite their size and breadth, they still don't understand customer support. Their approach is to use software to solve problems, and they insist on doing so even when it's clear that software isn't up to the task. Unfortunately, customer support is a hard problem. Despite all of the advances in NLP, I still abhor automated customer support systems when I have a comp…

> Despite their size and breadth, they still don't understand customer support.

Cue Larry Page's view on customer support circa 2000, and it still makes sense. Leaders fundamentally don't change views like that, and it impacts the organization - look at Zuckerberg's formative views on privacy.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#276

Post by jessriedel »

pxeboot wrote: post #223
jessriedel wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This Reddit thread concluded that because a T-mobile account was suspended for non-payment and the number is unportable while suspended that the customer was out of luck. https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/4wotw8/tmobile_won... I don't see how that matters legally. The FCC requirement doesn't make portability conditional on some account status defined by the carrier. But IANAL.

Since T-Mobile holds the primary numbers for Google Fi accounts, going from T-Mobile to Fi legally isn't a port, just a change in T-Mobiles billing system.

I was just using T-Mobile as another example. OP wants to move from Google Fi to something else, and the reddit poster wanted to move from T-Mobile to something else. I wasn't suggesting a port from T-Mobile to Fi.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#277

Post by AnthonyMouse »

mjevans wrote: post #240
ploxiln wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 customer…

I believe these issues could be solved by actually taxing corporations and providing the service they clearly so desperately need. An /actual/ (inter)national ID and Identity verification service. One where disputes about identity and authorization can be escalated somewhere that makes sense, to the jurisdictions issuing these IDs. Ideally someone should be able to go to a police station (locally for local IDs, if on…

The problem with centralized identification is that it doesn't actually solve anything, it only outsources it to a less security-competent entity which would be an even bigger target for fraud and corruption.

Creating one single place to change your address gives the attacker one single place to change your address. Compromise one system, bribe one police officer or DMV employee, get nation-wide root access to everything.

And how does it even solve the problem? The problem isn't that Google doesn't know whether you're John Smith. It's that Google thinks John Smith is a scammer they won't do business with, and they aren't willing to spend their resources helping you to clear your name.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#278

Post by [deleted] »

wpietri wrote: post #213
rroblak wrote: post #100

Google is, fundamentally, an engineering company. Despite their size and breadth, they still don't understand customer support. Their approach is to use software to solve problems, and they insist on doing so even when it's clear that software isn't up to the task. Unfortunately, customer support is a hard problem. Despite all of the advances in NLP, I still abhor automated customer support systems when I have a comp…

I don't think engineering is the problem here. As an example, Toyota, a very engineering-driven company, is also famous for customer focus. I think the problem is that Google is mostly about selling users' eyeballs to their real customers, advertisers. That's not a business of making individual users happy; it's essentially statistical in nature. With a search engine, if something works for 80 or 90% of people, that'…

[deleted]

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#279

Post by ethbro »

neetdeth wrote: post #261
jjeaff wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recommend anyone who likes Gmail to use your own domain name@example.com and just forward all messages to your Gmail address. Only give out your own example.com email and set it as the reply to. Even the cheap budget registrars offer email forwarding for free and I have never had any trouble. This gives you the benefits of free Gmail without handing your entire life over to them. At least with a tld there is some d…

Are there actually rules and due process? I was under the impression that it's just a convention that the registrar won't seize your domain unless they really, really dislike you. edit: I shouldn't be oblique in my comments. I'm of course referring to the whole Daily Stormer fiasco.

It becomes a legal and business decision for the registrar.

Most serve at the pleasure of a formal contract with their TLD control entity (e.g. ICANN).

Ultimately, if you were to sue them, there's a root document of legal responsibilities and behavior to point to.

In contrast to whatever emphemeral TOS bullshit Google feels like tossing out. And furthermore, unlike Google, they can't really just ignore you.

Or, to put it another way, VISA, American Airlines, Coke, etc also have an interest in maintaining legal ownership of domains. They could care less about Google accounts.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#280

Post by lwf »

kevinflo wrote: post #255
buf wrote: post #5

I just traveled to Japan, the Phil, Bulgaria, San Francisco, and Boston without having to change sim cards or worry about my data situation. I'm going to keep it until someone else can do the same at a lower price.

I tried to do the same during a bout of extended international travel. I popped out the fi sim once to try a super cheap local unlimited data sim (some countries are great for this), only to find out afterwards that it killed the fi pairing, and that re-pairing is not possible while abroad (tried VPNs etc., no dice). Your only method to get paired again is to either fly to the states (Hawaii), or to ship the phone to…

Weird, I haven't had that experience -- I've switched between Fi and my work SIM several times while abroad using the chooser in my Pixel 3's settings… Did you perhaps somehow reset your eSIM?

Edit: ah, you were using a physical SIM. Mildly ironic that you'd have a worse experience "re-pairing" than with an eSIM.

Related anecdote: at 34c3 last year, I was able to activate Fi while in Germany, but 6 months later, no matter how many agents I talked to (none of whom identified being in Europe as the problem), I wasn't able to reactivate it in Europe. This was because I had paused my service and switched phones, and they apparently implemented checks to prevent activation outside the USA.

Or, I was the accidental beneficiary of the various GSM hacking going on at Congress, and it never was supposed to work in the first place.

Curious if it'd be effectual (although impractical) to use an AT&T femtocel to activate while abroad…

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