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I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

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Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#371
post #346
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…

I wouldn't advise doing this. Forwarding all your email from one provider to another doesn't really work in today's Internet. The problem is that from gmail's point of view your registrar is now sending it a lot of spam. So it'll block the registrar or filter it more aggressively. Also if you get email from a 3rd party who uses domain-keys, spf, etc (eg just about everyone) then those emails will be failing all the c…

I've been doing this for years without any trouble.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#372

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 know it's against the narrative, but I find PayPal's support people (the ones you phone up, at least) to be both empowered and helpful. They have gone out of their way, on more than one occasion, to help me out and get my account back to normal.

PayPal and eBay might as well be direct and just tell the seller/receiver to outright fuck off. It's a scammers paradise between the two. They are both awful corporations that blatantly support obvious fraud. They don't give a shit. They should be criminally investigated.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#373
post #298
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 advantag…

In Germany, they want your passport and an address to register a SIM. It's not one of the worst countries for buying a SIM, but it's not one of the best. Last time it took me trips to 3 or 4 stores and at least 90 minutes to get a SIM.

This is a fairly new requirement; it used to be possible to buy a SIM anonymously in Germany. Apparently some politician said "but terrorists" and put a stop to that.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not T-Mobile?

Fi negotiated better terms for international roaming with TMO than TMO gives its own customers. TMO customers are rate-throttled abroad; Fi is not.

But I can get a TMO customer rep on the phone in under 60 seconds. And just did, moments ago, to get an unlock code for an iPhone I sent with a friend who moved out of the US.

Trade offs!

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#375
I’ve tried it and overall found the service spotty in Denver, and typically a notch lower (technical term) on whatever speed compared to Verizon etc, when traveling internationally. I will admit that initial tech support experiences were unsustainably amazing.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can’t function as a citizen of a country without identity documents. Passport national ID cards, in my opinion, the optimal solution to the problem. Issuance can be streamlined, and cost can be absorbed for those who can’t afford it. Society requires foundations.

> You can’t function as a citizen of a country without identity documents. Sure you can. Identity documents exist more to prevent (the “wrong") people from functioning as citizens than to enable people to do so.

If you look young, how can you even buy alcohol or cigarettes (in my countries case even energy drinks) or get in a club? In my country each citizen must have an identity document - either a passport or ID card (drivers license doesn't count). I can't see it any other way as you need to ID yourself in stores (in the mentioned case if you look young and want to buy alcohol/cigarettes/energy drink), post office when receiving package, getting drivers licence, opening bank account, getting loans etc.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#377
post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't advise doing this. Forwarding all your email from one provider to another doesn't really work in today's Internet. The problem is that from gmail's point of view your registrar is now sending it a lot of spam. So it'll block the registrar or filter it more aggressively. Also if you get email from a 3rd party who uses domain-keys, spf, etc (eg just about everyone) then those emails will be failing all the c…

This is inaccurate. I have namecheap forward all of my email from *@my-domain-name.com to my.name@gmail.com. Works no problem, has for several years. Prepared for the eventual switch to FastMail when they support multi-label messages. The only messages that end up in my spam folder are spam for knock off online pharmacies.

Hmm [goes off and does more research].

Okay, it appears this is so common that gmail has some guidelines that if people follow they are are usually okay:

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/175365?hl=en

It does look like namecheap filters spam aggressively so possibly that helps.

In general be careful for the reasons I mention. But it looks like if you follow the guidelines with gmail then you'll be good.

Sorry for the inaccurate information.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#378
post #346
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…

I wouldn't advise doing this. Forwarding all your email from one provider to another doesn't really work in today's Internet. The problem is that from gmail's point of view your registrar is now sending it a lot of spam. So it'll block the registrar or filter it more aggressively. Also if you get email from a 3rd party who uses domain-keys, spf, etc (eg just about everyone) then those emails will be failing all the c…

You misunderstand jjeaff. He suggests making the MX of yourdomain.tld point to Gmail's MTAs. This is what he means by "forwarding email". This is the best-practice way to do it and works perfectly well.

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#379
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.

This has been my experience as well. Last year I went on a trip through Morocco and the UK. Never worried about my usage despite using services like Spotify and Google Maps. Got a bill that I would expect with traveling within the States. My normal day-to-day has me on WiFi the majority of the time so my phone bill usually comes out to about $36 a month. Edit: For the curious, I've been using Fi with a Pixel 2 since…

In Denmark 36usd will get you unlimited calls, texting, 40gb of data and worldwide roaming.. seems like the same is priced at 80usd at google fi?

The US is a wierd place..

https://www.3.dk/abonnementer/mobil/40-gb-mobilabonnement-in...

Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi

#380
post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can’t function as a citizen of a country without identity documents. Sure you can. Identity documents exist more to prevent (the “wrong") people from functioning as citizens than to enable people to do so.

If you look young, how can you even buy alcohol or cigarettes (in my countries case even energy drinks) or get in a club? In my country each citizen must have an identity document - either a passport or ID card (drivers license doesn't count). I can't see it any other way as you need to ID yourself in stores (in the mentioned case if you look young and want to buy alcohol/cigarettes/energy drink), post office when re…

> If you look young, how can you even buy alcohol or cigarettes (in my countries case even energy drinks) or get in a club?

It is possible to go your entire life without ever doing any of those things, or having any desire to. And as a general rule, it's the people who are of legal age who least care to do them. Also, some countries don't have age restrictions on such things to begin with (or don't enforce them at all).

> post office when receiving package

Who goes to the post office to receive a package? They come to you, and are then satisfied by the fact that they delivered the package to the address on the label.

> getting drivers licence

This a major reason why this is pointless. If you're going to have an ID, how do you identify yourself to get the ID? It's fully circular. You can't prove who you are unless you can already prove who you are, in which case you already have an ID.

In the US a large percentage of the population don't have passports. When you get a driver's license, they nominally ask you for some other ID, most of which (e.g. birth certificates or company/school IDs they have no way to authenticate) are trivially forged and useless at proving the person is who they say. Because it has to be that way -- you can't make having an ID a condition of getting an ID.

The whole idea is silly. Identity is context. If you create an email address with Google, you set a password. Then Google knows you're the person that email address belongs to because you're the one with the password. Your government "identity" has nothing to do with it, nor should it.

> opening bank account

The only reason banks care about this is that the government requires them to. Otherwise they would be completely satisfied to give you a numbered account with no person's name attached and simply put a hold on your deposits until after they've cleared, as they do for most anyone regardless.

> getting loans etc.

To get a loan what they care about is whether you're creditworthy, not what your name is. Prove that you have a job and a history of paying back debts, or post some collateral, that's what they want.

One system by which they automate this is to have credit reporting agencies that aggregate this information and associate it with your name, but there is no inherent reason it has to be done that way -- and some good reasons not to. See Equifax data breach.

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