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Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

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Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#51

Post by cft »

boardwaalk wrote: post #43
tedivm wrote: post #7

Google Fi (originally Project Fi) was amazing when it first came out, but at some point they switched to contracted support with no ability to resolve issues (it's not even the support people's fault, as they literally don't have the power to do anything). For awhile Google people used to hang out in the Google Fi subreddit but they seem to have mostly moved on to other projects or companies. Besides locking phones l…

Sounds a bit like my Google Fiber experience (support not being able to do anything). I had a weird problem where my Google Fiber "account" wasn't linked to my real Google account and Google closed that other account (I'm not even sure why) so I literally couldn't pay them, and it took them a long while to figure it out. I essentially had to sign up from scratch and pretend the hardware was transferred to me... from…

They are actually thinking of their paid customers as their users, and they make their paid users hate them. Despite their monopoly power, there might be opportunities to build on this genuinely increasing hatred by their users, like Protonmail and Fastmail

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#52

Post by TillE »

theposey wrote: post #45

This isn't bricked at all. They suspended the cellular service and it's carrier locked. Needs a re-title, pretty clickbaity.

Word usage changes, but it's super frustrating when a very specific term gets stretched and stretched until it barely means anything anymore.

Bricked mean it's literally as useful as a brick - maybe it's recoverable via a JTAG interface or something similarly obscure, but it's otherwise dead. It doesn't mean "temporarily disabled until I make enough annoying phone calls".

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#53

Post by Someone1234 »

cft wrote: post #32
Someone1234 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author purchased a 12 Max, where is that to buy unlocked? All you've found is an out-of-stock older model.

No even the title say 11 Max, not 12. In 2020. And Best Buy does sell new unlocked iphones, see link above.

The title was edited to that (both 2020 and "11 Max."). Best Buy doesn't sell unlocked iPhones 11 Max see links above.

They sell used iPhones "unlocked" with multiple reviews saying that they received a locked phone instead.

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#54

Post by gusmd »

> I learned that Google Fi exclusively uses the T-Mobile network for iPhone customers, and activating a Google Fi SIM with an iPhone causes T-Mobile to lock the phone to the T-Mobile network (which is illegal, since the user hasn’t entered into any service agreement with T-Mobile).

This happened to me with an unlocked iPhone, bought at Best Buy, that I activated with a T-Mobile SIM card as well. Tried Apple support first, Apple couldn't care less. In the end T-Mobile themselves unlocked it after 2 full months of calling them almost daily and escalating, reaching out on social media, etc. This has nothing to do with Google Fi, and, if anything, I blame this on Apple for such a stupid fucking design that lets carriers unilaterally lock a brand new phone with no recourse.

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#55

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

dataflow wrote: post #23
bb88 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would expect this to be the case. If they can remotely unlock it, they should be able to lock it as well.

It really depends on what you mean by "should be able". If you mean "I would expect it to be physically possible to implement something like this", then obviously. If you mean "I think manufacturers should design phones in a manner that allows this"... that one is not so obvious to me.

I wonder if the obvious solution would be a warranty return (if bought in a country/state with reasonable customer protection laws).

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#56

Post by gusmd »

mortenjorck wrote: post #42
dataflow wrote: post #5

> I learned that Google Fi exclusively uses the T-Mobile network for iPhone customers, and activating a Google Fi SIM with an iPhone causes T-Mobile to lock the phone to the T-Mobile network (which is illegal, since the user hasn’t entered into any service agreement with T-Mobile). Wow, carriers can just remotely lock an unlocked phone? How does this even work? Is this some kind of command that the SIM card sends the…

Beyond Google Fi and T-Mobile, this story has made me suddenly much more apprehensive about picking up SIM cards from some local MVNO when traveling. What’s to stop a local operator from locking my phone and leaving an unpleasant surprise waiting when I get home? And now I also have to wonder: do eSIMs have the same vulnerability to bad-actor carriers? Is this a risk with any of the companies Airalo has partnered wit…

It can only ever happen when the phone is first activated. So if you have already used the phone with another carrier's SIM card, you are good to go.

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#58

Post by frogperson »

cschmid wrote: post #38

No carrier should be able to brick a phone without it being locked to the network. I did some research online, and it seems that the culprit here is actually Best Buy (and Apple) for selling phones as unlocked although they actually aren't: Apple sells iPhones to third parties under a 'US Reseller Flex Policy' [1], which means that they are automatically locked to the first carrier they are activated on. Nothing on t…

Try to buy a phone from best buy and not have them set it up for you. It's impossible, they will refuse to sell you the phone.

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#59

Post by 3np »

TillE wrote: post #52
theposey wrote: post #45

This isn't bricked at all. They suspended the cellular service and it's carrier locked. Needs a re-title, pretty clickbaity.

Word usage changes, but it's super frustrating when a very specific term gets stretched and stretched until it barely means anything anymore. Bricked mean it's literally as useful as a brick - maybe it's recoverable via a JTAG interface or something similarly obscure, but it's otherwise dead. It doesn't mean "temporarily disabled until I make enough annoying phone calls".

Breaking: "Bricked" bricked

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#60

Post by tmp_anon_22 »

dangrossman wrote: post #37
GiorgioG wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google is turning into a complete sh*tshow across seemingly all product lines. Aside from Ads (I mean Search) I can't think of anything that hasn't fallen into disrepair or been EOL'd.

Ads are just as bad, and Search is little more than Ads these days. They've outsourced Google Ads "account strategists" to contractors abroad who hound Google's advertisers by any and all contact methods they can find -- not those you've given Google -- to force you onto "account review" phone calls in which they talk you through ways to spend more on Google Ads. Then those ads get reviewed by people that don't have…

Our CTO had to get involved when some GCP SDR wouldn't stop hounding several ICs in our engineering org. We're an exclusively AWS shop and they didn't seem to be targeting decision makers. Multiple please-do-not-contact emails was not enough for them to stop.

It was weird because you'd think they'd at least target decision makers based on LinkedIn titles.

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