It’s tough! You have to actively work to develop new antibodies to the rapidly mutating marketing viruses you can’t help but be exposed to.
I’m joking, but I’m not. Fucking nobody needs a new Pixel for $900 any more than they need a new iPhone for $1200.
It’s possible I just dropped $200 on smarthome nonsense that I don’t need, but hey nobody is perfect ok?
Hear hear. It would be one thing if we were talking about a $20 piece of technology, but it’s nearly $1000 here. Even at half price it’s still very expensive. I’m weak, but trying to be stronger.
Fi sent me an email with a cute little dinosaur game to play and a code for a free Google Photos book at the end. Nothing spectacular, but nice.
Cool! Works well for you so far?
Do you have any indication on your account page of the $20 credit coming your way? I don’t see anything on mine about the Share the Love credit. We don’t get it until 30 days of service, but another page gave me the impression that we’d see the status of it sooner.
I don’t even have a statement yet, it seems like the service gives you a day or so free to let the number be ported and fill out all the things. But i’ll let you know when i see it pop up.
I got the message stating the credit will be applied in 30 days, so yours should work too. Thanks again, I appreciate it!
Son has been in a smallish city/village in Ghana for the past week. Fi SMS and phone calls have been pretty reliable, but MMS so unreliable we gave up on trying. Still, nice to able to be in contact with him every few days without futzing with a local provider.
Google customer service has apparently taken a nosedive in the last 6 months or so. Caveat Emptor:
I will probably switch away from Fi soon.
Why’s that?
Hmm I contacted them earlier this week to follow up on my Black Friday credits, they said they were in place and the would start showing up on my March bill.
Took them about 5 hours to respond after my initial support contact.
I’ve never returned anything though.
Google’s generic support is a different team from Fi support, afaik. Not excusing the shittiness of that experience, but my dealings with and what I’ve read about Fi support have been generally positive.
The link offers explanations plenty. tldr: If you have a problem, Google customer service will not be able to solve it and you could be out hundreds of dollars. You could actually lose your entire Google account because of Google Pay shenanigans that aren’t your fault and be able to do nothing about it.
Here’s the link to the most concerning one:
Previously, whenever I had issues with my Pixel 2 or prior Fi-enabled devices, the third-party support center was phenomenal. I’ve had them help me with hardware issues, system issues, a phone that just wouldn’t connect to WiFi, or tethering that didn’t work when it was supposed to — every interaction was great, and resulted in the problem being solved.
Since November, this has not been the case. My calls and chats to support have gone nowhere, and the once-great support staff have been replaced (or supplemented) by random people using generic scripts. I’m sure the awesome trouble-shooters are still there, but the sampling I’ve seen doesn’t suggest pervasive competency.
We have submitted copies of his ID four times, my ID twice, multiple photos of credit cards, and various credit card statements. We’ve talked to agents and supervisors at Google Payments and Google Fi. No one is empowered to do anything , and even a well-intentioned agent doesn’t get the same answer from the “security department” twice.
I’ve since found hundreds of comments and Reddit threads from people having similar experiences, with almost zero positive conclusions.
The only suggestion of a solution we’ve been given is that he abandon both his email address and phone number of the past twenty years and start fresh.
Funny this has been bumped. Last week I had to take my new dog to the emergency vet and the Google Fi service died, for unknown reasons. IE, all cell and data simply stopped working. So I had to get there 70s style, by phonebook and map at a convenience store. I’ve not had phone service simply stop working to my memory, as long as I’ve had cell phones.
Ever since then, while I have recovered phone service, all data service has been nonfunctional. It’s almost as if the service cut me off of all data once I had reached over 7gb, though that’s probably just a coincidence.
They also awarded me a $20 credit but then, I guess?, forgot to apply it, so they promised another additional $20 credit along with this one to be applied to next month’s bill.
I’ll be curious if once my data rolls over back to 0.00gb for the billing period if my data service will be restored. Otherwise trying to find some way of contacting Google.
I had this problem in certain spots for a few weeks, I suspect it’s a problem switching carriers. I contacted support, they gave me a bunch of stuff to try first which worked.
The first 3 steps did it. My symptoms were the bar showed I had data/5 bars but I couldn’t actually use the internet.
Step 1: Please power off the device, remove the SIM, re-insert it and then power On the device.
Step 2: Clear the cache of the Google Play services app.
Open your device’s Settings app.
Tap Apps & notifications > then tap pm Google Play Services app (If you don’t see “See all apps,” tap App info.)
Tap Storage and then Clear Cache of the app.
Step 3: Clear the data of the Project Fi app: Please go to settings> Apps > select Project Fi app > Storage > then tap on ‘Clear Data’. Once the data is cleared, please re-launch the Project Fi app and activate the services.
Step 4: Check for system updates: Go to Settings > About phone > System updates > Check for update. If there is any update available, please make sure you update the software
Step 5: Check for app updates
Check for Hangouts, Messenger, and Project Fi app updates
Go to Play Store app > My apps > Select the app (Hangouts, Messenger, Project Fi.)
If it says “Update,” tap the button to update the app. If it says “Open,” then the app is already updated to the latest version.
Step 6: Please check it by switching the networks. The following are the dialer Codes
Dial ##FIINFO##(same as ##344636##)- Shows the current network information.
Dial ##FISPR## (same as ##34777##) - Switches to Sprint.
Dial ##FIUSC## (same as ##34872##) - Switches to US Cellular.
Dial ##FITMO## (same as ##34866## ) - Switches to T-Mobile.
Step 7: Check Data usage and Permission settings
On the device, open Phone settings > Apps > Project Fi.
Tap Data usage. The wording will differ depending on the OS. Then please make sure that the switches for the ‘Background data’ and 'Unrestricted data usage," should be On and the switch for the option “Restrict background data,” should be off
Then tap the back arrow from the top to return to the App info.
Tap on Permissions >> Phone, SMS, and Location permissions should be On.
Step 8: Enable safe mode on your device
In safe mode, all third-party applications will be disabled. This can help pinpoint issues caused by third-party installed apps. To restart your device in safe mode:
Ensure your device’s screen is on, then press & hold the Power button
Touch & hold the Power off option for a few seconds in the dialog box
Touch Ok in the following dialog to start safe mode
To exit safe mode, power off the device and power it On again.
Thanks a ton @wisefool . So #4 did it.
Updating the phone restores data? This is definitely a software company problem and not a hardware company problem.
That’s the problem with companies like Facebook and Google, they’re software driven for-free companies, so to them every extra employee they have to hire is screaming-at-the-sky horrible, who see customer service as some kind of engineering problem with an (as yet undiscovered) engineering solution.
So, for those of you still on Google Fi, how do you like it so far? I’d love to ditch AT&T, but between @Enidigm’s story and @Matt_W’s link, I’m a bit hesitant to pull the trigger.
My experience has been fine. Coverage is reasonable and I don’t have any issues though I don’t use my phone a ton. I went with Google Fi to have a low-cost option and it works well for that purpose.
I’ve been very happy with it. There were times at the beginning when Project Fi favored T-mobile too much, even in areas where T-mobile had a terrible connection, but they’ve improved a lot in the past two years. Now those areas switch seemlessly to Sprint all the time.
The cost has been great. Getting a Pixel 3 for only $400 was great on Black Friday. Having more options for phones to get on Fi is great if my wife’s Nexus 5X ever slows down or has problems.
I’m glad I don’t have problems though. If I ever do get in touch with Fi support, they take about 3 weeks to return my message.
