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I agree. And I think the branding here of "Google One" implies that this could be the start of a large change of course, since it's not specific to any one prod

I agree. And I think the branding here of "Google One" implies that this could be the start of a large change of course, since it's not specific to any one product. While gmail support is notoriously awful, I've been extremely impressed with my call-in support for my Google Fi, Nexus phones, and Pixel buds. So when you pay for the product, they do (/can) support it well. I would love a general paid-Google (a la Amazon Prime) plan, which aligns incentives a little better.

onlyrealcuzzo 8y ago
Anecdotally, I've been extremely unimpressed with Google's Fi / Nexus / Pixel support. I had a Nexus phone on Fi that -- while I was holding it in my hand texting -- it went black and never turned on again, for no reason. I assumed the battery died -- even though the UI displayed that I had most of my battery still. No, it completely bricked. Coincidentally and non-conspiratorially, it might've been ~2 weeks after my 1-year warranty expired. But after the whole iPhone planned obsolescence thing, I was skeptical. Still, I called into Fi support. Not only were they completely unapologetic for the phone bricking, but they also had literally only one phone available for sale -- the new $700+ Pixel XL. I didn't want that phone. They offered no discount. Their answer was "you can wait a month until we get new phones". I had to buy a phone (grudgingly) from Verizon. Overall, one of the worst experiences I've had with a Telecom company -- and it's not like I've had any experiences I would describe as "jolly".
- sjs382 8y ago
  I am a Project Fi customer that bought a Nexus 5X through them. After abotu 16 months of use, I ran into the well-documented "bootloop" issue that went along with these phones. They replaced the Nexus 5X with overnight shipping. I experienced the same issue with the replacement device about 2 months after the original warranty expired. They replaced it out-of-warranty, with overnight shipping, for free. Each time, I interacted with Project Fi support via web chat.
  - onlyrealcuzzo 8y ago
    Sure wish I would've got this experience. Maybe I just got screwed because they were out of the 5X.
  - drusepth 8y ago
    This is actually the exact experience I had, although I got 2-day shipping since they shipped to Ireland for me the first time, and Croatia the second time. It was exceptionally good service that I've yet to see paralleled anywhere else.
- ericd 8y ago
  I've found them to be excellent the few times I've contacted them. They even debugged some networking issues within a few hours when my phone was having trouble switching to a Japanese data network, all while keeping me updated on their progress. The Fi vs every other carrier delta is the primary thing keeping me from an iPhone. I've been a bit less impressed with the hardware reliability of the Pixel, and Android's software experience isn't quite as good as iOS'.
- OnMyPhone 8y ago
  "I had a Nexus phone on Fi that -- while I was holding it in my hand texting -- it went black and never turned on again, for no reason. I assumed the battery died -- even though the UI displayed that I had most of my battery still. No, it completely bricked. Coincidentally and non-conspiratorially, it might've been ~2 weeks after my 1-year warranty expired. But after the whole iPhone planned obsolescence thing, I was skeptical." I had the same exact issue with my Pixel XL. I did buy it used, so yeah I know. I just set the phone down, it looked like it froze and rebooted, but the screen just turned off and that was it. That was a month after the warranty expired. I'm on my second one, so we'll see how this goes.

onlyrealcuzzo 8y ago

Anecdotally, I've been extremely unimpressed with Google's Fi / Nexus / Pixel support. I had a Nexus phone on Fi that -- while I was holding it in my hand texting -- it went black and never turned on again, for no reason. I assumed the battery died -- even though the UI displayed that I had most of my battery still. No, it completely bricked. Coincidentally and non-conspiratorially, it might've been ~2 weeks after my 1-year warranty expired. But after the whole iPhone planned obsolescence thing, I was skeptical. Still, I called into Fi support. Not only were they completely unapologetic for the phone bricking, but they also had literally only one phone available for sale -- the new $700+ Pixel XL. I didn't want that phone. They offered no discount. Their answer was "you can wait a month until we get new phones". I had to buy a phone (grudgingly) from Verizon. Overall, one of the worst experiences I've had with a Telecom company -- and it's not like I've had any experiences I would describe as "jolly".

sjs382 8y ago
I am a Project Fi customer that bought a Nexus 5X through them. After abotu 16 months of use, I ran into the well-documented "bootloop" issue that went along with these phones. They replaced the Nexus 5X with overnight shipping. I experienced the same issue with the replacement device about 2 months after the original warranty expired. They replaced it out-of-warranty, with overnight shipping, for free. Each time, I interacted with Project Fi support via web chat.
- onlyrealcuzzo 8y ago
  Sure wish I would've got this experience. Maybe I just got screwed because they were out of the 5X.
- drusepth 8y ago
  This is actually the exact experience I had, although I got 2-day shipping since they shipped to Ireland for me the first time, and Croatia the second time. It was exceptionally good service that I've yet to see paralleled anywhere else.
ericd 8y ago
I've found them to be excellent the few times I've contacted them. They even debugged some networking issues within a few hours when my phone was having trouble switching to a Japanese data network, all while keeping me updated on their progress. The Fi vs every other carrier delta is the primary thing keeping me from an iPhone. I've been a bit less impressed with the hardware reliability of the Pixel, and Android's software experience isn't quite as good as iOS'.
OnMyPhone 8y ago
"I had a Nexus phone on Fi that -- while I was holding it in my hand texting -- it went black and never turned on again, for no reason. I assumed the battery died -- even though the UI displayed that I had most of my battery still. No, it completely bricked. Coincidentally and non-conspiratorially, it might've been ~2 weeks after my 1-year warranty expired. But after the whole iPhone planned obsolescence thing, I was skeptical." I had the same exact issue with my Pixel XL. I did buy it used, so yeah I know. I just set the phone down, it looked like it froze and rebooted, but the screen just turned off and that was it. That was a month after the warranty expired. I'm on my second one, so we'll see how this goes.