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Purely anecdotal, but my experience with Fi has been far less than ideal and I'm about ready to switch to another network. Right now I'm about a week into figh

by drtz 7y ago

Purely anecdotal, but my experience with Fi has been far less than ideal and I'm about ready to switch to another network. Right now I'm about a week into fighting with support, so far unsuccessfully, to get back $40 in charges for device protection on a device that was deactivated months ago. Their response: "it's your duty to remove device protection when deactivating a device." This is after more than a year of struggling with WiFi tethering issues. I've had a ton of problems with the hotspot dropping WiFi connections and other weird networking problems where the phone suddenly stops routing traffic correctly (I suspect it's something to do with the network swap). In the ~10 times I've contacted them about the issue, support has been absolutely terrible. They usually take about 30 minutes before they even figure out what tethering is, only to suggest I install OS updates or swap out my phone for the nth time.

jdm2212 7y ago
The device protection seems like it should be separate from the phone plan though? Unless the device protection is voided by canceling your service, it makes sense to not cancel those charges. You might deactivate the device and take it to another provider but still want it fixed if it breaks, right?
- adrianmonk 7y ago
  You could want that, but it's not the common case. Therefore, to me it sounds like something they should ask about when you deactivate service, and they should either have no default (force you to explicitly choose) or default it to canceling the device protection.
fossuser 7y ago
I've been pretty happy with Visible which is a Verizon owned MVNO (sort of, not sure if it's a true MVNO if Verizon owns them). Everything is done via an app, you get the Verizon network with unlimited LTE (though you do get de-prioritized during congestion, but I've found it to be fine in the bay area). It's $40/month which includes all local fees/taxes and it's no contract. Only downside is no cellular support for the Apple Watch.
- rkho 7y ago
  What I recall about Visible is that they were started by former Verizon executives, might be a long-term play for a boomerang-style acquisition target
sliken 7y ago
Are you using a pixel purchased from Google in the USA? I've heard many similar problems when people buy random international versions of the phone off ebay.

by drtz 7y ago

jdm2212 7y ago

The device protection seems like it should be separate from the phone plan though? Unless the device protection is voided by canceling your service, it makes sense to not cancel those charges. You might deactivate the device and take it to another provider but still want it fixed if it breaks, right?

adrianmonk 7y ago
You could want that, but it's not the common case. Therefore, to me it sounds like something they should ask about when you deactivate service, and they should either have no default (force you to explicitly choose) or default it to canceling the device protection.

fossuser 7y ago

I've been pretty happy with Visible which is a Verizon owned MVNO (sort of, not sure if it's a true MVNO if Verizon owns them). Everything is done via an app, you get the Verizon network with unlimited LTE (though you do get de-prioritized during congestion, but I've found it to be fine in the bay area). It's $40/month which includes all local fees/taxes and it's no contract. Only downside is no cellular support for the Apple Watch.

rkho 7y ago
What I recall about Visible is that they were started by former Verizon executives, might be a long-term play for a boomerang-style acquisition target

sliken 7y ago

Are you using a pixel purchased from Google in the USA? I've heard many similar problems when people buy random international versions of the phone off ebay.