Nexus One and Tmobile: aka Google fails hard

[Ksandra]

So google is being a big pile of fail atm and I'm starting to think it's a bit shady.

Basically, I have tmobile and my fiance was going to get added to my account and he wanted the nexus one. So they said you have to order it through google's website.

Turns out though google for about 6 months now magically has "issues" with ordering the phone with tmobile. We've tried several times to order it (as a new plan because apparently google is requiring people to have an individual plan for 120 days).

Magically, though, if you buy the phone outright for $500 there's no issue (it's $179 with the tmobile plan).

Here's an article to give an idea of what we went through and others are going through:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/18639...omplaints.html

Google support forums are awash with people looking for help for problems with their Nexus One phones -- and unable to find it.

The volume of complaints points to a problem that Google faces now that it has decided to try to push a new cell-phone-buying model in the U.S. Since most people buy subsidized phones from a mobile operator, they turn to the operator when they have problems.

But Google is selling the phone directly to end-users. That means many users are turning to it first, and the search giant doesn't have the kind of customer support that mobile-phone users are accustomed to.

Google appears to be only accepting e-mail customer queries, to which it pledges to reply in one to two days -- far too long, say most people who are complaining online.

Many people are also turning to T-Mobile and HTC, but getting little help there. T-Mobile is often referring people back to either Google or HTC for answers to questions. HTC is often referring people back to T-Mobile, according to complaints online.

One customer going by the name Roland78 said he was transferred between T-Mobile and HTC four times, spending a total of one-and-a-half hours on the phone with customer service. "T-Mobile also said Google hasn't provided them with any support documents for the phone. Welcome to direct sales Google!" he wrote.

Another using the name SouthFlGuy was also sent back and forth between HTC and T-Mobile after finding no help from Google. "I guess I was under the wrong impression but I thought Google would handle the service on the phone," he wrote.

Several people on one thread regarding poor 3G performance on the phone report being told by HTC customer service people that the Nexus One doesn't support 3G, although the phone does. Another got an e-mail response in five hours from Google suggesting that the user try restarting the phone to see if that solves the problem.

More than 425 comments are listed on a thread about service eligibility issues. Some of them are from people who say that they ought to be eligible for the subsidized price of the phone but the Google sales site says they aren't. Many others are simply complaining of a policy that requires even longtime T-Mobile customers to pay more for the phone than new customers.

Yet others on the site complain about placing an order and failing to get even an order confirmation three days later.

Google, T-Mobile and HTC did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

That article happened back in January and it's still not working right.

ANYWAY, reason I'm posting is to see if anyone was able to get the nexus with the tmobile contract and if they knew a trick on how to. Checking the tmobile support forums, some where able to with things like using firefox, or updating their browsers, etc. None of which worked for us, but there might be something else. Unfortunately, tmobile is insistent that their knowlege of what google is doing is limited, and google isn't saying anything at all. (we tried calling them and they had no good answer to give accept "keep trying" and "we don't know when the issue will be fixed").

Also hoping maybe someone here works for google in this department or knows someone who does who might be able to shed some light on the matter.

[Quixon]

It's tough to get the Nexus right now.

Google is kind of "in between" distribution methods, so to speak.


In the beginning you bought the phone directly through Google. It was a disaster for the most part. Since about a month ago, Google is phasing out their direct distribution.... and shipping Nexus's to Tmobile so they can sell the phone themselves (as I understand it anyways).


If you wait another couple weeks you should see the Nexus start popping up on Tmobile's Website.

I'm in a similar boat, b/c I have a non-contract plan I get no rebates at all on phones. Instead, I pay about $20ish less/month and can have the phone financed over a (I think) 18 month period. I actually come out saving money doing it this way. Problem was since Tmobile wasn't selling the phone themselves, I didn't have access to the financing. I wasn't paying $500+ for a cell phone straight up.... so I'm waiting as well.



Hope that rambling made a little sense. I'm typing this while watching Spain v. Honduras, so I'm a bit distracted lol.

[Krandor]

Yeah I think you're just getting hit by the fact that Google is altering their distribution method.

[Mizango]

It's tough to get the Nexus right now.

Google is kind of "in between" distribution methods, so to speak.


In the beginning you bought the phone directly through Google. It was a disaster for the most part. Since about a month ago, Google is phasing out their direct distribution.... and shipping Nexus's to Tmobile so they can sell the phone themselves (as I understand it anyways).


If you wait another couple weeks you should see the Nexus start popping up on Tmobile's Website.

I'm in a similar boat, b/c I have a non-contract plan I get no rebates at all on phones. Instead, I pay about $20ish less/month and can have the phone financed over a (I think) 18 month period. I actually come out saving money doing it this way. Problem was since Tmobile wasn't selling the phone themselves, I didn't have access to the financing. I wasn't paying $500+ for a cell phone straight up.... so I'm waiting as well.

Right on the money.

[Ksandra]

It's tough to get the Nexus right now.

Google is kind of "in between" distribution methods, so to speak.


In the beginning you bought the phone directly through Google. It was a disaster for the most part. Since about a month ago, Google is phasing out their direct distribution.... and shipping Nexus's to Tmobile so they can sell the phone themselves (as I understand it anyways).


If you wait another couple weeks you should see the Nexus start popping up on Tmobile's Website.

I'm in a similar boat, b/c I have a non-contract plan I get no rebates at all on phones. Instead, I pay about $20ish less/month and can have the phone financed over a (I think) 18 month period. I actually come out saving money doing it this way. Problem was since Tmobile wasn't selling the phone themselves, I didn't have access to the financing. I wasn't paying $500+ for a cell phone straight up.... so I'm waiting as well.



Hope that rambling made a little sense. I'm typing this while watching Spain v. Honduras, so I'm a bit distracted lol.

hmmm that's good to know at least. It's sad that none of the reps on either end could give that answer. When do you think they'll pop in stores? (i.e. any sites giving specific release dates or anything) Also do you know if they plan on still insisting people get the individual plan for 120 days? It sucks because it forces us to pay about $40 a month more during that period than we will on the family plan. Which is kinda why we want it asap.

And ya it's nice t-mobile does that phone rate thing, they're giving me the discounted rate without having to buy a phone outright though because I've had t-mobile from their beginning in the US. So ya definitely don't want to pay the $500 for it.

[Eticket]

I was interested in the N1 but the no family plan restriction would have just boned our finances. I ended up just getting a MyTouch instead. It's probably a tier or two slower and what not but it works fine for me.

[Ksandra]

I was interested in the N1 but the no family plan restriction would have just boned our finances. I ended up just getting a MyTouch instead. It's probably a tier or two slower and what not but it works fine for me.

that's what I'm getting actually lol. Basically, my contract runs up in july and my fiance is on his parents plan. I promised him he could have any phone he wanted cause he's a big phone lover. He decided he wanted the N1, so I renewed my contract so I could get the mytouch for free.

[Mizango]

Tmobile will still let you order the Nexus off of Google's site at the discounted price, I did the same thing a few months ago so I know that first hand, what they did wasnt a favor or a perk for being a customer. Now if you decide to get another phone and come back and get the Nexus later then you have to pay 500 for it since the discount is only applicable to the phone you get on that particular day.

[Ksandra]

Tmobile will still let you order the Nexus off of Google's site at the discounted price, I did the same thing a few months ago so I know that first hand, what they did wasnt a favor or a perk for being a customer. Now if you decide to get another phone and come back and get the Nexus later then you have to pay 500 for it since the discount is only applicable to the phone you get on that particular day.

think you misunderstood. I was talking about the discounted monthly rate, not the discounted phone price. Me with my mytouch is getting the discounted monthly rate when you buy a phone outright, but I used my upgrade instead of buying it. And they notated my account to give us the discounted family rate when we combine the two.

Tmobile has two monthly plans. one is higher if you use your upgrade, another is lower per month if you buy the phone straight out. We're getting the lower monthly even without having to buy the phones straight out.

to clarify:

https://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/...atgroup=Family

We're getting the plus rates without having to pay the retail price of the phones (which is what you need to do to get the plus rate)

[virusiidx]

It's tough to get the Nexus right now.

Google is kind of "in between" distribution methods, so to speak.


In the beginning you bought the phone directly through Google. It was a disaster for the most part. Since about a month ago, Google is phasing out their direct distribution.... and shipping Nexus's to Tmobile so they can sell the phone themselves (as I understand it anyways).


If you wait another couple weeks you should see the Nexus start popping up on Tmobile's Website.

Yep, it was announced a little over a month ago that they are discontinuing their direct distribution.

Source: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/...ilability.html

[Ksandra]

Sorry for the bump, but just wanted to let anyone interested know, the website is working again, and you can still order the N1 with the t-mobile contract there. So I guess the site just wasn't working or something lol.