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Google Faces Deluge of Nexus One Complaints
wkurzius writes "It seems Google is going through some growing pains as far as customer service is concerned. Since their new phone, the Nexus One, can be bought unlocked, many people are turning to Google themselves for help, but not getting what they're used to from traditional mobile carriers. T-Mobile and HTC are also getting hammered, with many customers being bounced back and forth between the two companies' service lines."
It seems they're also taking flak from Android developers who are unhappy that no SDK has yet been released for Android 2.1, which runs on the Nexus One.
it's little wonder this is biting them in the arse.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
That *is* what you get for being an early adopter...
They haven't even worked out how to work out problems yet, it seems like.
How does PC World have any idea of the volume of traffic Google is getting from disgruntled N1 customers? By stories from random people? Yeah, thought so. A
48,000,000 for i hate t-mobile
1,660,000 for i hate verizon
1,330,000 for i hate at&t
361,000 for i hate vodafone
Looks like they picked a winner to start with...
(Bonus: 1,590,000 for i hate sprint)
A good idea is to avoid version 1.0 of any commercial offering. It's not a bad idea to avoid .0 versions in general.
If you have to get one, wait a month. They don't call it the Bleeding Edge of technology for nothing. I prefer it to be someone else's blood...
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
Notice a pattern about her Android articles?
http://labs.daylife.com/journalist/nancy_gohring
One guess, which type of phone does Nancy own? i...
Android releases are sort of a mess, which may or may not be deliberate. A new OS version will typically first appear on a new handset, and the SDK will pop up at roughly the same time. Weeks later, they push out a single blob of changes to their public Git repository. Months later, it's available on other handsets.
And so the whole Android ecosystem is far more of a mess than it should or could be, with plenty of devices at 1.5 or 1.6, two (Droid/Milestone) at 2.0, and the Nexus One at 2.1. For simpler apps, it's usually not problematic to target 1.5 and have your app run on anything. But when you try to do more interesting things...ugh. Hopefully once Android is a bit more feature-complete, things will stabilize, but Android adoption is growing fast, and they need to get things under control soon. And I haven't even mentioned some utterly moronic decisions, like barring all SIM-unlocked phones from downloading copy-protected apps, just because there's a loophole in the dev phones (which are also SIM-unlocked).
Give 'em a break... the phone's still in beta!
Disclaimer: I work for the biggest mobile provider in a nordic country. This is completely normal behaviour for a mobile provider. We are the bit/call/sms delivery pipe. We don't really care at all what device you use on our network as long as its approved by the relevant authorities to be used on the appropriate radio frequencies. If your problem is directly relevant to our network (for example, bad coverage that is consistent across multiple phone models) or our actual services (ringbacktone, mms delivery, answering machine, push email, etc), you call us. If your problem is phonemodel-specific, we can't help, you call the phone manufacturer, even if you happened to purchase the phone at our store. There are literally thousands of phone models out there. To be expecting your operator to help you with with your random phone model and it's specific issues is naive at best.
Here's all the help you need: http://www.google.com/
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
As an Apple fanboy I can assure you that this is unacceptable.
When I bought my iPhones on release days everything worked flawlessly!
I didn't have any problems with them not being able to activate it, or not being able to determine that my account was eligible, or not being able to process my fucking perfectly valid credit card, or not allowing me to use a different card because it didn't have my middle initial on it ...
Nope ... never had any iPhone problems, so why should Google get any slack?!?!!
In all seriousness however, its even harder to do things right one your very first try. I'd cut them some slack as well. Of course, this is what, the 3rd or 4th Android phone thats been released, and they've been involved directly with all of them so they probably should know what they are doing.
Whats most likely however is that this launch really went just fine and that what we're seeing is just an example of how the Internet can blow things out of proportion because the product was far too over hyped to start with.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
reply to delete wrong moderation, :/ anyway it looks like this is a dupe, it's been out for less than a month, just after holidays (people out of money)so I bet there is not such a huge user base to complain. Looks like some shills set up us the bomb in the firehose..
/. "How Google power his datacenters with a furnace that works exclusively on first born children and kittens and how they are so proud of it"
next in
then, "Google discovers Atlantis with Maps data and they close the source for the machine that wrecked the island"
in other news "How Google mine your porn preferences and how do they plan to go and tell to your wife and boss, yes! YOUR wife and boss, for the lulz"
i bought an unlocked N1 the second it was released. it's been working great i'm very happy with it. zero bugs and zero crashes so far. note that no review of the many that i read before i purchased the phone had anything significant to complain about let alone bugs or stability problems.
i'm fairly certain google and t-mo are not releasing the number and details of their support calls. i have no doubt that *some* support calls are being fielded, and some users are unhappy. here's the "proof" from the PCWorld article,
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.
translation: people are complaining that the phone costs too much.
it's not a beta phone. it's a 2.1 release, a minor update to 2.0 which has been shipping for some time on the motorola droid, on a mobile OS that first released 2 years ago. HTC is the first and most experienced android phone manufacturer.
If their customer support is anything like Google Apps, good luck with that one. My experience is that Google isn't geared toward customer service and it seems like they could care less. They seem to be coming from the position that everyone should be able to just figure out their products without any help.
My prediction for the year is that we see Google's stock price starting to decline as more and more people realize that beyond search, Google doesn't do anything very well. They have a lot of neat ideas, but their execution blows.
Love:Hate
T-Mobile:
49,800:145,000 (1:2.9)
25.6% love
74.4% hate
Verizon:
259,000:469,000 (1:1.8)
35.6% love
64.4% hate
AT&T:
103,000:447,000 (1:4.3)
18.7% love
81.3% hate
Sprint:
45,500:287,000 (1:6.3)
13.7% love
86.3% hate
Most Loved: Verizon
Most Hated: Sprint
Why can't Google offer a cell phone that provides browsing, etc via WiFi, WITHOUT REQUIRING ME TO HAVE A CARRIER DATA PLAN?
I filed a complaint with the FCC (and I encourage you to do the same) that Verizon had no such phones offered. Verizon reps then called me and confirmed this, saying that this is a decision of the phone manufacturers as to how they design their phone devices (they also confirmed that some older smartphones they used to sell and you can still get on ebay don't have this "feature").
I of course doubt this is purely a disinterested phone manufacturer decision.
The Nexus One boards do seem to confirm this is one of the drawbacks of the NexusOne device for those of us who spend 90% of their time in WiFi enabled spots but don't want to pony up another $25/month.
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google%20Mobile/thread?tid=5a6199119e618525&hl=en#all
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=2a191af88d779975&hl=en#all
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=4bc273c38698835c&hl=en
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=7a0b65cae4aa6b88&hl=en
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=3d253758857e6f67&hl=en
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=07bbaac95aef0a15&hl=en
Why does the design of these devices force me to activate a carrier data plan to access the internet when the hardware has WiFi?
Can this "feature" (of Android?) be modified in software since this is open source, and since WiFi hardware is so clearly present?
Inquiring minds want to know!
... of the 1.0 version. So what else is new? Anyone here remember Windows 1.0 (a.k.a Interface Manager) announced at the Plaza Hotel in NYC overlooking Central Park? Well, we're up to Windows 7 and Microsoft is still trying to get it right.
I have a distinct feeling that Android and OpenMoko are going to be kissing cousins that only a few people have ever seen in the wild.
Care to place a friendly (or unfriendly) wager on that? Though I don't own a google phone, I'd say it's safe to say my distinct feeling is quite the opposite.
Motorola alone sold a million Droids in only a few months, and the growth (in sales and mind share) that Android has seen in the year or so it's been out it's actually quite surprising. I hate to say it, but I'd almost compare it to Windows on the Desktop. Almost certainly there are a fair share of fanboys and anti-fan boys out there, but the vast majority of users don't give a rats ass and just use what they know.
My distinct feeling is that Android becomes heavily commoditized and ubiquitous (because any phone manufacturer can use it for free, and customize it to their liking rather than pay some huge amount to develop and maintain their own operating system). Because of that, it becomes wildly available and consumers just end up using Android by default because it's what their shiny phone that they picked out in the store came with. Granted, I don't see ubiquity happening in the short term, but I'd expect it to become more prevalent as smartphone market share nears and eventually passes "dumb" phone market share.
Now before the Apple fan boys chime in here and wave their smartphone majority flag, I'll clarify that I see the Apple shooting themselves in the foot by limiting themselves to one basic model (the iPhone) while being the sole provider of it (and limiting what network you can choose). Let's face it, most people holding iPhones right now (myself included) are likely geekier than the general population and tend to be early adopters of consumer electronics. That's a LIMITED market compared to the much larger market of cell phone users in general
The iPhone really is the Model T of cell phones. There's very little customization, and as soon as everyone gets over the shock of something new (i.e. a mass produced combustion vehicle, or a snazzy smartphone), The competition is gonna eat you for breakfast by catering to consumer demand.
But hey, that's just one man's opinion, about as equally valid as your own.
This isn't an issue with early adopters. It's an issue with Google selling a product and then being shocked and amazed that people have questions and problems. It's an issue with Google having a culture from the search engine world of holding the customer off not at arm's length, but at continent's length.
Before they could hide behind the carrier, which had the infrastructure for this sort of thing. With their online products, nobody was really paying for anything, or if they were, they were B2B-type customers.
This is a consumer product, and the cardinal rule of consumer products is that you stand behind what you sell, or you won't be selling it for long. There's another cardinal rule, which I read off a sign posted above the door of an industrial supply company: "For every customer that walks out this door angry, ten never walk in it."
Unfortunately, Google is failing to remember something critical: screwing over people with the "Google Phone" they just bought means devaluing their brand name, which is their biggest asset- those people are more receptive to switching to different alternative products (mail, search, etc.) and also, they're going to post about their problems on Facebook, Twitter, etc. One negative status message kills thousands of dollars in advertising.
To me, the API stuff is just further proof that Google has committed the Apple Of The 90's Sin: they're now into everything, and doing nothing well. This is a problem that should sound familiar for other reasons *cough*Microsoft*cough*.
Please help metamoderate.
Anybody else get the feeling that this story was cooked up in the marketing department of one or more telco or well-known manufacturer of fashionable consumer electronics?
I mean, if people can start buying cool unlocked smartphones, that's going to cut into a big profit center for them. People might actually start looking for the best calling and data plan instead of "whatever plan the company that carries the phone I want insists that I sign up for before I can get my hands on the phone".
I mean, didn't they just announce the Nexus One a few days ago? I'm surprised many buyers had a chance to even charge up their batteries and sign up for service by now, much less have had enough contact with Google customer service to make a complaint.
I'm not saying there mightn't be problems, but the speed at which this story arrives is just a little fishy.
You are welcome on my lawn.
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.
This guy is just being asinine, someone sitting there with a stop watch, and writing the things the reps say down just so he can contact some news organization with it or works for them already. Honestly, if you have plan questions T-Mobile won't be referring you to HTC, and if you have phone questions HTC won't be referring you to T-Mobile. You'll notice how the article never refers to the information their quoted 'users' were seeking.
Honestly the phone's step by step walk through setup is so easy that if you don't understand it, then see this flowchart.
Google Ignoring Criticism Of Nexus One Distribution.
Then read the first comment:
You have really bashed Google pretty well the last few days.Some of it is deserved although harsh. One thing I would like you to keep in mind is that your articles have consistantly been featured highly on the Google News web page. That is why I like Google and trust Google.
Priceless! (No, it wasn't me.)
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Same here. I',m not an anti-Apple-fanboy but I won't be writing Phone apps because I don't want to be forced to buy a *Mac to do so. My Nexus One sync'ed with my existing Google accounts with no problems, the apps I have downloaded work as expected. I do have an iPod Touch and the only thing I miss is the pinch on the web browser, but I'll probably download Dolphin tomorrow and see if that fills that small void. But you are 100% correct. People are quick to complain about any problem they have. Pitifully few are as quick to submit praise when things go smoothly. Granted, it isn't unrealistic to expect most bugs to have been worked out, but still...
Some see the vessel as half full; others see it as half-empty; We pour it out on the floor and laugh
This is the google support forum discussion that has earned all this bad press.
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=0bd8ccd4799040c2&hl=en&fid=0bd8ccd4799040c200047c99c44ddfe6
By 6pm today I read most of these posts. There are several squeaky wheels that are posting over and over but there are also dozens of individuals that are all telling the same story. These people are in areas with good 3g reception (as confirmed by the coverage map or by another 3g t-mobile phone in the same place at the same time. They report that their N1 continually switches between edge and g3. Their data download rates are about 1/10th what they should be. Many have reported that the constant switching between networks is draining their battery within a few hours. When they call HTC for support, HTC blames T-mobile's network. T-mobile blames HTC and claims that they have not been given any support documentation on the N1 from Google or HTC. The complainers are in a wide variety of locations throughout the country.
Gizmodo reports on the story and claims that their phones have poor 3g reception as well:
http://gizmodo.com/5443123/does-the-nexus-one-have-3g-problems
The same problem crops up in the comments after this story at tmonews
http://www.tmonews.com/2010/01/nexus-one-incurring-3g-problems/
Lots of people are reporting the same problems here on the androidforums
http://androidforums.com/nexus-one/34321-nexus-one-3g-problems.html
So I really don't think this is due to ignorant customers. There is a real problem with at least some of these phones. It may be there is a batch out there with bad antennas, or there could be a software glitch. If it's software then one would hope a patch is coming from Google asap. Regardless of what the problem is, Google has made a terrible mistake in ignoring this for almost 2 days now. Even if they had replied in their own support forums just once saying "sorry we're on it get back to you soon." They might not look so bad. Personally I think Google's experience with leaving their "products" in beta for years on end has finally bitten them on the ass.
-- QED
I don't care about these problems. They'll work it out.
Google is selling this phone because it advances the technology and their phone partners wouldn't sell it. Expect them to sell an Android + Snapdragon slate for the same reasons. The top 5 OEMs have had that for a year and still no products - ASUS even pulled their Snapdragon netbook in the middle of last year's Computex, some say because Microsoft told them to, and now they "see no future in it":
But the company quickly put the project on the back burner, refusing to discuss it days later at a press event that featured Asustek's chairman alongside executives from microprocessor maker Intel and OS giant Microsoft.
All the major vendors have had this platform for a long time and they wouldn't sell it for strategic reasons. Google isn't submarining them - they declined their first refusal options. Dell had 3" and 5" models ready in September, and didn't launch for the pivotal Christmas season - there's a video of a guy with three thumbs playing with it but I can't find it right now.
Dell, HP, and other top-tier OEMs have announced Snapdragon + Android smartbooks, netbooks, phones and slates, but they will never ever come to market branded by a top tier OEM because of the leverage that Intel and Microsoft are applying to prevent it.
If the incumbents won't give us progress, Google will: even if they have to enter new lines of business to do so. I doubt Google can avoid selling enough units to encourage adoption of modern open technologies in phones, considering they've got the best online ad placement there is.
I doubt Google even wants to sell phones - I think they just want to get the new good technologies adopted so that people can get used to Internet everywhere quicker. This serves their bottom line because when most people use the Internet they use Google services, which Google sells ads on. You can't very well sell Internet ads to be viewed by people who aren't close to a browser. I'm in favor of this because open platforms with internet access everywhere always on let me do things I couldn't do before. I'm also in favor because less power burned is good for CO2 emissions. It also lets me afford to put some high tech shiny stuff under the tree to impress the youngsters.
Intel and Microsoft are scared to death of Snapdragon and Android, and they should be - they don't have offerings like this, and the buzz about cheap, go-everywhere always on low-power application rich platforms that don't use their products is evidence that if they won't innovate in the way that we want, they're done. We want progress, and progress isn't about the widget - it's about the people and what they can do with it. If they try and leverage their market position to kill this progress the truth will out and they will be beset with lawsuits and it will do them no good because there are manufacturers and vendors like HTC and Google who are not afraid of them.
Their best bet: surf the wave. Get their products in line with current demand. Or go away.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Shouldn't it be Nexus One Beta?
Yeah, it's sad. I hear some Nexus fanboys are spreading false rumors about iPhone fanboys, too... ~
I have paid for Microsoft's shitty products for two decades and never received any kind of meaningful customer service. I really doubt Google can do any worse than that.