Google Fi has
Pixel 6a Smartphone Pre-Order + Pixel Buds A-Series for $10/month for 24 months =
$240 when you sign up for 24 months of service (starting at
$20 per month).
Shipping is free.
Thanks to Community Member
goksu for finding this deal.
- Note: $240 price is based on unselecting Device Protection during purchase process; if you want Device Protection, price will be $15/month for 24 months = $360. Eligible American Express cardholders may qualify to receive a $25 statement credit back on $50+ purchases from Google Fi (details).
Deal Instructions:- Visit this page and click "Subscribe now".
- Select your service plan and click "Continue".
- Click "Choose phone" and select "Save $209 on Pixel 6a" / "Pixel 6a subscription $15/month".
- the $15/month price includes $5/month device protection; you will have the option to unselect this to get the $10/month deal price.
- Click "Subscribe now".
- Make sure "Phone subscription $15/mo / Save $209 over 24 months" option is selected.
- Choose you color.
- Uncheck the "Device Protection" box to get the $10/mo price.
- Note: Without Device Protection, if something happens to your phone, you'll still be responsible for the $10/month subscription cost until you're eligible for an upgrade.
- Click "Continue".
- Enter your information to check your credit.
- Proceed to checkout and complete your order.
- You will receive an email with your promo code for the Pixel Buds A-Series and redemption instructions after your device ships.
- Redeem your Pixel Buds A-Series from store.google.com by 8/13/22 at 11:59pm PT.
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Essentially, it boiled down to Google not showing my phone as activated. They shipped it to me, I ported my number, they turned it on, I used it and they charged me for Fi's service. BUT they didn't start the clock on the 24 months. After the first month, it still showed that I had 24 months remaining. After the second month, it still showed that I had 24 months left. This continued for a total of 6 months. I notified Google of the issue after the 1st month. Was assured that it would be corrected. This process was repeated with each billing cycle. Phone calls, emails, and chats with support. All to no avail.
In month 5 I get an email from Google telling me that my subscription will be canceled shortly if I do not activate my phone. Ironically, the email suggests that if I have any further questions that I should go out to a USER support group for help. Yeah - I'm sure Joe, a random forum user and non-Google employee will fix my activation issue on the Google servers. Anyway, after that email was sent I contacted support again. They assured me that this wasn't a problem. My account was flagged as being worked on. No adverse action would be taken.
In month 6 I get an email from Google telling me that my Google Pay account has been charged the $450 full price of the 5a less the $60 I have paid towards the device over the past 6 months. My last call to support was to tell them to please cancel my Fi service and notify them that I will never, ever, ever do business with Fi again.
So ... how did this hurt me? First, at the time I could have bought the phone outright for $450 (which is what I ultimately paid). However, I could have gotten free Pixel Buds ($100 value) + 3 months of Fi unlimited ($210 value). I missed both of those by choosing the subscription. I wasted at least 10 hours and a whole lot of aggravation dealing with ineptitude. Google employs some of the most brilliant engineers in the world and they can't figure out why my clearly active phone/account are showing not activated? So frustrating.
Anyway, that's the short version. There's a bunch of stuff I'm leaving out to keep it kind of brief. On a side note, I love the Pixel 5a. In my household, we've had the Galaxy Nexus, 4, and 7. The Pixel 2, 3a, 4XL, 5a (and we just pre-ordered the 6a through the trade-in program). I generally love Google phones (and the best tablet ever created - the Nexus 7). However, their mobile company is the worst. Both from a customer service perspective and their ability to troubleshoot issues.
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The phone is tied to your SIM (which has your number). When researching the subscription I asked Fi folks a couple of questions about common scenarios. This all assumes that I didn't pay the device plan coverage (which makes the subscription decidedly less attractive to many).
1. What happens if I'm in month 6 and I just realize that I don't like my phone? It starts to get real sluggish or the camera isn't great or I have delays with text messages. Can I just get a new phone (on my dime) and maintain my FI service while continuing to pay the $10/month for another 18 months?
2. What happens if I lose my phone in month 12? Can I get a new phone and just pay the remainder of the 12 months @ $10/month to fulfill my obligation?
3. What happens if my phone breaks in month 18? The USB connector malfunctions so I can't charge the phone. I need a new phone obviously. Can I just pay the $10/month for the remaining 6 months?
4. What happens if, for whatever reason, my payment has a problem in month 23 of the contract?
Scenarios 1-3 are all real-world things that have happened to me or someone in my household at some point with some phone. The answer was that I would out of luck. You CANNOT associate your phone number with ANY new SIM while under the subscription. You CANNOT take the Fi SIM out and use it in a different device. The SIM is tied to your specific Pixel device (can't even swap it to another Pixel device).
Don't like your phone, lose your phone, or the phone has a defect after the warranty period and you are 100% out of luck. You will have a choice to either: (1) pay off the device entirely [full price less $10/month you have been paying] OR keep the device active, pay the $20/month for Fi service that you can't use + the $10/month for the device subscription, and get a new number and phone until the 24 months are up. So basically you have 2 accounts, 2 plans, and a new number. The ONLY exception is if you have their device coverage plan. That would cover scenarios 2 and 3. For scenario 1, you are still out of luck.
Finally, for scenario 4 - if there is ANY problem with your payment at ANY time you will be responsible for paying off the device. Think about that - you are in month 23. You've made payments of $230 towards a $240 contract agreement. Yet, in that scenario you would still pay the $450 less then $230. That ONE month cost you $220. There are horror stories of people running into situations like this over in Reddit.
In my opinion, Fi is not very clear about scenarios like this. When I contacted them prior to subscribing I received all sorts of different answers to these scenarios. It's bad when their own customer support people don't have a clue about their plans. The answer was always, just get the coverage plan. Pay an extra $120 and you'll be fine.
Essentially, it boiled down to Google not showing my phone as activated. They shipped it to me, I ported my number, they turned it on, I used it and they charged me for Fi's service. BUT they didn't start the clock on the 24 months. After the first month, it still showed that I had 24 months remaining. After the second month, it still showed that I had 24 months left. This continued for a total of 6 months. I notified Google of the issue after the 1st month. Was assured that it would be corrected. This process was repeated with each billing cycle. Phone calls, emails, and chats with support. All to no avail.
In month 5 I get an email from Google telling me that my subscription will be canceled shortly if I do not activate my phone. Ironically, the email suggests that if I have any further questions that I should go out to a USER support group for help. Yeah - I'm sure Joe, a random forum user and non-Google employee will fix my activation issue on the Google servers. Anyway, after that email was sent I contacted support again. They assured me that this wasn't a problem. My account was flagged as being worked on. No adverse action would be taken.
In month 6 I get an email from Google telling me that my Google Pay account has been charged the $450 full price of the 5a less the $60 I have paid towards the device over the past 6 months. My last call to support was to tell them to please cancel my Fi service and notify them that I will never, ever, ever do business with Fi again.
So ... how did this hurt me? First, at the time I could have bought the phone outright for $450 (which is what I ultimately paid). However, I could have gotten free Pixel Buds ($100 value) + 3 months of Fi unlimited ($210 value). I missed both of those by choosing the subscription. I wasted at least 10 hours and a whole lot of aggravation dealing with ineptitude. Google employs some of the most brilliant engineers in the world and they can't figure out why my clearly active phone/account are showing not activated? So frustrating.
Anyway, that's the short version. There's a bunch of stuff I'm leaving out to keep it kind of brief. On a side note, I love the Pixel 5a. In my household, we've had the Galaxy Nexus, 4, and 7. The Pixel 2, 3a, 4XL, 5a (and we just pre-ordered the 6a through the trade-in program). I generally love Google phones (and the best tablet ever created - the Nexus 7). However, their mobile company is the worst. Both from a customer service perspective and their ability to troubleshoot issues.
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Thanks OP for posting
I had a horrible experience trying to get a problem fixed at Google Fi recently. Since day3 of porting to Fi, I couldn't receive certain text messages (all the verification code sending from companies, those short phone numbers). Opened a support ticket, a month later, the problem was still not solved. All the email from their support was saying their engineering team was working on it. Also at the same time, my number cannot be port out from Google Fi to any other carriers, even to Google Voice.
Finally after filing a complaint on FCC for the porting out issue, I was able to port out.
warm deal. some people are still ok with that, and its a new mid-tier phone for under 400
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Cool phone btw. Liked it while we had it. Camera was meh but general very nice when it was released, especially build.
Good luck with your service.
As for this deal and staying relevant, I agree that Fi has decent family plan deals. I also had horrible CS with them, so only ever plan to join on an amazing deal. Subscription scares me that there are so many billing/promo things that could go wrong, and they will just play dumb and/or not care.
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