How do I register account without entering billing information?

[daver1393]

I've recently started getting "495" errors on app downloads on my Nexus 4, so as per the guides for fixing this, I removed my account, cleared the Google Store data, and tried to re-register the account on the phone. But it asks me for billing information -- how do I skip this?

For the moment, I only want to use free apps, so I do not wish to enter billing information. In fact, after reading all the horror stories of people running up huge bills of accidental purchases, I consider it essential not to enter billing information so that I don't do that by accident. I might add billing info in the future, but not now, not until I'm sure that I understand how it all works.

So how can I continue to use my Google account on my phone for free apps?

 

[kate]

There should be an option to Skip or Continue without entering your billing info.

Awhile ago I setup someones phone and quickly bypassed that step. Don't remember specifically how, but I think I just tapped an option to skip/not enter it.

 

[daver1393]

There should be an option to Skip or Continue without entering your billing info.

Thanks, but there isn't. Bizarrely, there IS a skip button on the step that asks for billing information but it's greyed out -- presumably because I haven't already set up any billing. If I just force the settings app closed at that point, I can't download anything.

HOWEVER, it seems that the errors that I was getting that made me re-register the account are due to the network that I'm using. Virgin Media, the largest broadband provider in the UK, have a bunch of Google cache servers on their network, and it turns out that they're in a state of collapse at the moment. It's affecting Youtube videos and Google Play downloads for most Virgin Media customers. I'd better wait until that is fixed before having another go at re-registering my Google account.