diff --git a/src/cmd/go/go_test.go b/src/cmd/go/go_test.go
index 34a3cf15c9..5e5d539033 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/go_test.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/go_test.go
@@ -44,8 +44,6 @@ import (
 	"cmd/internal/sys"
 
 	cmdgo "cmd/go"
-
-	"golang.org/x/telemetry/counter/countertest"
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -155,15 +153,6 @@ func TestMain(m *testing.M) {
 			web.EnableTestHooks(interceptors)
 		}
 
-		cmdgo.TelemetryStart = func() {
-			// TODO(matloob): we'll ideally want to call telemetry.Start here
-			// but it calls counter.Open, which we don't want to do because
-			// we want to call countertest.Open.
-			if telemetryDir := os.Getenv("TESTGO_TELEMETRY_DIR"); telemetryDir != "" {
-				countertest.Open(telemetryDir)
-			}
-		}
-
 		cmdgo.Main()
 		os.Exit(0)
 	}
@@ -1286,6 +1275,10 @@ func TestDefaultGOPATH(t *testing.T) {
 	tg.parallel()
 	tg.tempDir("home/go")
 	tg.setenv(homeEnvName(), tg.path("home"))
+	// Set TEST_TELEMETRY_DIR to a path that doesn't exist
+	// so that the counter uploading code doesn't write
+	// the counter token file to the temp dir after the test finishes.
+	tg.setenv("TEST_TELEMETRY_DIR", "/no-telemetry-dir")
 
 	tg.run("env", "GOPATH")
 	tg.grepStdout(regexp.QuoteMeta(tg.path("home/go")), "want GOPATH=$HOME/go")
@@ -1306,6 +1299,10 @@ func TestDefaultGOPATHPrintedSearchList(t *testing.T) {
 	tg.setenv("GOPATH", "")
 	tg.tempDir("home")
 	tg.setenv(homeEnvName(), tg.path("home"))
+	// Set TEST_TELEMETRY_DIR to a path that doesn't exist
+	// so that the counter uploading code doesn't write
+	// the counter token file to the temp dir after the test finishes.
+	tg.setenv("TEST_TELEMETRY_DIR", "/no-telemetry-dir")
 
 	tg.runFail("install", "github.com/golang/example/hello")
 	tg.grepStderr(regexp.QuoteMeta(tg.path("home/go/src/github.com/golang/example/hello"))+`.*from \$GOPATH`, "expected default GOPATH")
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/internal/base/base.go b/src/cmd/go/internal/base/base.go
index 73082df763..cc3f94e56c 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/internal/base/base.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/internal/base/base.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 package base
 
 import (
+	"cmd/internal/telemetry"
 	"context"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
@@ -20,8 +21,6 @@ import (
 
 	"cmd/go/internal/cfg"
 	"cmd/go/internal/str"
-
-	"golang.org/x/telemetry/counter"
 )
 
 // A Command is an implementation of a go command
@@ -227,14 +226,18 @@ var Usage func()
 
 var counterNames = map[string]bool{}
 
+type Counter interface {
+	Inc()
+}
+
 // NewCounter registers a new counter. It must be called from an init function
 // or global variable initializer.
-func NewCounter(name string) *counter.Counter {
+func NewCounter(name string) Counter {
 	if counterNames[name] {
 		panic(fmt.Errorf("counter %q initialized twice", name))
 	}
 	counterNames[name] = true
-	return counter.New(name)
+	return telemetry.NewCounter(name)
 }
 
 func RegisteredCounterNames() []string {
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/main.go b/src/cmd/go/main.go
index 3638367bdb..4e23d7b3da 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/main.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/main.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"cmd/internal/telemetry"
 	"context"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
@@ -43,8 +44,6 @@ import (
 	"cmd/go/internal/vet"
 	"cmd/go/internal/work"
 	"cmd/go/internal/workcmd"
-
-	"golang.org/x/telemetry/counter"
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -94,13 +93,13 @@ var counterErrorsGOPATHEntryRelative = base.NewCounter("go/errors:gopath-entry-r
 
 func main() {
 	log.SetFlags(0)
-	TelemetryStart() // Open the telemetry counter file so counters can be written to it.
+	telemetry.StartWithUpload() // Open the telemetry counter file so counters can be written to it.
 	handleChdirFlag()
 	toolchain.Select()
 
 	flag.Usage = base.Usage
 	flag.Parse()
-	counter.CountFlags("go/flag:", *flag.CommandLine)
+	telemetry.CountFlags("go/flag:", *flag.CommandLine)
 
 	args := flag.Args()
 	if len(args) < 1 {
@@ -109,7 +108,7 @@ func main() {
 
 	cfg.CmdName = args[0] // for error messages
 	if args[0] == "help" {
-		counter.Inc("go/subcommand:" + strings.Join(append([]string{"help"}, args[1:]...), "-"))
+		telemetry.Inc("go/subcommand:" + strings.Join(append([]string{"help"}, args[1:]...), "-"))
 		help.Help(os.Stdout, args[1:])
 		return
 	}
@@ -166,7 +165,7 @@ func main() {
 		}
 		if args[used] == "help" {
 			// Accept 'go mod help' and 'go mod help foo' for 'go help mod' and 'go help mod foo'.
-			counter.Inc("go/subcommand:" + strings.ReplaceAll(cfg.CmdName, " ", "-") + "-" + strings.Join(args[used:], "-"))
+			telemetry.Inc("go/subcommand:" + strings.ReplaceAll(cfg.CmdName, " ", "-") + "-" + strings.Join(args[used:], "-"))
 			help.Help(os.Stdout, append(slices.Clip(args[:used]), args[used+1:]...))
 			base.Exit()
 		}
@@ -178,12 +177,12 @@ func main() {
 		if cmdName == "" {
 			cmdName = args[0]
 		}
-		counter.Inc("go/subcommand:unknown")
+		telemetry.Inc("go/subcommand:unknown")
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "go %s: unknown command\nRun 'go help%s' for usage.\n", cmdName, helpArg)
 		base.SetExitStatus(2)
 		base.Exit()
 	}
-	counter.Inc("go/subcommand:" + strings.ReplaceAll(cfg.CmdName, " ", "-"))
+	telemetry.Inc("go/subcommand:" + strings.ReplaceAll(cfg.CmdName, " ", "-"))
 	invoke(cmd, args[used-1:])
 	base.Exit()
 }
@@ -248,7 +247,7 @@ func invoke(cmd *base.Command, args []string) {
 	} else {
 		base.SetFromGOFLAGS(&cmd.Flag)
 		cmd.Flag.Parse(args[1:])
-		counter.CountFlags("go/flag:"+strings.ReplaceAll(cfg.CmdName, " ", "-")+"-", cmd.Flag)
+		telemetry.CountFlags("go/flag:"+strings.ReplaceAll(cfg.CmdName, " ", "-")+"-", cmd.Flag)
 		args = cmd.Flag.Args()
 	}
 
@@ -333,7 +332,7 @@ func handleChdirFlag() {
 		_, dir, _ = strings.Cut(a, "=")
 		os.Args = slices.Delete(os.Args, used, used+1)
 	}
-	counter.Inc("go/flag:C")
+	telemetry.Inc("go/flag:C")
 
 	if err := os.Chdir(dir); err != nil {
 		base.Fatalf("go: %v", err)
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/script_test.go b/src/cmd/go/script_test.go
index d36de720cd..0c494c0514 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/script_test.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/script_test.go
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ func initScriptDirs(t testing.TB, s *script.State) (telemetryDir string) {
 
 	telemetryDir = filepath.Join(work, "telemetry")
 	must(os.MkdirAll(telemetryDir, 0777))
-	must(s.Setenv("TESTGO_TELEMETRY_DIR", filepath.Join(work, "telemetry")))
+	must(s.Setenv("TEST_TELEMETRY_DIR", filepath.Join(work, "telemetry")))
 
 	must(os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(work, "tmp"), 0777))
 	must(s.Setenv(tempEnvName(), filepath.Join(work, "tmp")))
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/telemetry.go b/src/cmd/go/telemetry.go
deleted file mode 100644
index ac7a6a9ed4..0000000000
--- a/src/cmd/go/telemetry.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-// Copyright 2024 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
-// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
-// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
-
-//go:build !cmd_go_bootstrap
-
-package main
-
-import "golang.org/x/telemetry"
-
-var TelemetryStart = func() {
-	telemetry.Start(telemetry.Config{Upload: true})
-}
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/telemetry_bootstrap.go b/src/cmd/go/telemetry_bootstrap.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 8bacf219a2..0000000000
--- a/src/cmd/go/telemetry_bootstrap.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-// Copyright 2024 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
-// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
-// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
-
-//go:build cmd_go_bootstrap
-
-package main
-
-var TelemetryStart = func() {}
diff --git a/src/cmd/internal/telemetry/telemetry.go b/src/cmd/internal/telemetry/telemetry.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0e223442ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cmd/internal/telemetry/telemetry.go
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+// Copyright 2024 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+//go:build !cmd_go_bootstrap
+
+// Package telemetry is a shim package around the golang.org/x/telemetry
+// and golang.org/x/telemetry/counter packages that has code build tagged
+// out for cmd_go_bootstrap so that the bootstrap Go command does not
+// depend on net (which is a dependency of golang.org/x/telemetry/counter
+// on Windows).
+package telemetry
+
+import (
+	"flag"
+	"os"
+
+	"golang.org/x/telemetry"
+	"golang.org/x/telemetry/counter"
+)
+
+// Start opens the counter files for writing if telemetry is supported
+// on the current platform (and does nothing otherwise).
+func Start() {
+	telemetry.Start(telemetry.Config{
+		TelemetryDir: os.Getenv("TEST_TELEMETRY_DIR"),
+	})
+}
+
+// StartWithUpload opens the counter files for writing if telemetry
+// is supported on the current platform and also enables a once a day
+// check to see if the weekly reports are ready to be uploaded.
+// It should only be called by cmd/go
+func StartWithUpload() {
+	telemetry.Start(telemetry.Config{
+		Upload:       true,
+		TelemetryDir: os.Getenv("TEST_TELEMETRY_DIR"),
+	})
+}
+
+func Inc(name string) {
+	counter.Inc(name)
+}
+
+func NewCounter(name string) *counter.Counter {
+	return counter.New(name)
+}
+
+func CountFlags(prefix string, flagSet flag.FlagSet) {
+	counter.CountFlags(prefix, flagSet)
+}
diff --git a/src/cmd/internal/telemetry/telemetry_bootstrap.go b/src/cmd/internal/telemetry/telemetry_bootstrap.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9fb03507d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cmd/internal/telemetry/telemetry_bootstrap.go
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+// Copyright 2024 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+//go:build cmd_go_bootstrap
+
+package telemetry
+
+import "flag"
+
+type dummyCounter struct{}
+
+func (dc dummyCounter) Inc() {}
+
+func Start()                                       {}
+func StartWithUpload()                             {}
+func Inc(name string)                              {}
+func NewCounter(name string) dummyCounter          { return dummyCounter{} }
+func CountFlags(name string, flagSet flag.FlagSet) {}