Google Fiber customers tell Reviews.org they get higher-than-advertised speeds for an affordable price. It’s available in only a handful of cities, but this boutique service has it all.
11 min readGoogle Fiber is a unicorn internet provider that’s powerful enough for techies but affordable enough for regular folks. It delivers gigabit speeds and symmetrical uploads over an ultrareliable fiber-optic network, and the basic pricing structure (with all expenses folded into one monthly fixed rate) means you don’t have to worry about confusing promo pricing, seasonal price hikes, data caps, or unexpected fees tacked onto your bill.
“I’ve never had a problem with it. In fact, it’s the first internet provider I haven’t had an issue with,” Chance Carter, a Google Fiber customer in Provo, Utah, told Reviews.org.
“I’ve never had a problem with it. In fact, it’s the first internet provider I haven’t had an issue with.” -Google Fiber customer Chance Carter
Cable internet competitors may try to woo customers with lower starting rates, bundle offers, and promotional deals. But Carter and many other Google Fiber customers vastly prefer the fiber company’s consistent reliability and simplicity—and they find they get a better deal too.
“Google Fiber was basically the same price as Xfinity. But I was getting faster speeds across the board with Google,” Carter said.
Google Fiber starts off at gigabit speeds—and having internet that fast isn’t a necessity for everybody. But the price is still fair for the basic gigabit plan, and having that much bandwidth is a game changer for heavy-duty tasks like posting to social media, making video calls, and managing cloud servers. Google Fiber’s multi-gig options are best for power users who need the most bandwidth possible.
I spoke with Google Fiber customers and also conducted my own hands-on testing to get a clear picture of the Google Fiber experience. Keep reading for my comprehensive review.
Guide to this Google Fiber review:
Here’s why you can trust us
Why should you trust Reviews.org? Because we are real people writing these reviews, and we talk to real people in order to research them.
Our brand partners do not see or approve our articles before they are published, but we make a commission if you click an affiliate link. Learn more about Reviews.org on our About Us page.
See if you can get Google Fiber in your area
Get to know Google Fiber: plans and pricing
*
Plus taxes and fees. Upload/download speed and device streaming claims are based on maximum wired speeds. Actual Internet speeds are not guaranteed and may vary based on factors such as hardware and software limitations, latency, packet loss, etc.
†
Available in select markets only. Plus taxes and fees. Upload/download speed and device streaming claims are based on maximum wired speeds. Actual Internet speeds are not guaranteed and may vary based on factors such as hardware and software limitations, latency, packet loss, etc.
Google has four different internet plans to choose from, starting at $70 and going up to $150 a month.
$70 a month gets you the basic plan, which delivers gigabit speeds of 1,000Mbps. You can pay more for multi-gigabit options, including a plan that tops out at 8,000Mbps. Most internet users should be content with Google Fiber’s basic plan—a download speed of 1,000Mbps gives you enough bandwidth to cover basically any internet need you could have. But a multi-gig plan may be better suited for very large homes, tech experts, and professional content creators.
You don’t have to worry about data caps, equipment fees, contracts, or any other extra fees with Google Fiber. The price you see is what you pay every month. When you sign up for Google Fiber, you receive all the necessary equipment for no extra fee, including the router and a mesh extender. The mesh router comes in handy if you need to extend the Wi-Fi to accommodate a large home, garage, or patio area.
Some internet providers require you to enter into an annual contract to get the best deal, but that’s not the case with Google Fiber. The service works month to month, and you can cancel your service without having to worry about contract termination fees. Just make sure to return all the equipment to avoid any charges to your account.
Which plan is right for you?
Google Fiber’s basic 1 Gig plan is the best choice for most households. A full gig of upload and download speed is far more internet than 99% of families will ever need.
Google Fiber fees for modem and installation
Google Wi-Fi router
Included
Additional router access point
Included (up to 2)
Installation
None
Early termination fee
None
Data overage fee
None
What makes this review legit?
Our fact-based research process centers around interviews with internet customers from across the country, helping us understand how internet services hold up against diverse needs and challenges.
To put together this review, we spoke directly with five Google Fiber customers and more than a dozen other users on Reddit. We let their experiences guide our research and shape our conclusions. I have also personally used Google Fiber as my home internet provider for over three years and drew from my own hands-on testing and day-to-day experiences with the service. We also spoke with an expert on internet technology to get answers about Google Fiber’s multi-gigabit capabilities.
What you should know about Google Fiber
Our team at Reviews.org gives internet providers a rating based on three main criteria: Connection quality, dollar value, and customer experience. We then average the three ratings to make an overall score. See the details for Google Fiber below.
Speed and reliability
5.0/5.0
Google Fiber is all about speed. The provider ranks at the top of our Fastest Internet Providers report, beating out every other major fiber and cable internet provider in the country. Its slowest plan starts out at a gigabit, which is the top speed for many other providers. So even customers who don’t sign up for Google Fiber’s ultrafast multi-gigabit packages still get enough bandwidth to handle heavy-duty undertakings like livestreams and video game downloads.
It’s important to note that you also get an extremely reliable connection with a Google Fiber plan. Fiber in general is built on newer infrastructure, and fiber-optic cabling isn’t vulnerable to electromagnetic interference in the same way that coaxial and DSL cables are. You're more likely to experience steadier speeds on Google Fiber than T-Mobile 5G Home Internet, which can be affected by network congestion or inclement weather. Google Fiber’s consistency combined with its low latency makes the service especially well suited to handle immersive activities like VR gaming.
Dollar value
4.8/5.0
At first glance, Google Fiber may seem pricey—its baseline plan costs $70 per month, while cable competitors like Xfinity offer plans with promotional rates as low as $20 per month. Even an entry-level fiber plan with CenturyLink is $20 less than Google Fiber. However, those extra-low prices are often promotional, and after a year or two, your basic plan could end up costing as much as Google Fiber, or even more.
When you factor in the fact that there’s no price hikes, installation fees, equipment fees, data caps, or any other hidden charges, Google Fiber turns out to be an excellent deal. It’s a straightforward deal too, considering that the price of a Google Fiber gigabit plan stays the same year in, year out.
Customer experience
4.8/5.0
Most folks can expect a positive and easy customer experience with Google Fiber. All of my personal interactions with Google Fiber customer service have been surprisingly easy. I recently called Google Fiber (on a Tuesday morning) to test out their customer service for the sake of this review. I talked to a real, easy-to-understand person within two minutes.
Customer satisfaction surveys back up my experience. The data at the bottom of HighSpeedInternet.com’s 2023 customer satisfaction survey shows that Google Fiber got the highest rankings for overall satisfaction and customer satisfaction out of the 25 internet providers surveyed. In the latest ACSI Telecommunications Study, the provider came in just behind AT&T for customer ratings on its fiber equipment. Google Fiber also got some of the highest scores in the latest customer satisfaction report from J.D. Power.
Overall quality
4.9/5.0
What’s not to like about Google Fiber? It’s extremely fast and reliable, but it’s also simple and comes at a fair price. If you can get Google Fiber at your home, you definitely should—and we recommend sticking with the base 1 Gig plan, since a multi-gig plan is likely only useful for internet users with superhuman bandwidth needs and a hardwired Ethernet setup.
The only real drawback with Google Fiber is that it isn’t more widely available nationwide. If only everybody in the United States could access this top-tier internet!
Google Fiber–what deals and promotions can you get?
Google Fiber typically doesn’t offer deals or promotions in the same way that many other internet providers do. But that’s because Google Fiber itself is the deal—you get symmetrical speeds, gigabit capabilities, and unlimited data starting at just $70 a month, with no extra fees for installation or equipment.
What do customers think of Google Fiber?
It’s not common to hear a negative experience about Google Fiber, but it sure is easy to find happy Google Fiber customers.
RJ Bass, a Google Fiber user and IT specialist, has moved multiple times over the past ten years, and Google Fiber was a “requirement” for him everywhere he went. “This year marks the tenth year I have been a Google Fiber customer—across four different homes, in three distinct areas of Kansas City,” he told me.
“I used to be a semi-popular Twitch streamer, and the upload speeds I got from Time Warner were not good enough for me to stream to Twitch while my sons were hosting game servers,” he added. “With Google, we got more than enough bandwidth to do anything we needed online.”
Andy Phillips, a network architect in Austin, Texas, spoke enthusiastically with Reviews.org about his home internet setup, like a gearhead showing off the V12 engine of a prized Lamborghini. He pays $150 a month for Google Fiber’s 8 Gig plan—an absolutely bonkers package that provides more bandwidth firepower than the vast majority of the world’s internet users would know what to do with.
“If you have the hardware, Google is not going to hold you back.” —Google Fiber customer Andy Phillips
Internet users can’t always get the maximum speed over Wi-Fi as advertised by their internet provider, but that’s usually because they’re running things through a wireless router that can dampen speeds. Phillips operates a sophisticated home router that’s hooked to his computer through ethernet. When he ran a speed test recently, he got a download speed that actually vaulted past his plan’s max speed—hitting an impressive 8,156Mbps, a result that made the entire Reviews.org writing team gasp collectively in a recent meeting.
The vast majority of internet users don’t need anything close to these outrageously fast download speeds, but Phillips squeezes every megabit of his pricey Google Fiber plan for all it is worth. He hosts an always-on VPN connection to his parents’ house in Ohio and takes care of any tech support they might need. He also hosts an online server, where he stores movies and music that are accessible to friends and family. His 8Gbps bandwidth allows him to stream in 4K, host a VPN connection, host online servers, and play online games all at the same time.
“Not many can take advantage of speeds over 1Gbps,” Phillips acknowledged in his chat with Reviews.org. “Most people struggle because they only use Wi-Fi, or have hardware limited to 1Gbps.
“But if you have the hardware,” he added, “Google is not going to hold you back.”
Easy installation and great customer service (for most people)
When I signed up for Google Fiber a few years ago, scheduling installation was easy. A technician showed up at my house during the designated time, set everything up, and gave me a Wi-Fi 6E router along with a Wi-Fi extender for free. Every time I’ve contacted Google Fiber, I quickly got connected to a real person who answered my questions and handled my troubleshooting issues.
Mike Strayer, who lives in Salt Lake City with his wife and daughter, recently had Google Fiber installed in his apartment near the state capitol. I live a short drive away in the city of Provo, but Strayer had a radically different experience with customer service, describing it as a “nightmare.”
Even after technicians set up a fiber node on his block, it took two years of making repeat calls to customer service and speaking with multiple different stakeholders for Strayer to actually get Google Fiber’s fiber-optic cable routed into an optical network terminal inside his home. His frustrations are a testament, perhaps, to Google Fiber’s nimble nature—as a boutique brand, it might not command the army of responsive staff that a larger provider could.
Need to contact Google Fiber customer service or tech support?
- You can chat with customer service anytime
- Residential customers can call +1-866-777-7550, and Business customers can call +1-855-418-8326.
- You can also schedule a phone call with Google Fiber support.
Is it worth paying for internet speeds over 1,000Mbps?
It’s been a trend over the past few years for fiber internet providers to offer ridiculously fast internet plans with advertised speeds of 2,000Mbps or more, and it’s unsurprising that Google Fiber has hopped on the bandwagon to offer multi-gigabit internet plans that can reach all the way up to 8,000Mbps.
Does anybody even need internet speeds that fast, though? It’s not like you can change the course of the football game you’re steaming by our download speeds alone. Besides, in order to get download speeds over 1,000Mbps, you usually need a designated set up with a Wi-Fi 6 router and hardwired Ethernet connection.
“Speeds of over 1Gbps right now would be a complete waste of money.” —RJ Bass, a Google Fiber customer in Kansas City.
“I tested 2Gbps, 5Gbps and 10Gbps Google Fiber speeds, but I have chosen to stay on the 1Gbps plan,” said RJ Bass, the Google Fiber customer based out of Kansas City. “Even though I have a very robust, enterprise-grade network for my home network, I don't have the ability to get speeds over 1GB to any of my wired or wireless devices unless I spend a lot more money on networking hardware.”
Getting a multi-gigabit internet plan is a bit like buying a Ferrari or a monster truck: Simply unnecessary for most people. “Speeds of over 1Gbps right now would be a complete waste of money,” Bass added.
That said, Google can deliver the bandwidth firepower if you need it: several Reddit users submitted speed tests with Google Fiber while connected with an ethernet connection, and sure enough, the speed tests showed results that exceeded advertised speeds. You might consider a multi-gigabit plan, then, if you’re a power user who regularly connects your device to the modem with an ethernet cable.
You only get Google Fiber’s advertised speeds with an ethernet connection
Unless you connect your device directly to your Google Fiber modem with an Ethernet cable, you likely won’t get the advertised download speeds. Over Wi-Fi, I get download speeds that range from 300Mbps to 500Mbps at any given time with the 1 Gig Fiber plan.
According to Google Fiber’s website, the Wi-Fi 6 router that comes with the 2Gbps, 5Gbps, and 8Gbps Google Fiber plans maxes out at 1.6GB speeds. Even if you pay for the 8Gbps plan, you can’t get download speeds over 1.6Gbps over a Wi-Fi connection (for now). Google Fiber has been teasing a Wi-Fi 7 modem, claiming it’s coming soon, but we’ll have to wait and see what kind of speeds come with new Wi-Fi technology.
Have thoughts about home internet?
We’re eager to hear from internet customers about their experiences with their home Wi-Fi. Contact us at info@reviews.org to share your thoughts, recommendations, and hot tips.
Where is Google Fiber available?
Google Fiber is currently available in 35 cities around the country, including San Francisco, Seattle, and Miami. We've also listed some of Google Fiber's top cities for availability below. The best way to find out if you have Google Fiber is to search your zip code below—take a look to see if it’s available on your block.
Run a search to find Google Fiber in your area
Google Fiber vs. the competition
Fiber is the best technology for home internet. It easily beats out cable in terms of speed—mostly thanks to fiber’s multi-gigabit bandwidth capabilities and symmetrical upload and downloads. Google Fiber may look pricey on paper, but the fact that you don’t have to sign a contract or deal with extra fees for installation or equipment makes it competitive with many cable and 5G home internet. Naturally, it also blows DSL out of the water in pretty much every way.
Google Fiber doesn’t offer any bundle discounts, like what you can get with Cox or Verizon Fios, so there’s nothing you can do to push the price down even further. It would be nice if Google Fiber offered new customers a promotional discount on a streaming subscription like YouTube TV. That’s not available through Google Fiber, but it’s not a loss considering you still get a sweet deal.
If you can’t get Google Fiber in your neighborhood, or just want a cheaper alternative, 5G Home Internet from T-Mobile or Verizon could be the way to go. You don’t get the same fast speeds, but you can still get enough speeds for basic streaming and gaming, along with unlimited data and free installation/equipment—all costing you less money per month.
Want Google Fiber? Find it in your area
Google Fiber is available in only 35 cities in the United States, but it’s probably the best deal you could possibly get on internet: The gigabit speeds, symmetrical uploads, and fiber reliability make it worth every penny. Want Google Fiber? Take a look to see if it’s available where you live.
Search your zip code to get Google Fiber at your home
FAQs
The monthly cost of Google Fiber ranges from $70 to $150. How much you pay depends on how much internet speed you sign up for.
In most cases, yes, Google Fiber is faster than 5G service. In fact, the majority of the time, any fiber service is going to be faster than its 5G counterparts.
Yes, Google Fiber is really that fast. It starts at 1Gbps/1,000Mbps—already far faster than most internet users will ever need—and goes up to 8Gbps/8,000Mbps.
Google Fiber hasn’t been discontinued. However, it’s yet to arrive in many parts of the US, even in major cities, so it may not be available in your area.
Related Articles
What Are the Best Carriers on Verizon’s Network?
If you want Verizon’s reliable cellular coverage without paying high Verizon prices, you can switch...
What Carriers Use AT&T’s Network?
There are over a dozen different carriers that use AT&T’s network. We’ve done the research...
Best T-Mobile MVNOs
Want to get on T-Mobile for less? We’ve got a rundown of all the prepaid...
7 Ways to Lower Your Xfinity Bill: Save Cash on Cable Wi-Fi
Is your Xfinity bill out of hand? Read our guide for tips on how to...
