The GFiber blog is your home for GFiber news and updates

In February, we asked our TV customers in Huntsville, Alabama, to help us test an upgraded TV experience. We had over 50 households sign up as trusted testers, making the switch to a better TV experience with Chromecast with Google TV, the live streaming services of their choice, and upgraded home Wi-Fi with Google Wifi. 

Thanks to our testers, we’ve learned a lot about how to make this process easy for our customers. So today, we’re making this offer available to all existing Fiber TV customers in every Google Fiber city. 

Customers who are ready to get more out of their TV can chat with one of our customer service team members to upgrade to the best viewing experience the internet has to offer over the fastest internet available (yes, that’s Google Fiber). 

The best TV is already online. With Chromecast with Google TV, customers get all the features they’ve come to expect and more, including a voice remote control, 4K Ultra HD support, personal recommendations, and easy search across apps, with access to many different streaming services at a significantly lower cost than they currently pay for their Fiber TV service. 

Whether you are into movies, local or national news, live sports, or something more niche, there’s a place to watch it online. Google Fiber wants to help Fiber TV customers find their perfect TV experience with streaming TV, and we’re starting right now. 

Ready to switch? We’re ready to make it happen! And if you still want to learn a little more first, check out fiber.google.com/tv/.

Posted by Liz Hsu, Director of Product Strategy

Google Fiber has always focused on helping communities take on the very real digital equity challenges they grapple with every day. We’ve been lucky to partner with some incredible organizations over the past decade, working to make each of our Fiber cities more digitally inclusive places. The past year has magnified the importance of these efforts, with the pandemic and the related changes to our daily lives having an outsized impact on disadvantaged communities.  

PCs for the People in Kansas City

As Google Fiber worked to adapt to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, we realized many of our local non-profit partners, and the people they serve, were working overtime to do the same. So we adjusted our approach over the last year to help those organizations serve their communities’ most immediate needs, whether that was internet access for learning or work, devices to get online, unemployment, or food insecurity. 

Given the enormous challenges of 2020, Google Fiber increased our community impact investments across the country. As we do every year, we recently surveyed our non-profit partners about their experience and their impact. We’re so inspired by what they were able to achieve in the face of the incredible adversity during 2020:

• Over 250,000 people participated in programming funded by Google Fiber 
• Even with the challenges of the pandemic, partners provided 124,000 hours of digital literacy training both virtually and in person, and prepared more than 3,000 new volunteer trainers to pay this work forward
• Partners distributed over 8,500 devices to help people get online
• More than 700 job seekers gained employment through funded programming
• Entrepreneurship programs led to 43 new businesses
• More than 6,000 people connected new internet service in their homes

Libraries without Borders in San Antonio

Additionally, we supported organizations focused on racial justice and equity at a new level this year to help many of our communities bridge not just the digital divide, but the other issues that divide our communities. A little bit more about who our partners serve:

• 92% work with underrepresented groups
• 79% work with children or seniors
• 52% work with the LGBTQ+ community
• 51% work with individuals with disabilities
• 36% work with veterans
• 31% work with previously incarcerated individuals

Goodwill of Western Missouri & Eastern Kansas

Every day, these groups are making change happen in our communities, creating a more equitable, just, and connected place that will create a lasting and exponential difference to our cities and our world. Thank you to all our partners! 



Posted by Rachel Merlo, Government & Community Affairs Manager, Kansas City

To do everything you need to do - working, learning, staying healthy, having entertainment options, finding jobs, starting businesses, doing business, creating communities, connecting to loved ones - you don’t just need internet, you need fast internet. You need enough internet for everyone in your home. And internet that’s open, without data caps or hidden fees. And you need all of that internet at a fair price.

At Google Fiber and Google Fiber Webpass, we believe that everyone, in every community — big, small, urban, rural, and everywhere in between — deserves access to internet that’s fast, reliable, fairly priced, and open.

Since our start in 2011 in Kansas City, that’s been our goal. We know we can’t do it alone, no one company, organization, or type of network can or ever will. But we know that there are lots of companies, organizations, and cities working to make this vision a reality across our country. And we believe that if we work together, we can make faster, better internet happen for more people. 

In the last few years, we’ve worked to live up to this vision for better internet in more places: raising the bar for customer service, strengthening networks, improving equipment and experience, building for the future, expanding in the cities we’re in, and working with cities in new ways to expand.

We‘ve got a long way to go. We’re humbled by the recognition we’ve received over the past year for speed and for customer service and satisfaction. But we’re still working on making our customers even happier, reaching more people, making our products easier, better, and faster, and finding new ways to keep moving towards what we believe internet access should be.

And we’re working on new ways to tell our story. If you’re in a city served by Google Fiber and/or Google Fiber Webpass, you also might notice that we’re telling our story in ads, in mailers, and with local internet reps in Google Fiber spaces and in your neighborhood.

A small part of that storytelling is a new icon for Google Fiber and Google Fiber Webpass.



As the design team at Google’s Brand Studio explained, “The icon represents two key concepts, core to Google Fiber’s mission. The first is that of a catalyst. The dynamic shape upon which the icon is built inspires a feeling of movement in its upward arcing motion. The second concept is scalable impact, represented through its modular pattern. This new icon acts as the cornerstone upon which the brand is built, signaling the ambition to galvanize and uplift communities: from the single family home or small business, through to an entire city”  

The shapes can represent being fast, fairly priced, reliable, and open — critical pieces of our mission. Or they could be communities of all shapes and sizes: big, small, urban, rural.  Or all of the different things you do with your internet.  Or how your internet throughput is divvied up across everything you and your household is doing - not just fast internet for a single fast connection.  Or even how it’s going to take all of us, coming together, to make sure everyone has access to the fast, reliable internet we think everyone deserves.  Or, maybe it’s just a fun, colorful shape. 

In any case, we hope you like it. And, even more, we hope that, whether it’s in an ad, on social media, in our app, or anywhere else you see it, you know it’s Google Fiber, and that there’s more of our story on its way.

Posted by Amanda Peterson, Head of Brand and Product Marketing





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author: Amanda Peterson

title: Head of Brand and Product Marketing

category: company_news

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Our city updates continue, checking in with our team in West Des Moines. If you missed our first one, you can find out more about what’s going on in Austin here.

There is a lot happening in West Des Moines as we move toward bringing our first customers online later this year. Google Fiber has already started our engineering and planning efforts, and we recently signed a lease for our local West Des Moines offices and retail space. We’ve also started the renovation process in our Valley Junction location (check out what’s coming below) and plan to settle in sometime in early fall.



While we’re waiting to move in, our team is hard at work from home. Our sales team has been talking to apartment and condominium managers across the city to get their buildings ready for Google Fiber. If you are interested in getting your community wired for Google Fiber, please email us.

There are still a few things that have to happen before we can serve customers. Most importantly, the city of West Des Moines recently started construction on their conduit network. Once they’ve completed the first area, we’ll start pulling fiber through it to bring fast, reliable internet to your homes, and testing to make sure everything works the way it should. Once that’s done we’ll be ready to open our doors (and our website) for customers.

So what can you do to get ready? As we shared back in October, local residents can see the city’s build schedule and sign up to connect to the conduit network on the city’s Plant the Speed site. And if you are looking for more information about what’s going on with Google Fiber in West Des Moines, you can also sign up for Google Fiber email updates for the latest news and availability.

Things are happening fast, so stay tuned!

Posted by Rachel Merlo, Government & Community Affairs Manager

Since the first cohort of NTEN’s Digital Inclusion Fellowship in 2015, Google Fiber has supported this innovative program which supports nonprofit professionals with deep connections to digitally distressed communities in their efforts to launch or expand digital inclusion  programs. As a former fellow with Austin Free-Net, I’ve seen firsthand the impact that a focused staff member can have on connecting more people to the skills and resources people need to navigate our digital world. 



The pandemic has emphasized the necessity of access to fast, reliable internet. Organizations that once considered digital equity and literacy tangential to their mission now find it essential to helping the communities they serve. 

Stephanie De Leon, our Digital Inclusion Fellow with AVANCE-Austin, shared, “I can proudly say that all 240 families served in the AVANCE-Austin Parent-Child Education Program received brand new tablets with internet connectivity and resources plus 1-on-1 training on how to use them to help close the gap in digital inequity.”

Over the past six years, Google Fiber has funded 59 fellows across the country, and these extraordinary individuals and organizations are making a huge difference in the everyday lives of their constituents. 

Kayla Bradshaw, a fellow with the United Way of Utah County in Provo, Utah, said: “Typically, we hold in-person trainings for our volunteer income tax assistance (VITA) program. Most of our volunteers are elderly and do not want to meet in person. We developed an online training distributed through YouTube to train all volunteers. The volunteers then receive technical support through the tax season as they assist low-income families in filing their taxes.”

Think a staff member in your organization could benefit from being a Digital Inclusion Fellow? Applications are open now for the next cohort (lucky number 7!). We hope you’ll consider joining the group, or pass this on to an organization that needs their own fellow. 

Posted by Daniel Lucio, Community Impact Manager

Ookla recently released its Q1 2021 data for internet speeds, and we're happy to see that Google Fiber tops that list in all of our cities across the country. We're slowing down for a moment to look at how we got here by looking back at what 2020’s challenges meant for our customers and how we helped meet the increased demand for internet as everyone moved their world online — school, work, connecting with family and friends, streaming, gaming, shopping, and so much more. 

The demand for internet has never been greater. At Google Fiber, we saw about a 32% uptick in demand across our network in all our cities throughout the pandemic. While our network is definitely built to handle this, we wanted to make sure that our customers never feel the squeeze.

To handle the additional traffic, not just for now, but the future as well, especially as we have more customers opting for 2 Gig as it rolls out across the country, we took several actions over the last year to improve both network capacity and resiliency. That’s why our internet was able to meet the increased demand for bandwidth, and we were able to reduce latency (the time it takes for your internet to load) for our customers as well. 

Internet speeds from January to June 2020*



Increasing Capacity

In 2020, we increased capacity at every point in our network, from support facilities right into our customers’ homes. By working to increase throughput across our network, we’re ensuring that you have the fastest internet coming into your house. 

But we all know that’s only as good as your Wi-Fi, since most internet usage in our homes is over Wi-Fi rather than wired ethernet. So we worked to improve Wi-Fi performance for Google Fiber customers, launching use your own router as an option for customers who know what they want and incorporating Google Wifi devices to provide more options for customers to adapt their Wi-Fi coverage  to the layout and needs of their homes.

Improving Resiliency

Availability and resiliency is about making it easier to get where you are going on the internet. As demand for teleconferencing services and online learning platforms soared, Google Fiber worked with such providers to optimize network traffic to ensure our customers don’t experience glitchy meetings or disrupted student lessons regardless of how many people are learning or working on the network. And that wasn’t just true for work —as demand for streaming video for news and entertainment and online gaming rose, we also made sure that content came through without buffering or lag. 

All this backend work was designed so that our customers just didn’t have to think about their internet connection. The goal was to make internet one less thing for customers to have to think about — especially this past year when we all had plenty to take up brain space.

We’re continuing to look at new ways to improve our network and meet what’s coming next in 2021 and beyond. Internet demand is only going to increase as we can do more and more online, and Google Fiber will be ready to help you make that journey.

Posted by Terrill Gosa, Senior Director, Engineering & Operations

* All data is from Speedtest by Ookla.

Starting today, Kansas City customers can sign up for our new 2 Gig service and put all that download speed to use whether working, playing, or watching over the internet. No matter how smart your home is, if your household needs 70 simultaneous 4K streams (yes, we said 70), or if most of your reality is virtual these days, 2 Gig can keep up.

We already know that KC moves fast. Now we can do it double time! 

Posted by Carlos Casas, Head of Sales, Kansas City

We heard you, Charlotte, and we’re happy to say that as of today all new and existing Google Fiber customers in the Queen City can get our new 2 Gig service! 

You can now sign up on our website and see for yourself the difference that doubling your download speed can make. There are a few things you need to know to make sure your home is ready for 2 Gig — check out this blog post for more information. 

Posted by the Mary Ellen Player, Head of Sales Charlotte

It’s been nearly a year since many businesses and schools began working from home because of the COVID pandemic. And while many of us have learned new ways to use technology and the internet to keep in touch (while staying apart), many families are still facing challenges accessing the resources and tools they need to work or study online. Digital inclusion is key to creating a more equitable world, and Google Fiber continues to work with organizations across the country to address this challenge.

Since 2016, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance’s (NDIA) has hosted the Net Inclusion Conference annually, bringing together digital inclusion practitioners, advocates, academics, businesses, and policymakers to share their knowledge and learn from one another. This conference has been a consistent catalyst for innovation and best practices across the digital inclusion community, and Google Fiber is proud to support Net Inclusion again this year. This time the conference will feature a new virtual format over a series of weeks rather than concentrated into just a few days, which will allow even more people to participate.

The 2021 Net Inclusion Conference series includes eight one-hour webinars, every Wednesday from April 7th through May 26th. These webinars are open to any and all advocates, policy makers, academics and boots-on-the-ground folks who want to learn more and help expand the conversation around digital inclusion. We hope some of you’ll join us! If you are interested, register here.

Posted by Daniel Lucio, Community Impact Manager

As 2021 gets properly underway, we’re checking in with each of our city teams. Starting with Austin, over the next few months we’ll be posting updates from our teams across the country, sharing what’s happening in each community and what our local customers can expect next.

The last month has been a challenging one for our city, and in many ways we’re still recovering as a community. Like many of you, our Google Fiber Austin team spent days without power, water, heat, and, yes, internet. 

As a team, we are as committed as ever to making sure our customers stay connected as we continue to build out our Google Fiber network across the city. In fact we recently launched service in Allandale, North Loop, Mueller and North Shoal Creek, and soon we’ll be live in other parts of North Austin. We’re also continuing to connect buildings across the city of Austin with Google Fiber Webpass (if you’d like us to connect your apartment or condominium, let us know). 

Read on to find out more about what’s happening with Google Fiber in Austin.

New Fiber Space opens on South Lamar



Today, we are opening the doors to our brand new Fiber Space at 701 South Lamar Boulevard with easier access and parking for our customers, something you’ve told us you wanted. The new Fiber Space will be open from 10 AM to 3 PM Monday through Saturday. Safety is our number one priority, and our customer retail experience is designed to keep our customers and our team members happy and healthy — including customer occupancy limits, on-site social distancing and masks and enhanced cleaning protocols.

South Lamar is an incredibly vibrant neighborhood, and we’re looking forward to getting to know our neighbors. We hope you’ll come visit us, and check out our incredible mural by Austin artist, Catie Lewis, and local photography by Austin Fiber team member, Rose Lichtenfels.



While we’ve closed our downtown retail space to the public, the building will remain our main office for our growing local Google Fiber team. We recently welcomed John-Michael Cortez as our new Government and Community Affairs Manager to lead our community efforts in Austin. John-Michael brings a deep knowledge and love for his hometown of Austin to his new role. We’re hiring for several roles in Austin — we’d love to have you join our team.

HACA launches a new Gigabit Community

This month we’re proud to help the Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA) welcome new residents to Chalmers Court East, our 10th Gigabit Community in Austin. 110 residents will receive a gigabit internet connection at no cost. Through our Gigabit Community program, Google Fiber currently provides the option for free gigabit internet to more than 875 families in HACA communities across Austin.

We’re also continuing to bring free gigabit internet service to new Community Connections partners. Over the past year, we’ve connected four new community partners in Austin, including OutYouth, Oswaldo “A.B.” Cantu Pan American Recreation Center, American Institutes for Research (Southwest Educational Development Corporation) and Austin Groups for the Elderly (AGE) of Central Texas, which brings the total to 36 Community Connections across Austin. These incredible organizations are working to help our neighbors everyday, and we’re proud to be able to help connect them and the people they serve. 

Continuing to grow our network

We’re continuing to build out our network, rolling out service in new areas every few weeks. Currently, you may see our crews in North Shoal Creek, Allandale and Rosedale. As usual, we’re working to make sure that residents are kept up-to-date on any activities happening in their neighborhood. If you have questions about construction in Austin in your community, give us a call at (877) 454-6959.

Austin will always be weird, and Google Fiber is working to make sure Austin is wired. To stay up-to-date on service in your area, check availability for your address and join our email list. 

Posted by the Austin Fiber Team