Google Fiber vs. CenturyLink: Which One Is Worth Your Money?

Google Fiber gives you much more bang for your buck, but that doesn’t mean it comes cheap. Google Fiber’s lowest tier plan is more expensive than what most internet providers offer—a definite barrier to entry for a lot of folks. While Google Fiber isn’t the most affordable at face value, many providers have extra fees that end up totalling to a higher monthly fee than initially advertised, not to mention the dreaded price increase after the first year of service. What you see is what you get with Google Fiber, so your plan price covers fast symmetrical speeds, top-notch equipment, and installation.

If you look purely at how much each megabit per second (Mbps) you get with Google Fiber’s 1Gbps plan and CenturyLink’s 500Mbps plan, Google gets you 1Mbps for 7 cents, whereas CenturyLink costs 10 cents. So despite Google being more expensive month to month, you get more speed out of your dollar. Google Fiber is also the better pick due to its all-inclusive pricing. However, if you only look at how much is taken out of your bank account every month, CenturyLink’s 500Mbps fiber internet plan is cheaper.

CenturyLink’s DSL service costs $55 per month and gives you speeds up to 140Mbps. Interestingly, the 500Mbps fiber plan costs $50 per month. Sure, this is great for the person on DSL getting 140Mbps download speed, but it’s not fair for someone getting slower speeds. If you’re getting anything less than 70Mbps, you might want to consider a 5G home internet provider instead like T-Mobile or Verizon.

CenturyLink Fiber customers are fortunate—the 500Mbps plan is actually a little cheaper than the DSL plan, and the 940Mbps plan gets you top-notch speeds for just a little more than Google Fiber’s 1 Gig plan.

Google Fiber is an all-star across top customer satisfaction surveys, including HighSpeedInternet.com’s 2023 Customer Satisfaction Survey and J.D. Power. “With Google, we got more than enough bandwidth to do anything we needed online,” says R.J. Bass, a satisfied Google Fiber customer, IT specialist, and former Twitch streamer. Customers love the fast and reliable performance that supports whatever you need to do on the internet.

Just looking at customer satisfaction surveys, it’s clear that Google Fiber customers are highly satisfied with their service. However, fiber always beats other connection types, so whether you get on a fiber plan through Google Fiber or CenturyLink, your experience should be smooth. If it’s important to you that you can call up customer service and resolve your issues quickly, CenturyLink might not be the best choice.

CenturyLink customers have varying experiences with the provider, with most having had trouble with customer service. “They were not very responsive when I did have an issue,” says Cai Crawford, a CenturyLink customer in South Jordan, Utah.

“I had to repeat myself a few times to get a direct answer to a simple question,” says Reviews.org staff writer Brianne Sandorf, who detailed her experience in her review of the provider.

In HighSpeedInternet.com’s 2023 Customer Satisfaction Survey, CenturyLink ranked below average across customer service, reliability, and speed. However, it did come third for wired internet providers in the north central region in J.D. Power’s 2024 U.S. Residential Internet Service Provider Satisfaction Study, which is a good sign that the service gets the job done, even if it snags.

Google Fiber is your best choice. It’s fast, reliable, and reasonably priced, even if it is a little higher than your average internet plan. There isn’t any need to go higher than 1 Gig unless you’re a techy person who really wants to experience the epitome of internet speeds. CenturyLink’s fiber plans are also fast, but if you have the option between the two, pick Google Fiber because you can get more speed for your dollar with Google Fiber. Avoid CenturyLink’s DSL plan unless that’s your only option besides satellite internet.