Google Fiber Internet Review: My Honest Experience After Two Years

In general, Google Fiber customers are satisfied with their service and prices. “The customer service is excellent,” says Monica Yoshida, a fellow staff writer at Reviews.org who loves her Google Fiber 1 Gig plan. “I like the predictable billing. I know it’s not going up or down.”

Previously, Yoshida used Xfinity but was unhappy with the lack of communication and frequent price increases. This isn’t a surprise, considering Google Fiber snags a score of 76/100 in the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which indicates an above-average score for customer satisfaction. Xfinity scores a 68/100 in the same survey.

In the last two years, Yoshida experienced one hiccup with Google Fiber: A stressful, hour-long outage that interrupted her work day. “Any outage could mean you miss meetings and all your projects are on hold. I didn’t want to go out and find a coffee shop to work in because I had a small baby depending on me to be at home,” Yoshida says. However, she praises Google Fiber’s customer service for their attentiveness and ability to resolve the issue remotely. “They walked me through it. It didn’t feel like they were reading off a script.”

However, not all customers rave about Google Fiber. My other colleague, Bryan Mill, at first only got meager 1Mbps speeds on his 1 Gig plan in Salt Lake City, Utah. “They would force me to try to troubleshoot it on my own first before deeming if it was necessary to send someone out,” explains Mill. Google Fiber eventually sent out a technician, but the problem persisted. “It was a great service when it worked, but it was a pretty abysmal experience trying to get consistently working.”

Google Fiber does have a 99.9% uptime guarantee, or you get a 25% refund on your monthly bill if your internet is down for more than 45 minutes.

Google Fiber advertises its multi-gig plans for content creators and gamers, but it’s not worth it for the average household. “It’s like paying for a giant water main pipe that connects to a garden hose. The water can only come out as fast as the garden hose will allow it,” says Katie Donaldson, a current Google Fiber 5 Gig customer and network operations manager. To experience the advertised speeds, Donaldson and her husband, Kenneth, purchased a 10Gbps-compatible router and replaced the network interface cards in their computers.

Over the years, the couple tried out Google Fiber’s 1 and 2 Gig plans and say that even for avid gamers, there isn’t a need to get more than 1 Gig. However, Kenneth is a software engineer and AI enthusiast, so he likes how he can download large language models in a matter of seconds on the 2 Gig or 5 Gig plan.

When I asked Kenneth if his 5 Gig plan was worth it, he replied, “Is it worth it to get DoorDash, rather than driving to get food?” He adds, “I don’t need it. This is the nerd version of conspicuous consumption.”

Google Fiber has limited availability as a fiber provider but is growing its footprint. “Today we are actively working in over 150 municipalities across 19 states,” explains Angie Welling, general manager of expansion at Google Fiber. In 2024, Google Fiber expanded to South Carolina, Nebraska, and Idaho. In 2025, Google Fiber plans to expand to Nevada. Here are a few of the cities where Google Fiber is currently available.

Google Fiber is Reviews.org’s top pick for internet service, but you might find other providers are more widely available in your city and may offer a better fit for your budget or speed needs. AT&T Fiber is a major competitor of Google Fiber and comes with all the same benefits (equipment included, free installation, no extra fees) plus a 20% discount if you also bundle with AT&T's wireless service. AT&T also offers a wide range of plans, starting from $55 per month for 300Mbps. That's less speed, but it’s also cheaper.

If you can’t get a fiber internet provider, several cable providers like Xfinity, Spectrum, or Optimum deliver fast download speeds, albeit with eventual price increases.

Otherwise, T-Mobile 5G Home Internet is another good option. You can’t expect the epic performance of fiber internet with a 5G internet provider, but you can expect flat rates as low as $35 per month when bundled with a T-Mobile wireless plan.

Google Fiber is a rare gem of an internet provider, and if it’s available in your area, I highly recommend you try it out. Type in your zip code below to see if you can get it.