Author Archives: Google Fiber

CES 2024: Wi-Fi 7 and the future of connectivity

The dust is settling from the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, but one thing is clear: the dawn of Wi-Fi 7 is here. The Wi-Fi Alliance officially certified the Wi-Fi 7 standards on January 8th, marking a pivotal moment in the journey toward bringing this faster, more reliable wireless technology to market. Most of our lives depend on Wi-Fi every day — the technology allows our home devices to connect with the internet, giving us access to information, entertainment, education and so much more. That is why the advancement in Wi-Fi technology is important, for it impacts our connectivity experience.

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This news of the next generation of Wi-Fi definitely made waves at CES 2024. The event buzzed with announcements of lots of new devices that support Wi-Fi 7 — from smartphones, to smart home devices, to more innovative devices — the industry has begun gearing up to embrace the power of Wi-Fi 7. Google Fiber is no exception — we’re excited about the Wi-Fi Alliance’s certification of Wi-Fi 7 because it opens the door to even more multi-gig speeds and reduced latency over Wi-Fi networks.


The biggest innovation with Wi-Fi 7 is Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which allows packets to be sent over multiple frequencies simultaneously. Prior generations of Wi-Fi only used one frequency band at a time.This means that one device which supports Wi-Fi 7 can talk to an access point over multiple radios and frequency bands at the same time.

Wi-Fi 7 devices can select from either a 2.4, 5, or 6 GHz band and are able to choose the Wi-Fi band that offers the most efficient and reliable path to the router. The result is lower latency and improved reliability, resulting in a better experience for internet users.

We know that great wireless internet is key to our customers’ in-home experience, so we spend a lot of time working on making it better (even when it’s already good). In 2023, we deployed Wi-Fi 6E routers with tri-band connectivity, built to handle more devices with fewer slowdowns.

Our focus and commitment to delivering speed to the home and in the home is exactly why we’re including a Wi-Fi 7 router for GFiber Labs 20 Gig customers. Wi-Fi 7 is a longer-term solution, if you’re thinking about purchasing a new smartphone, TV, tablet, computer, or other devices in 2024, you may want to consider whether they are Wi-Fi 7 compatible. You can have the latest high-powered router but the compatibility of your Wi-Fi devices also impacts your online experience. Our device guide can help determine Wi-Fi compatibility for your devices.

CES exhibitors unveiled cool new devices and products that support Wi-Fi 7 and are coming soon. Dell introduced two new laptops — the Dell XPS 16 laptop and the Dell Alienware M15 R2 gaming laptop, which are expected to be released in Q1 '24. Samsung announced its Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphone, and Acer announced a new gaming router; the Wi-Fi 7 Predator Connect X7 5G CPE, which offers dual connectivity (an ethernet network and 5G service).

Wi-Fi Alliance’s certification of Wi-Fi 7 ushers in a host of new possibilities, and GFiber is committed to making sure that our customers can harness the speed of their internet. Expect more from us soon to help make your in-home internet even faster.

Posted by Ishan Patel, Product Manager



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MLK Day and the pursuit of equitable internet access

As Martin Luther King Jr. Day approaches, we are reminded of the ongoing pursuit for equity, justice, and the civil rights leader’s legacy and vision of a world with equal access to opportunities. Google Fiber aspires to be a part of this dream, by helping to bridge the digital divide and foster inclusivity in our increasingly connected world. 


Everyone deserves fast, reliable internet at an accessible price, and the ability to put that internet connection to use - to connect to opportunity. We’re grateful to work with many organizations across the country that put that principle to work every day, helping their clients and constituents get more out of their lives, both online and beyond.  


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Here are a few ways our incredible community partners are marking this important day across the country:





GFiber is proud to be a small part of these efforts, and others, working towards a more equitable and just world.


Of course, there is still more work to be done. We will continue to push forward to make the internet more accessible and to help others harness the power and opportunity of the internet. You can help too! One small way to act right now  — the Affordable Connectivity Program helps make high speed internet available to millions of US households through a $30 a month subsidy, but this program will end in April 2024 unless Congress acts to allocate additional funding. There is a bill before Congress to extend funding for this critical program. Take a moment to let your Congresspeople add your voice on the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act of 2024 to keep that connection strong for everyone.


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Posted by Jess George, Head of Digital Equity & Community Impact 



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Sign up here or on the GFiber blog any time by clicking on the email icon in the top right corner or the link at the bottom of the page. Happy reading! 

Posted by Sunny Gettinger, Head of External Communications


Caritas of Austin: Alleviating Homelessness and Creating a Connected Community


In each of our cities, Google Fiber works with incredible community partners and organizations on digital inclusion and equity issues. In Texas, we’re working with Caritas of Austin to help bring fast, reliable internet to the residents of Espero at Rutland, an affordable and supportive housing community and our newest Gigabit Community. GFiber is providing access to high speed internet and digital literacy classes at no cost to residents. In today’s guest post, Rachel Hanover, Deputy Director of Espero Rutland Housing Services shares what this represents for this community.

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At Caritas of Austin, we believe all people deserve to have their basic needs met and a stable place to call home. We use a multi-layered approach to make homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring in Central Texas by helping the unhoused population attain proper housing, employment, education, food and a supportive community.

As technology advances and society transitions to “paperless,” an internet connection is vital for finding permanent housing, applying for jobs and accessing other supplemental benefits like unemployment, food assistance  and health insurance. But for tens of millions of Americans, a high-speed internet connection is a luxury they can’t afford. This barrier makes life considerably more challenging to navigate, which is especially true for people experiencing homelessness.

Espero Rutland


In a joint venture to help unhoused individuals find permanent housing, we partnered with The Vecino Group and Austin Housing Finance Corporation to develop Espero Rutland, an affordable and intensely supportive housing community that is scheduled to open early next year.


Espero Rutland consists of 171 studio apartments and features many amenities, including an indoor community room, business center, gym and yoga studio, community dining room, and an outdoor courtyard area with lawn games, gazebo, BBQ stations and community garden. 



















We employ onsite case managers who work closely with residents to curate a personalized plan to help them manage personal finances, develop vocational skills and apply for supplemental benefit programs. To offer these services, it is imperative that residents have a stable internet connection. 

Creating a connected community with Google Fiber



Caritas of Austin is excited to partner with Google Fiber to provide access to a free, high-speed internet connection to every residential unit and property amenity at Espero Rutland. This partnership, which is part of GFiber’s Gigabit Communities program, will support broadband internet free of charge to very low income households. 

In addition to providing internet services at no cost to residents of Caritas Espero Rutland, GFiber will help to provide laptops and digital literacy classes to our residents. The virtual and onsite classes will help residents learn how to use their new laptops to access job applications, healthcare and supplemental benefits. 














At Caritas of Austin, we are committed to ending homelessness by creating a connected, supported community. Homelessness is a complex issue with no “one size fits all” solution. Through partnerships with local organizations like GFiber, we can help our clients build a solid foundation for their future. 

Empowering those experiencing homelessness,transforms individual lives, which contributes to the overall well-being of society–building a stronger, more connected community for everyone. 


Posted by Rachel Hanover, Deputy Director of Espero Rutland Housing Services


Wi-Fi Focus: How to Get the Best Wi-Fi On Your Devices


Understanding your Wi-Fi technology and how it was built to support your devices is the key to getting the most out of them. Why? Because many of the Wi-Fi enabled devices in your home were built on a Wi-Fi standard, which impacts the Wi-Fi speeds you'll get. 


What’s a Wi-Fi standard?

A Wi-Fi standard is a set of rules created by the The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization that defines how Wi-Fi devices communicate with each other. In short, it’s the system your devices use when connecting wirelessly. There are many different Wi-Fi standards, also called Wi-Fi technologies. Some standards you may be familiar with are Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E and the soon-to-launch, Wi-Fi 7. Each new Wi-Fi standard is faster and more efficient than the previous one. (That’s why older devices may not go as fast as newer ones.) 


Want to see what we’re doing with Wi-Fi 7? Check out our demo


How do Wi-Fi standards impact devices?

Some devices only support certain standards of Wi-Fi technology. So when you're shopping for a new Wi-Fi router, it's really important to make sure that it supports the Wi-Fi standard your devices or future devices are enabled for. For example, if you have a phone that supports Wi-Fi 6 or 7, you'll want to get a router that also supports those standards so you can take advantage of faster speeds and better performance. Making sure that your devices’ technology is compatible with your router technology will help you utilize the fastest Wi-Fi speeds available and avoid lag times.


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Want to know how fast your devices can go? 

Wi-Fi speeds depend on the technology your devices are able to support. To make things easier, we’ve put together a list of common phones, laptops and gaming consoles along with their Wi-Fi capabilities. Use this chart to check which Wi-Fi technology your devices are built with so you can make the most out of them. Check out the comprehensive list here.


Posted By Sydney Lauer, Product Strategy Analyst

Google Fiber’s fastest year ever — to the home, in the home, and everywhere in between

8 Gig Now Available in Utah, North Carolina’s Triangle region, and Austin, Texas


At Google Fiber, delivering a fast, reliable internet experience has always been at the core of what we do, and that’s never been more important. Whether you’re working from home or playing a multi-player game or using it to connect multiple devices in the home, speed matters.  That is why GFiber spent 2023 focused on delivering speed to the home and in the home.  We made investments in our network, in the equipment we offer customers, in enhanced quality standards for our technicians, and much more.  


Some of these efforts have been very public — like our GFiber Labs 20 Gig + Wi-Fi7 project or our efforts to make faster speed plans available to our customers. In early 2023, we began rolling out 5 Gig and 8 Gig internet offerings as we updated our network in each city to XGS-PON. When we said that a product was available in a city, we wanted to make sure it was available to everyone in our service area there. As of today, more than 75% of our residential customers can get 5 Gig and/or 8 Gig.  


The response from our customers has been amazing and we’re very proud at the speed at which we’re making these network-wide upgrades. In fact, starting today customers across Utah (Salt Lake City & Provo), Austin, TX, and the Triangle region in North Carolina can sign up for 8 Gig service. Our 8 Gig product offers symmetrical upload and download speeds of up to 8000 Mbps with a wired connection, a router (or you can use your own), up to two mesh extenders and professional installation, for $150/month. This speed can make internet connection feel almost instantaneous.


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This is just one part of a focused effort to maximize speed across our network so customers can get the most out of their internet. GFiber is actively upgrading our fiber network, expanding our partnerships with content companies to offer seamless connectivity and low latency experiences, and adding redundancy so customers can stream, game, or video conference with confidence. In fact, most of our customers see even higher speeds than expected, especially over wired connections (see speed tests above). 


While speed to the home is important, most of us use Wi-Fi for the majority of our online activities. We’re working to ensure your Wi-Fi keeps up.  We are upgrading customers from the original Google Fiber Network Box to Wi-Fi 6 at no cost, helping customers optimize their network set up for their households, and deploying Wi-Fi 6E with tri-band connectivity built to handle more devices with fewer slowdowns.  We provided our technicians with new tools and training to optimize the in-home setup.  And because we understand that Wi-Fi = Internet for most people, we are helping our customers understand how the devices they use like their smartphones or computers can influence their experience.


As our dependence on the internet continues to grow, we’re working to make sure we’re keeping up with customer needs, not just for today, but in the future. 2023 was our fastest year ever. . .until 2024. We’ll continue to push boundaries to make speed a reality for our customers at every part of the internet ecosystem. And we invite others to join us.  


Posted by Liz Hsu, Senior Director, Product & Billing

Google Fiber names John Keib Chief Technology & Product officer

Google Fiber is proud to announce John Keib as the company’s first-ever Chief Technology & Product Officer (CTPO). As CTPO, John will continue to drive our product, engineering, and supply chain efforts, along with overseeing the innovative projects coming out of GFiber Labs.

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Since joining GFiber in 2019 as Vice President of Product, John has been building a next generation Internet service focusing on groundbreaking speeds and enhanced quality of Internet service for all customers.  At GFiber, he has pushed the boundaries on speed and led the effort to take us from 1 Gig as a foundation to the multigig future the internet is increasingly demanding. Under John’s leadership, GFiber rolled out 2 Gig, 5 Gig and 8 Gig products and developed relationships with companies across the internet ecosystem to upgrade not just our network, but also work to ensure that customers have the latest hardware necessary to harness that speed for all customers. These efforts have made services like 20 Gig + Wi-Fi 7 a reality and a roadmap beyond those speeds attainable. John’s vision for the internet is both abundant and revolutionary to how we live our daily lives.

John with his leadership team

Previously, John oversaw a team of 40,000 employees as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Residential Services at Time Warner, where he spent almost two decades working in roles spanning sales, marketing, product, customer service, technical operations and supply chain. He also spent time at both DirecTV and Thompson Media earlier in his career.

“In my time working with John, his leadership has always been grounded in maximizing potential for customers and setting an ambitious agenda to both address weaknesses and harness strengths,” said Dinni Jain, GFiber CEO. “John’s visionary leadership is critical to GFiber’s ability to truly push the boundaries of what ISP can be. With product, engineering, and GFiber Labs under his guidance, we’re very lucky to have him setting both the path for where we’re going and the bar for what we need to be as a company.” 

The GFiber Team

Your most exciting invitation this holiday season — 20 Gig + Wi-Fi 7 for $250 a month

We told you 20 Gig + Wi-Fi 7 was coming. We showed you what it can do (multiple simultaneous multi-gig streams!). Now we’re ready to make it official — 20 Gig + Wi-Fi 7 will be available to select customers for $250 per month plus applicable taxes and fees. 

At our core, we believe speed should always be accessible — that’s why we haven’t raised our 1 Gig from $70 ever and why we’ve priced 2 Gig ($100/month), 5 Gig ($125), and 8 Gig ($150) right along those lines. And we feel the same way with 20 Gig + Wi-Fi 7. At $250, it’s a lot of speed for that price, and we know that it will enable innovators who want to be able to push what’s possible to truly get to work.

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We’re starting in Kansas City, North Carolina’s Triangle Region, Arizona, and Iowa. As we continue to roll out Nokia’s 25G PON across our network, we’ll open up invitations in new areas, so make sure you’ve let us know if you are interested in being the one of the first to have this in your home. We expect installations to start in Q1.

As we enter the new year, expect more news out of GFiber Labs — speed is the first step towards next generation internet. We’re working to redefine internet customer experience and to bring it to more people in more places, and GFiber Labs is focusing on how we go from incremental to exponential improvement when it comes to what your internet can do. 

Posted by Nick Saporito, Head of Product 




Community Foundation of Huntsville- 2023 Digital Inclusion Fund Grants

At Google Fiber, digital equity has always been core to our mission. We believe that everyone should have access to fast, reliable internet. In 2018, GFiber and the Community Foundation of Greater Huntsville launched the Digital Inclusion Fund, a grant program that supports local nonprofits with funding for digital-forward programming to help bring technology, know-how, and resources to traditionally underserved communities. 

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Last week, the Community Foundation of Greater Huntsville hosted a GivingTuesday celebration and announced the 2023 recipients of the Google Fiber Digital Inclusion Fund. This year, six Huntsville-area nonprofits were awarded a total of $45,000 to support programming that teaches digital literacy to residents of all ages, fund technology and STEAM lab needs, support workforce development, prepares students for technology careers, and more. 



Digital Inclusion Fund 2023 recipients include:

Girls Incorporated of Huntsville – Girls In STEM (science, TECHNOLOGY, math)
Girls in STEM is a workforce development program that will teach digital skills and develop a new talent pool of black girls in middle and high school. This grant allows girls from under-resourced communities to connect with technology in an impactful way while interacting with technology mentors.

Huntsville Learning Center – High School STEAM Lab Smart Boards
Huntsville Learning Center’s new High School Program will include a new state-of-the-art STEAM lab as well as specialized ACT prep classes. Grant funding will provide Smart Boards to support each of these two new initiatives.

His Way Recovery Center – Resident GED and Educational Programs
His Way will establish an in-house GED Program for residents, which will include an instructor to teach the classes at their facility, Adult Basic Education software, and Chromebooks for resident use in completing the lessons. Certification programs will also be included.

Huntsville Library Foundation – Equitable Access
The Huntsville Library Foundation will break down language and access barriers and connect people with resources needed to not only secure a job, but also gain skills needed to sustain employment. They will ensure patrons with disabilities or limited English proficiency have equitable access to workforce development programs.

Boys & Girls Clubs of North Alabama – Digital by Design
Boys & Girls Clubs of North Alabama will expand the scope of digital programs that will provide relevant pathways to technology careers.  Currently youth are provided with Computer Science in the form of coding and video production, and this grant will support the establishment of a game development program.

The CAP & GOWN Project – 2024 STEM Summer Institute
The 2024 STEM Summer Institute will provide two weeks of free, rigorous, in-person ACT and college prep, and hands-on STEM learning, and four weeks of programming virtually via Google Classrooms. Students will learn digital literacy and utilize laptops to access resources to prepare for college. 

Thank you to the Community Foundation of Greater Huntsville, and congratulations to this year’s recipients of the Digital Inclusion Fund. We can’t wait to see what you do next! 

Posted by Ryun Jackson, Government & Community Affairs Manager



GFiber celebrates 10 years in Miami

In the vibrant city of Miami, Google Fiber proudly marked a decade of connecting lives and fostering community. The Miami GFiber team recently celebrated this milestone with sponsoring a movie night held on Brickell Key Properties, the very first property to get  Google Fiber Webpass service in Miami in 2013. 

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Serving over 300 apartment and condominium communities across Miami, GFiber has offered fast, reliable connectivity for over a decade, and we’re continuing to connect new communities in the area every day. 

We constantly work to make sure our customers get more than what they need from our service. "My community relies on GFiber for both excellent customer service and reliable internet, ensuring top-notch quality and speed at every stage," said Daniela Alvarez, a GFiber customer and Brickell Key resident.



Our GFiber Miami team loved marking the occasion with our customers and celebrating 10 truly great years. We can’t wait to see what’s next for GFiber in Miami. Thank you to our customers and communities who have shared this journey with us! To find out if GFiber is available in your building, check availability here.

Posted by: Miami GFiber team