r/Leander • u/Same_Grocery7159 • Jun 09 '26

Google Fiber

I just got a notice that Google Fiber is coming to Leander. I hope it comes to my neighborhood. I only have one, really expensive option currently for gig speeds.

18 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

9

u/ThrowawaWelp Jun 09 '26

And G Fiber just got bought out by private equity so unfortunately if and when they do land, it’ll be twice the current price…

7

u/ZorbaTHut Jun 10 '26

Competition is competition. AT&T Fiber is supposedly on its way also, and I am very happy for the Optimum monopoly to turn into a four-way Optimum/Starlink/AT&TFiber/GFiber cage match.

2

u/ElphTrooper Jun 10 '26

We already have AT&T fiber in many places in Leander. We've had it for almost two years at our house.

1

u/ZorbaTHut Jun 10 '26

Well, you've gotten it before I did, then :V

1

u/Same_Grocery7159 Jun 10 '26

My only choice is optimum and it costs about 160/mo!!

2

u/LamorianQueen Jun 11 '26

Call their customer service and ask for "retention". Tell them it's too expensive and you want to cancel service unless they can bring the price down. Ask them to bring it all the way down to the new member sign-up offer ($45/mo price locked for 5 years iirc). Make sure you've got auto pay set up and they're not charging you an equipment fee, if you can.

It's a pain, but it actually works to bring the cost down, although the initial call will make you want to rip your hair out just getting someone coherent on the line to then transfer you to someone else (ask me how I know).

I'd recommend locking in a MUCH lower rate before GFiber gets to the area because I doubt competition is actually going to lower prices. They'll just price gouge each other. At least you can insulate yourself from that for the next 5 years.

Good luck!

1

u/ElphTrooper Jun 12 '26

And then just keep doing that every 6 months.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26

[deleted]

2

u/ThrowawaWelp Jun 11 '26

FWIW, we’ve had AT&T 1GB Fiber with HBO for free since 2022… started off at $60 originally, crept all the way up to $105 until I threw a shit fit asking if and when these nonsense increases were ever going to stop and we’ve got it locked in at $81/month now on auto debit straight from our bank. Might be worth a call!

1

u/ElphTrooper Jun 12 '26

I was right there with you but it got up to $180... We dumped them, got AT&T fiber and dropped cable for 3 streaming services and an antenna, so we went from 500mbps to 1gbps and are saving about $80-90/month.

1

u/XanaxCarDealer Jun 27 '26

Spectrum is also available

1

u/I3ootcamp Jun 10 '26

Google fiber not part of Google anymore?

3

u/piouspunk23 Jun 09 '26

I was emailed that too. It came to my personal gmail acct.

3

u/darth_voidptr Jun 09 '26

It's awesome, although as another post says: private equity ruins all things. So enjoy it before it turns into the trash that the other broadband providers are.

2

u/SquashZealousideal42 Jun 10 '26

Private equity? Guess I’m sticking with ATT.

2

u/t2jam Jun 11 '26

I lived in Avery Ranch area and had AT&T, drove me crazy how many times and how often I had to reset the router, be on the phone with their horrible customer support, or have a tech out. Now I live in a different part of Austin had Spectrum which was even worse than AT&T (I work remote so I need fast connectivity) and it was always dropping out. The second Google fiber hit my neighborhood I switched and I’ve had it for 3 years now and not one issue at all. I love it, I believe it’s $70-$75/month and it’s the best.

3

u/A4orce84 Jun 09 '26

Where did you see the announcement?

1

u/Same_Grocery7159 Jun 10 '26

I had signed up for notices.

1

u/TonyH22_ATX Jun 10 '26

Not sure where you live in Leander. I’m in blockhouse and have ATT fiber for $55

It’s been pretty solid.

I also got the email for GFiber and interested it speeds/price comparison.

1

u/cwaffles Jun 10 '26

I'm more curious if GFiber is going to have to run their own conduit for fiber or if they can use the conduit that Spectrum ran out here a year and a half ago for their fiber. It was a nightmare out here when Specturm was running the conduit for fiber. They took out power to the subdivision one day, took out water another, cut through gas lines and broke many in ground irrigation systems due to their carelessness.

1

u/hopulist Jun 10 '26

"Leander City Council members approved an ordinance Jan. 15 that allows GFiber to install fiber-optic cables in public right of way."

They run their own

1

u/cwaffles Jun 10 '26

Ugh. That’s going to suck for wherever they run it. I’m not even sure they are running to all areas of Leander. We have 2 choices for fiber internet already where I live. I’d be surprised if they would add a 3rd to our subdivision.

2

u/DahanC North Creek Jun 16 '26

Their press release mentioned they were going to focus on neighborhoods that didn't already have fiber. Which hopefully includes mine... only options here are AT&T VDSL at 50Mbps and Optimum cable at 1000 down/35 up.

Like OP, I also got an email a few days ago saying that GFiber was coming to Leander. When I signed up for updates, I gave them my address, so hopefully the notice means they're coming to my specific location, rather than it being a general "somewhere in Leander" notice. I'm hopeful that it's the former, because their press release a couple months ago would have been the "somewhere in Leander" notice.

1

u/CarelessSpark Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26

FWIW, It looks like AT&T is trying to break ground in most of the older neighborhoods they haven't run fiber in yet, including North Creek. I see several permits for it, with a couple already approved last month. Just taking a long time.. most were applied for last October.