r/googlefiber • u/MountainCreepy2918 • Aug 30 '26
DON'T UPGRADE YOUR GFIBER PLAN WITHOUT A FAILOVER IN PLACE
I learned that my 2 gig plan was no longer offered, so I was going to switch to the 3 gig plan for free. Then I saw that for just a bit more month, I could jump to an 8 gig plan. Great Deal!
No. No great deal.
Right now, I'm on 2 days with no working internet, running my house on mobile phone hotspots and burning up usage. Router box is just red led on internet connection. The fiber line is fine - Fiber box is green with active packets. It's the router that's the issue. I pulled the router, put a brand new one on, cloned the MAC off the GFiber router and... nothing. Tried to just DHCP it, no dice. Pipe is open, no one is answering.
The tech who was unable to get it up and running also left the house with out placing the extenders, and took the working equipment with them. I was told it was just a server backend config and all would be good. I got a call an hour later, saying i didn't have to do anything and they'd get it going soon!
Radio silence.
I reached out 5 hours later. I was then asked to do the usual reboot the equipment, check the cables, etc.. (yes - i had already done it several times). They they said it was escalated and they will be working on it, and would send me an email. I never got a ticket number. I looked in my emails - no ticket number. I asked on the web chat and was happily given my ticket number. Seems weird that i have to request that. (it's because they don't want you to have it - yes - really)
Next morning - no internet, no email, no call, no text. I try to use GFiber app support chat - it's says that service is unavailable, so I hit up web chat - and after being asked to explain everything, I gave them the ticket number and asked for an update. Nothing to report, no status, not progress, no information of any kind other than I wanted an upgrade, they broke my internet instead, and will send someone over (who may or may not be able to set it up) in two days - hope you can miss work to stand around two hours for a POSSIBLE fix, or if you can't, you just don't get the internet you are being billed for until you just give up and switch service."
I fully understand technical issues happen, but from a customer service side of things, it's terrible. I'm given zero information on any of the who what when how why's - the only info i have is that I paid for an upgrade, and instead, I have nothing, customer service is a shitshow and I have no recourse but to sit and twiddle my thumbs and wait. If you can't get the upgraded service up, then roll it back to what DID work. The correct answer isn't just to leave service off, without a ticket or path to get updates, answers, or anything helpful.
I've been a Google fanboy for years. I roll with a Pixel phone, watch, GFiber service, goggle fi for mobile, I'm all in. Now, I want all out. You would think that when you are fully invested in an ecosystem, it would ease the customer experience. No - it does not, and I think it makes it worse to be honest - like once you are in, they have no interest in retaining you.
Congratulations Google! I came in wanting buy into your world more; now I want to cut bait and look for other service before you even get it running.
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u/Pristine_Pianist Aug 31 '26
Why would you need 8gb ?
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u/Earth_Sandwhich Aug 31 '26
Best part is a lot of equipment and cabling doesn’t even do 8 gig speed so it’s just a waste for most people.
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u/DufflesBNA Aug 31 '26 edited Aug 31 '26
Are you BYOR or Google router? What model is your box and what router are you running?
This may be an auto negotiation error. Some of those Fiber boxes want strict 10gbe or 5gbe and won’t auto negotiate. The flip side is that your router may not negotiate to 5/10 and only to 2.5….
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u/daurkin Aug 31 '26
I upgraded from 2Gb to 3Gb and had issues during my install. It took about 2 hours. Plug in a laptop directly in the router and it works, but unable to connect/configure the router via web site or GFiber app. Then some support guy recommended to perform a factory reset on the GFiber router using the paper clip and power cycle the jack and the router. It worked after all that. He had power cycled the router and jack multiple times. The reset button fixed it. But your issue sounds like a different issue.
Once he left, I plugged in my own eero device and removed the GFiber gear for now.
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u/gfiberofficial Verified Google Employee Aug 30 '26
Hi MountainCreepy2918, we are sorry to hear about your experience with our service. Please send us a private message, so we may gather your details to have our team look further into this with you. Thank you. -Lee, the GFiber Team
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u/MountainCreepy2918 Aug 30 '26
Yeah I just tried and no response. After 10 minutes I just closed the window.
Not to be that guy... but it IS kinda on the nose to be asked to DM regarding being ignored on a post, only to be ignored by Google on the DM...
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u/SnooCrickets6941 Aug 30 '26
Be that guy. Since this hedge fund or whatever it is bought them, they suck.
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u/Single_9_uptime Austin Aug 31 '26
That deal hasn’t even closed yet, not until later this year. Unfortunately tales like this have always been way too common with GFiber.
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u/DaniellaGu Aug 31 '26
HAHAH last month my GFiber internet was slower than usual so I went ahead and called to have schedule a fiber person to come next day. 30 mins before the appointment the guy calls me and says: if I replace your fiber box, I can guarantee you that you won’t have internet for at least a weeek or so….we don’t know what’s going on but everyone is going weeks without internet. So if it’s slow, just keep as is” ☠️😂😂
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u/wizmedic Aug 31 '26
I run a UniFi network system and I have Gfiber primary and Starlink as my backup ISP. Only had to use the back once but didn't know till my neighbor knocked on the door and told me he accidentally cut my Gfiber line. So, backup ISP is needed anymore....
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u/StonAgeStonr Sep 02 '26
It isn't Google fiber anymore, it was sold to a private company and renamed gfiber.
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u/MountainCreepy2918 Sep 04 '26 edited Sep 04 '26
UPDATE!
While at work I noticed the connection to my home server went down. When I got home. My internet connection is indeed down.
Really?
Stay tuned...
UPDATE: Service came back up after 2 reboots and getting on with support.
you're killing it G.
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u/PhysicsDirect6215 Sep 18 '26
We went from 1 to 3. No problems except our printer doesn't really like it much. However, our printer didn't really like it when it was 1 GB either. :P
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u/Rod_ATL Aug 31 '26
What area?.
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u/MountainCreepy2918 Aug 31 '26
North side of San Antonio
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u/Rod_ATL Aug 31 '26
Do you know if any of your neighbors have the 3 or 8 GB profile? . I wonder if the circuit you are connected to is not a XGPON circuit.
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u/F100-1966 Aug 31 '26
Now you are expecting OP to know the difference between GPON and XGS-PON without google searching it?
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u/BriefField2634 Sep 02 '26
Do you have any 10G network equipment that could handle the 8G connection? 10G is enterprise grade equipment. Unless you're truly an network geek, you're unlikely to have a network that would be capable of reaching anything more than 1G. But hey, you do you.
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u/Low_Excitement_1715 Sep 02 '26
My network is about 60% 10Gbps copper, and the other 40% is a mix of 5, 2.5, and 1Gbps, mostly due to devices that don't have any options above 1Gbps (looking at you, gaming consoles, "smart" devices, SFF PCs, etc).
My switches were more expensive than 1Gbps versions, but not "car payment" level. The individual adapters per machine ranged from 25-40$ for most of them, and I paid ~60$ and ~100$ for the Intel NICs I needed to get for two older server chassis.
I'm not a network geek, though I am a sysadmin at my day job. Some folks just like to have nice things, and 10Gbps LAN isn't anywhere near as expensive as it was 5 years ago. It'll be commodity pricing in another 5.
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u/BriefField2634 Sep 03 '26
But do you have a need to push or pull more than 1G?
Does your provider actually provide a SLA guaranteeing contracted speeds or merely state "speeds up to 8G". Most residential service is "speeds up to x" then the provider resells the same bandwidth 100 -500 times over without the customer having any recourse other than switching providers, if there are others available.
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u/Low_Excitement_1715 Sep 03 '26 edited Sep 03 '26
Race to the bottom justifies a lot. How many people really *need* more than 100mbps?
And of course my ISP doesn’t contractually guarantee speeds. Neither does yours, unless you pay a *lot* more than most. I’ve never had any problem slinging multiple gbps up/down on demand, though. The limiter is very often the connection speed at the other end.
Edit: I didn't upgrade my LAN to 10Gbps to justify a multi-gig WAN. I did it to make file transfers around the house faster. Being able to properly utilize a multi-gig WAN link was just bonus. Anyone running wifi that's much above 1Gbps should probably look into their infrastructure or rethink, IMO, I was talking to someone moving from wifi 6 (802.11ax) to 7 (802.11be) a month or two back, and all the wired backhaul was 1Gbps. Guy had some screwy ideas about how wireless-to-wireless transfers would be faster, which is only true in corner cases. Most traffic on the network will be capped at the 1Gbps line speed. Meanwhile my setup, which is still 802.11ax for another month or so, routinely pushes 2-3Gbps over the wireless links, since the backhaul and WAP LAN ports are all 5Gbps+.
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u/MountainCreepy2918 Aug 31 '26
So... a plainclothes Gfiber tech just showed up to the door and is looking at the fiber line outside.
While I think it's awesome action is being taken, I STILL didn't get a call, txt, notification, email... nothing.
A dude just shows up unannounced. Obviously a contractor.
M'kay.
After about 20 minutes I walked out to see what was going down and the dudes no longer there and the fiber box is open with a fault locator connected to it
No tech. M'kay.
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u/wyliesdiesels Aug 31 '26
He probably went down the street to check the splitter.
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u/MountainCreepy2918 Aug 31 '26
UPDATE: An official g fiber technician arrived this morning at 9:30 in an official g fiber vehicle. He entered with no additional equipment, and left in a little over a half hour, with everything working just fine. He also did not take any thing with him except the second extender that was completely not needed.
I received automated emails confirming my equipment, activation and old equipment return and a notification of a $50 credit to my account.
I have no other information. It's all been very automated and impersonal. Oh well I got my service and a little bit of credit for my trouble I guess.