A Love Story with Google Fiber: My Review

It was one of those moments we all hate. On Monday, I was playing Madden 2016 on Xbox Live when suddenly the game froze. Then, I got the message: “The connection to your opponent has been lost.” Usually, this means my opponent quit, but this time it was different.

My Google Fiber was down.

In the past year, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve lost my connection to Google Fiber. And it’s usually fixed by rebooting the network box. But this time, it was different.

After my first reboot, the Google Fiber jack still didn’t connect – the status light kept blinking red. According to Google Fiber’s support page, if the light blinks red for more than two minutes, I needed to unplug and try again. I did exactly that, but it didn’t work.

So, I pulled up Google Fiber’s support on my phone and started a chat with customer service. After a three-minute wait, a representative joined to help me troubleshoot. His first question was if I had rebooted the network box – and I had. Then, he had me remove the cover of the Fiber jack to check the fiber line. He made sure it was secure by unplugging and plugging it back in. Still, no luck even after another reboot.

The customer support rep told me I needed a technician to come and investigate further. It was already 11:20 PM, and I wanted to get back online as soon as possible. But to my disappointment, the earliest appointment available was at 11 AM on Wednesday – 36 hours later.

My Initial Reaction

I teach an online class and my wife is in an online graduate program, so we rely heavily on having internet access all the time. Going 36 hours without TV or internet is quite challenging. I asked if there were any slots available the next day, but they confirmed that I would have to wait. They suggested I check again in the morning. Reluctantly, I agreed.

After ending the chat, I unplugged the network box for the night and went to bed.

The next day, I emailed the support team to ask about availability during the day. I received a reply while I was 20 miles away in my office, and unfortunately, I couldn’t rearrange my schedule to make it work. I would have to wait until the following day.

At this point, my experience wasn’t feeling like a love story. I was frustrated that there were no technicians available for the same day. Some people might say that’s an unrealistic expectation, but this is Google Fiber we’re talking about. It’s not supposed to go down. And even if it does, their customer service has always been exceptional.

But things were about to change.

When I got home from work on Tuesday night, I decided to plug in the network box and see if a 24-hour timeout from electricity would fix the issue. Surprisingly, the status light connected almost instantly, and I was back online. However, I knew there was still something wrong with the setup. Maybe the Fiber jack got affected by the recent lightning storm. So, I decided not to cancel the technician’s visit the next morning.

The Service Call

Around 9:30 AM, the technician called to ask if he could come a little early. I agreed, and he arrived at my driveway by 10:00 AM.

He walked in, shook my hand, and acknowledged that he understood my service was down. I told him, “Well, it was down, but it isn’t anymore. Would you mind taking a look?”

After just one look at my setup, he figured out what the problem was – the Fiber jack was running off of Power over Ethernet. He thought it would work better if we plugged the jack directly into a wall outlet. So, he quickly got to work setting it up. When he realized that I didn’t have any additional outlets available, he went out to his truck, grabbed a new surge protector, and came back in. In less than 5 minutes, he had the Fiber jack wired to the wall outlet, and everything connected perfectly.

But the service call didn’t end there.

He asked if he could check all the TVs in the house before calling the main Fiber offices for a health status check. I agreed, and he went through each TV, ensuring they had optimal settings. He even found some minor issues with the cables that I had installed myself. He politely asked if he could remake those cables using their equipment, and I gave him the go-ahead.

Then, he asked to see where my cables terminated, which surprised me a bit. The person who built my house hadn’t done a great job with the wiring. Instead of terminating the cable and phone lines in a utility room, they were terminated outside, exposed to the elements. I showed him where the cables were, and I mentioned that I had already redone some of them when I bought the house because they were in poor shape.

The technician went outside to inspect the work I had done. He came back and asked if he could take some time to fix it according to their standards. Needless to say, I was impressed.

For the next 15 to 20 minutes, the tech worked to clean up the mess on the side of the house. He even bundled the cables and covered them, so they weren’t as exposed to the elements.

Once again, he came back inside and asked if I had rewired any of the cable boxes in the wall. I laughed and said, “No.”

Finally satisfied, he grabbed his laptop, ran some diagnostics on my network, and called the main offices. After a phone call, both he and the main offices agreed that my network was up to their standards.

As he was leaving, the technician handed me his business card and said, “If you have any more problems today, please give me a call directly on my cell phone – it’s listed on the card – and I’ll come back to make sure it’s fixed.”

What was supposed to be a 5-minute visit turned into an hour-long inspection of every detail of my network. Since he left on Wednesday, my connection has been incredible – even the smallest issues seem to have disappeared. But the customer service didn’t stop there.

The Aftermath

Today, I received a call from a Google Fiber customer representative on my cell phone. I was in a meeting, so I couldn’t answer, but they left me a voicemail that was nearly a minute and a half long.

The representative checked in to see how my connection had been, how I thought the technician did, if I was satisfied with the work, and if there was anything else they could do for me. They gave me a direct number to call and wished me well.

I was completely shocked.

As I mentioned in my original review back in February, “customer service” in the telecommunications industry is usually terrible. I’ve had more bad experiences with service providers than I can count – not only at my house but also at customers’ houses and business locations. Companies like Comcast are known for their awful customer service.

At first, I thought Google Fiber’s level of service might be declining. But I’m happy to say that I couldn’t have been more wrong. Their care, attention to detail, and personal touch continue to be unmatched in my 12 years of working in this industry.

After my most recent experience with Google Fiber, I can confidently say that they have set the standard for excellent customer service in the telecommunications industry.

I am one happy customer – especially now that my Gigabit connection is back online and better than ever!

Don’t forget to check out part one: Is Google Fiber Worth the Hype?

Don’t forget to check out part one: Is Google Fiber Worth the Hype?