Category Archives: Google Fiber

The latest news from the Google Fiber team

Our first city in Idaho – Pocatello

Today, we’re pleased to announce plans to build a Google Fiber network in Pocatello, Idaho — our first city in the Gem State! We’re quite excited to deliver high-speed, gigabit internet to customers in Idaho, and adding another state continues to expand our reach. As the “Gateway to the Northwest,” Pocatello could not be a more fitting place to start.

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We’re kicking off the engineering process and working with the city to get ready for construction, which we expect to start late this year. We plan to begin connecting Pocatello residents and businesses to fast, reliable internet in the middle of 2024. Sign up for updates on our progress here.

We all know great things come from the ground in Idaho, and we’re looking forward to putting something pretty special in the ground there, too. 

Posted by Silvia Castro, UT & ID Government and Community Affairs Manager




Huntsville Community Drumline sets the beat

Today, we’re introducing you to one of our Community Foundation of Huntsville’s Digital Inclusion Fund grant recipients, Huntsville Community Drumline, a tuition-free, non-profit percussion instruction organization  based in Huntsville, Alabama where they teach  life skills through drumming. Angela L. Wilson-Walker, CEO & Founder, shares how the i.D.R.U.M. (or Digitally Responsible Unstoppable Musicians) program is breaking barriers in STEAM learning for local youth. 

At Huntsville Community Drumline (HCDL), our mission is to empower youth to become productive and contributing members of our society — drums are just the tools we use. If our students decide not to become drummers, that’s ok with us. We ultimately want them to learn teamwork, self-discipline, respect for themselves and respect for others. But before we talk about what we do, it’s fundamental to understand how Huntsville Community Drumline came to be.



Before I founded HCDL in 2010, there were three paths simultaneously converging in my life. 

Path #1

I was the coordinator of an amazing drumline at my church. As the drumline experienced exponential growth, I saw the impact that it had on the youth that were involved and the impact that it had on the youth in the audiences where the drumline performed. We would be invited to events and the children in the audiences were intrigued by the drums. They were especially fascinated to  see children that looked like them and were the same age as them performing on the drumline.

I decided that I wanted to branch out into the community. I wanted to invite children and youth  of all ages, and socioeconomic backgrounds to experience what it was like to be a part of a marching drumline without church membership requirements. 

Path #2

Many years ago I read an article about the tragic story of 14 year old Martin Lee Anderson. In 2006 he was arrested for stealing his grandmother’s car, curfew violation and for stealing candy. He was sentenced to 6 months in the Bay County boot camp in Panama City. After being forced to run drills on his first day at the camp, Martin collapsed and died. His devastating death brought national attention. The NAACP, the Black Caucus, and the Department of Justice called for investigations. Civil rights complaints were filed and thousands of college students marched on the state capital demanding justice for Martin Lee Anderson. The camp was eventually closed.

I remember seeing the outrage and the demands for justice for this young man, and I couldn’t help thinking, where was the justice for him before he died? What if there had been systems and programs in place designed to keep him involved in positive activities and off the streets—what if  thousands of college students had intervened in his life prior to him being sent to that bootcamp? These were burning, unanswered, heartbreaking “what if” questions that remained with me for many years. 



Path #3

After graduating high school my son, a phenomenal musician and life-long drummer, decided that he didn’t want to attend college.  He told me that he would rather sit on the side of the road with a cup and a sign that read ‘will work for food’ than ever take another math class. 

Frederick Walker - Photo Credit: Dokk Savage

I knew the statistics of young Black men without a college degree and I didn’t want him to fall victim to a deeply flawed system — I knew I needed to step in.

So at the intersection of these three transformative paths, I stepped out on faith, took a significant investment risk, used my son’s college fund, my savings, my retirement, borrowed money from family, close friends and I bought an 8,700 sq. ft., half-million dollar building. It was there that the Huntsville Community Drumline had its very loud and humble beginnings.

Today we’re nearly 13 years strong and have taught more than 5,000 youth and children in Huntsville and surrounding areas to play the drums — all tuition-free. 

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Photo Credit: Andrew Wolfe

Just one of our many programs, i.D.R.U.M. (or Digitally Responsible, Unstoppable Musicians) is our latest initiative. We refer to these students as  the “Mix-masters”!

This program is focused on developing digital literacy beyond gaming and social media through music and video production. i.D.R.U.M. instructor, multi-platinum music producer Craig Stevens of Groovetime Music has worked with some of the biggest names in the business and is now teaching HCDL youth new skills such as composing, mixing, and mastering Music.

Photo Credit: Sweet Gap Photography

Google Fiber's Digital Inclusion grant, administered through the Community Foundation of Greater Huntsville, made this possible. When we received the grant, I immediately reached out to Craig, who had been a long time HCDL supporter. He did an amazing job of getting our iDRUM initiative off the ground. The following year I applied for the grant again, and this time with Craig’s input,  the grant award was doubled. With the additional funding we were able to scale the program, add more stations, a server, more equipment and stations for video production. We were also able to move from our original space in the building and we’ve created a  computer lab with studio space. 



Thirteen years ago, I had no idea that the three converging paths would lead me on this very loud journey. At times I faced uncertainty and I wondered if I would be able to continue. I remember being asked by a potential donor, “Are you sustainable?” I knew that what he meant was, “Is the organization sustainable?” I knew that the real question was, “Are these kids sustainable?” And this, to me, was a simple answer of yes.

Photo Credit: Sweet Gap Photography

Each day, I get to watch children flourish, grow, learn, all while becoming amazing gifted and talented musicians. Then I get to hear about them continuing to progress and develop into productive humans.

I can officially look back and say God has smiled on me! I know it had to have been through Divine intervention that those converging events in my life made me create something I never imagined or thought possible. We continue to be  connected with supportive individuals and organizations. We live in a wonderful community that loves HCDL and funding opportunities like the Google Fiber grant have all helped to make this loud journey possible. 

Oh and by the way, my son Frederick, who is HCDL’s creative director and lead instructor, is now a college graduate. But that’s another story for another blog…

Posted by Angela L. Wilson-Walker, CEO & Founder


Guest Blog: Negro Leagues Baseball Museum connects past and present through our shared love of America’s game

Take me out to the ballgame! It’s that time of year, and Google Fiber is ready for a little baseball. Today, Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, highlights the work of the organization and some of their newest digital projects (both in the physical museum and online) that Google Fiber has helped the organization complete. Check out all the details below, and batter up! 


The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) is the only museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of African-American baseball and its profound impact on the social advancement of America. Our mission grabs the hearts, minds, and imaginations of the thousands of people who come visit us each year. The creation of the Negro Leagues is a wonderful story of triumph based on a simple principle: if I can’t play in the major leagues, I’ll create a league of my own. The Negro Leagues were established in Kansas City on February 13, 1920, out of the old Paseo YMCA, just around the corner from where our museum operates today. 


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Now we’re coming full circle, back to the very building that gave birth to the story we are charged with preserving. Now, that same Paseo YMCA is being converted into an education and research center in memory of the late, great Buck O’Neil. Google Fiber is one of our sponsors for this project, providing high-speed internet to the building, creating better access for the many community members who will be using this space. Our new Buck O’Neil Education & Resource Center will offer expanded exhibit opportunities, classroom space, and event space, and an interactive baseball experience that examines the math and science of baseball. 


In addition to this new resource center, with Google Fiber’s support, we’ve developed several online exhibits and avenues for all audiences to engage with the Negro Leagues’ history.


Barrier Breakers

Our Barrier Breaker exhibit is an online exhibit that chronicles the players who broke the color barrier for each major league team. We all know the heroic story of Jackie Robinson, but many other integration pioneers’ stories have not been widely told. The Barrier Breaker exhibit aims the spotlight at those lesser-known integration pioneers and commemorates the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson stepping onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. 



Negro Leagues Beisbol

The Negro Leagues Beisbol exhibit celebrates the little-known, but very profound, connection between the Negro Leagues and Spanish-speaking communities. Spanish-speaking athletes were also not allowed in the major leagues, so many of them found sanctuary playing in the Negro Leagues and many Negro Leagues players found sanctuary playing in Spanish-speaking countries. This created a brotherhood between minority players, and they bonded through baseball. The online exhibit celebrates this cultural connection. 



And we’ve got so much more going on. We recently released a new animated series in partnership with the MLB, called Undeniable. I had the honor of narrating three animated shorts spotlighting the incredible impact of the Negro Leagues and the women who were a part of that history, along with the story of how Jackie Robinson became the chosen one to break the color barrier — you don’t know the full story, so make sure you check it out!


And just in time for Opening Day 2023, NLBM will debut on the PlayStation video game, MLB The Show 23. For the next five years, we’ll introduce eight new Negro League players to the game each year, accompanied with mini documentaries. You’ll be able to step into the shoes of these historic players and learn more about their stories and accomplishments.


Since NLBM’s inception in 1990, we’ve grown from a grassroots one-room office to being recognized as America’s National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in 2006. Now, with the help of Google Fiber, we’re continuing to expand our impact whether you can visit us in person in Kansas City or just learn the rich history of the Negro Leagues online in the comfort of your home. This is one story that never gets old, and we’re excited to continue to find new ways to tell it!


Posted by Bob Kendrick, President, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

Mesa here we come! (And superfast, too — sign-up for 5 Gig AND 8 Gig!)

It’s time, Arizona! Beginning today, we’re offering service to our first Arizona customers in the Westwood neighborhood of Mesa. They will also be the first Google Fiber customers with the opportunity to experience our 8 Gig product, our fastest internet ever. 


We marked the occasion by treating some Mesa residents to breakfast and coffee at Renegade Coffee, including Vice-Mayor Francisco Heredia, who represents the Westwood area, and Council Member Jennifer Duff. Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with us.


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For the first time anywhere, residential customers in Mesa can sign up for Google Fiber’s 8 Gig service for $150 per month. 8 Gig offers symmetrical uploads and downloads of up to 8000 Mbps with a wired connection, along with a Wi-Fi 6 router (which allows for up to 800 mbps over Wi-Fi) and up to two mesh extenders. Or residential customers can choose one of our other fast, reliable products — Google Fiber’s flagship 1 Gig service for $70 a month, 2 Gig for $100 a month or 5 Gig for $125 — ALL of these offer symmetrical uploads and downloads. No matter what the household needs, we’ve got the right speed to meet it. Local businesses can select either our new Business 2 Gig service for $250 per month or Business 1 Gig for just $100 per month. 





This is just the beginning for Google Fiber in Arizona. We’re continuing to build out our network in Mesa, and will start construction later this year in Chandler. As new segments are completed, we’ll offer service in those neighborhoods. Residents who want to keep up on the construction process or service availability in their area can sign up here.





Posted by Ashley Church, General Manager - West Region

Google Fiber is coming to Council Bluffs, Iowa

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When we announced plans to build a fiber network in Omaha, Nebraska, in September, we also started talking to surrounding communities about bringing high speed internet to their residents. We’re happy to share that we’ve taken the first step to doing just that in Council Bluffs, Iowa, which is just over the state line. Council Bluffs joins West Des Moines and Des Moines as the third Google Fiber community in Iowa.




Tonight, the Council Bluffs City Council approved a license agreement that paves the way for us to build a fiber-to-the-home network in their city. We’re getting started on planning and engineering now, with the goal of starting construction late this year and serving our first customers in Council Bluffs next year.


Alphabet has been a part of the Council Bluffs community for over a decade, with the Google data center they announced back in 2007. Google Fiber is looking forward to being part of the next chapter of Council Bluffs’ story, connecting residents to fast, reliable internet for years to come. If you want to keep up on what’s happening in Council Bluffs, sign up here. 


Posted by Rachel Merlo, Head of Government and Community Affairs - Central Region

Guest Blog: The Institute for Local Self Reliance Supports Community-Driven Connectivity

Our community impact work has always been rooted in collaborations with local organizations working in their communities on digital equity issues. With the support of Google Fiber, the Institute for Local Self Reliance and the Digital Inclusion Alliance of San Antonio recently hosted a digital equity bootcamp program to empower other local organizations to take action.


In today’s world, there are few things more essential than staying connected. Whether it’s working from home, distance learning, staying connected to friends and family, scrolling the web or taking advantage of telehealth, Internet access is vital.


For 90% of Americans, being online has become second nature. But, for tens of millions of Americans, high-speed Internet connectivity is a luxury they either can’t afford or access, making life considerably more challenging to navigate. 


At the Institute for Local Self Reliance, we have a vision of helping communities become thriving, diverse, and equitable places to live, work and enjoy. One of the ways we do this is through our Community Broadband Networks Initiative. This initiative supports locally rooted, democratically accountable broadband networks that provide fast, affordable and reliable Internet access to all Americans.




In January, we partnered with the Digital Inclusion Alliance of San Antonio to co-host a digital equity bootcamp in San Antonio. The full-day bootcamp focused on building knowledge and trust among local organizations so that they can engage in strategic campaigns to promote digital inclusion in their communities. Participants developed familiarity with key terms and technologies related to Internet access, engaging one another in break-out groups where they were able to share local strategies, challenges and solutions to achieve their digital equity goals.


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In Texas alone, nearly 2.8 million households—totaling 7 million people—lack broadband access. Just two years ago, nearly one-third of households in San Antonio lacked a high-speed Internet connection (over 10% have no Internet access at all), among one of the worst rates of any metro area in the country. 



By hosting digital equity bootcamps, we hope to educate local organizations—providing them with the skills, relationships and expertise needed—to empower change in the community. 



Together, ILSR and the Digital Inclusion Alliance of San Antonio, are working to provide individuals with the knowledge and power to advocate for themselves and their communities to attain digital equity and ensure that everyone has equal opportunity to participate in today’s interconnected society and the economy. 


Posted by DeAnne Cuellar, community broadband outreach team lead for the Institute for Local Self Reliance, DIASA Co-Chair

AY Creative drives big online impact for clients

Next up in our SMB series - AY Creative in Salt Lake City, a community-based digital media agency helping Utah businesses make the most of their online presence.


At AY Creative, we’re a digital media agency — but we’re also much more than that. At our core, we’re a community based organization that isn’t afraid to get involved.


The vast majority of our customers are immigrant owned businesses that don’t have the resources or time to spend on any aspect of their business pursuits that aren’t day-to-day, operational tasks. Those clients are local, Salt Lake City area businesses that span from restaurants, doctors, lawyers, nonprofits, markets, construction firms and contractors, and many others. Our job at AY Creative is to work with those small businesses and help create a digital presence and cohesive branding. Many of our clients don’t have much digital literacy to begin with, so we help them through a sort of ‘digital transformation.’ 


We help them do this in English and Spanish. When I first came to the states, language was a huge barrier for me. That’s part of the reason it’s so important to me to do the work that we do and that every employee at AY Creative is bilingual. Each one of us is dedicated to helping immigrant owned businesses thrive and learn new skills, including the importance of a digital presence. That also means that when there’s a need for help, we step up.


When businesses are really struggling, we sometimes put our resources and knowledge to use for low rates. Right now, we’re working with a couple of restaurants that have been struggling to recover from the effects of COVID. From photography of their dishes, to menu design, to building a new website, to social presence, to helping them integrate with online ordering (which is now an essential component to owning a restaurant) — we are there to walk them through a complete takeover of branding and digital marketing.

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We do this work because it’s important to us to lift up the members of our community — and from a business standpoint, it’s actually been a great investment. A lot of those customers come back in more fruitful times because they remember we helped them when they needed it. Or they refer us to other businesses across the Salt Lake City area. To our team, there’s nothing better than that. 


Functionally speaking, the work we do wouldn’t be possible without the internet. We’re often downloading and uploading massive design and video files from and to the cloud, and that’s part of what makes having Google Fiber as our internet provider so important. 


From the time we signed up for Google Fiber, to the installation, to any time we’ve needed to reach out for assistance — the response time has been great and customer service has been top notch. For example, we were on a 250 Meg plan but I wanted to get us on 1 Gig. I reached out to our local rep one day and by the morning I came in the next day, our service had been fully upgraded. Our files were flying faster than ever.


The switch to Google Fiber also cut our previous internet bill in half. For us, that means a little more wiggle room to be able to help more struggling Salt Lake City businesses — and to AY Creative, that also means just about everything. 


Posted by Alfonso Ayala, Small Business Advisor, AY Creative

Fall in love with fast — 5 Gig is here!

It’s Valentine’s Day, and around here, there’s nothing we love more than offering our customers more speed.

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Back in October we put out a call for trusted testers to give our new higher speed products a spin, and hundreds of people raised their hands. Thanks to the help of dozens of testers, today we’re rolling out our 5 Gig product in Kansas City, West Des Moines, and all our Utah cities.  

5 Gig offers symmetrical upload and download speeds with a Wi-Fi 6 router (or you can easily use your own), up to two mesh extenders and professional installation, all for $125 a month. Installation also includes an upgraded 10 Gig Fiber Jack, which means your home will be prepared for even more internet when the time comes. 

As our homes get “smarter” and every device is set up to stream, having access to higher speed, higher bandwidth internet becomes even more important. 5 Gig is designed to handle the demands of heavy internet users — for example, creative professionals, people working in the cloud or with large data, households with large shared internet demands. 5 Gig will make it easier to upload and download simultaneously, no matter the file size, and will make streaming a dream even with multiple devices.

5 Gig is a product you can fall in love with fast, and we’re just getting started. 5 Gig will roll out in other cities later this year (and 8 Gig is on the horizon too), so stay tuned!

Posted by Nick Saporito, Head of Multi-gig and Commercial Product