Google Fiber saw a 32% uptick in network demand throughout the pandemic

Abner Li | Apr 29 2021 - 9:49 am PT

The last year has seen many more people turn to the internet for work, learning, shopping, socializing, and entertainment. Google Fiber reports that its networks nationwide saw an approximately 32% increase in demand.

The ISP, which is actually part of Alphabet’s Access division rather than Google proper despite the name, said it took “several actions over the last year to improve both network capacity and resiliency.” It increased capacity “at every point in our network,” including at support facilities and in customers’ homes by letting them use their own router.

Resiliency was improved by working with teleconferencing services, online learning platforms, and other providers to optimize network traffic. Overall, the increase matches other ISPs around the globe and work to optimize networks at the start of the pandemic. At the same time, the Google Fiber team says it was also able to reduce latency in the past year.

Specifics were not provided, but today’s blog post also includes a graph of internet speeds from January to June 2020 showing modest increases in the states it operates in.

It’s somewhat notable that Google Fiber started offering a 2 Gig plan for $100 per month at the tail end of last year to compliment the 1 Gig offering. As of the start of this month, it’s available in 10 cities with a plan to launch in most existing locations. At launch, Google Fiber touted its “approach to network design” as being responsible for the faster speeds and upgrades.

Google Fiber today is available in 19 cities across 14 states. The service is still steadily expanding, but after a decade it has yet to take off per its initial ambition given the slowness of building infrastructure.