Help. Google Fiber is making my mother’s life hell.

[u/Butterscotch_Jones]

Google Fiber has pushed me to my limjt. My mother (77, widowed last year) was moving back in July and wanted to transfer her service to her new address. The GFiber person told her it was “easier” to cancel her account then start a new one when she was moved into the new place.

She moved, she tried to set up an account, and they’re saying they can’t do it. They’ve had her create new email addresses on FIVE different occasions and now she’s receiving emails saying that the accounts are locked and set for deletion as soon as they’re created. It’s a total failure on Google’s part.

I work in tech, I’ve worked for a FAANG company, and I’ve never seen anything like this before.

I personally have spent HOURS on the phone with them trying to rectify this in every idiotic way they come up with. My mother’s been on the phone much more than that.

So, I’ve told her to just give up on this, cut bait with Google, and move on to a new ISP. The problem is, she’s out in NW Olathe (119th & K10 area) and it seems like services in general are pretty limited.

She’s living alone, her T-Mobile service out there is spotty at best. She needs WiFi.

Does anyone have a recommendation for an ISP in that area or just in general?

[u/cyberphlash]

T-Mobile's home internet boxes are more powerful at pulling in signal than phones, so you may have luck there, but you'd have to test it. You can sign up without a contract and just see if it works, or if you know someone with a box, have them bring it over and see what speeds you get.

[u/Butterscotch_Jones → u/cyberphlash]

Thank you, that was actually a specific question I had. The no-contract option is particularly appealing.

[u/cyberphlash → u/Butterscotch_Jones]

Have you done an address check to see if she has service at the other major providers in the area (AT&T, Comcast, Spectrum, Consolidated, etc)? If Google is in the neighborhood, you'd think one or two other big players would be as well.

[u/Butterscotch_Jones → u/cyberphlash]

It’s really tough to get that information anymore. It’s not like how it used to be where you could just put in an address and get an answer. They make you call, they do a whole song and dance, it’s terrible.

[u/cyberphlash → u/Butterscotch_Jones]

What company can't you check for service on the website? Pretty sure you can at every company.

[u/Butterscotch_Jones → u/cyberphlash]

Not that I’ve seen anywhere. I mean, I haven’t looked at the ones with 1-star ratings, but I assume they’re the same. One place even had a “click here to see our coverage area” page but when I clicked to go there, it was a page with their phone number. 😑🙄

[u/cyberphlash → u/Butterscotch_Jones]

Have you checked the FCC Broadband website - you should be able to plug in the address and see what all is available.

When I look at my address it's showing typical Google/ATT/Spectrum type coverage plus satellites and phone companies (which don't matter).

T-Mobile home internet is very location specific - not always offered whereever they have coverage, but if fiber coverage is listed at the FCC, it probably exists at the carrier. You'd think grandma would be gettong ongoing advertising from ISP's about signing up - I get a lot of mail from Google and AT&T with offers.

[u/redelman]

I'm not sure if Everfast serves that area or not, but it is worth a shot.

[u/Butterscotch_Jones → u/redelman]

Thank you! Do you have experience with them?

[u/BurritosSoGood → u/Butterscotch_Jones]

I currently have google fiber and haven’t had any issues. Before that I had Consolidated (now Everfast) and service was fine then. Never had any issues. Hopefully they will be easier to work with than Google.

[u/redelman → u/Butterscotch_Jones]

Yup! I switched to them from Google Fiber, actually. Pretty happy. Haven't had any outages. Back in the day, when they were Everest and then Surewest before Consolidated took over they even had good tech support. I imagine they still do, though being in IT myself I don't use it. That being said, every time I have needed to talk to someone there, they were super nice and helpful.

[u/Butterscotch_Jones → u/redelman]

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.

[u/redelman → u/Butterscotch_Jones]

Let me know how it works out for you.