Building Google Fiber’s network involves laying thousands of miles of brand new fiber-optic cable, which supports much higher data transmission speeds than traditional networks. Fiber-optic cables are made of glass, and they use lasers to transmit information — close to the speed of light. It’s amazing technology, but few homes have direct access to fiber networks today.
Bringing Google Fiber to your home
So just what are the steps and phases we go through to bring Google Fiber into your home? Following is a summary of what we do from start to finish, and while we understand that no one likes to wait, our team is working hard to get you connected as soon as we can. If you’d like details about any of the steps, just click the link the follows it.
-
Step 1: Figure out where we can put our fiber
We use the infrastructure data the city and our utility partners share with us to create a base map of where we can build (existing utility poles, conduit) and obstacles to avoid (water, sewer and electric lines). Then, a team of surveyors and engineers hits the streets to fill in any missing details, which can take anywhere from weeks to months.
Tell me more about planning the network.
-
Step 2: Design the network
For most cities, there are a few basic components to our Fiber networks that we need to design from scratch. Every mile of this network has to be planned and diagrammed, which takes a huge amount of time (imagine planning a network that touches about 30 utility poles per mile, for thousands of miles). For some cities, though, we can use existing fiber, which can save time during the network design and build steps.
Tell me more about designing the network.
-
Step 3: Build the network
Only after we have a solid plan — including diagrams, detailed maps, and specs for every aspect of the project — can we start building our network. That’s when you’ll see crews in the streets with their trucks, boring machines, and rolls of conduit and cable.
-
Step 4: Bring Fiber to your home
The final phase of bringing Fiber into your home includes installing a Network Interface Unit (NIU) on the outside of your home, contacting you to schedule an in-home installation, and installing Google Fiber.
Tell me more about getting Fiber installed in my home.
To see what happens during Fiber construction, have a look at our construction video on our YouTube channel.