Google Fiber vs. AT&T

Compare Google Fiber and AT&T head to head

GFiber (formerly Google Fiber) offers some of the fastest home internet speeds available in the US. AT&T also offers good fiber speeds, but has much broader coverage. AT&T has the widest range of plan options, but both services offer excellent plans.

Jump to: Plans and pricing | Extra fees | Customer ratings | Internet connection types | Data caps | Contracts | Installation | Availability

Jump to:

• Plans and pricing
• Extra fees
• Customer ratings
• Internet connection types
• Data caps
• Contracts
• Installation
• Availability

Plans and pricing: GFiber vs. AT&T

GFiber was one of the first providers to offer fiber-optic connections to residential homes and was the driving force behind the current explosion of providers switching over to fiber.¹ Although GFiber is quite small compared to other internet service providers (ISPs), its plans are ridiculously fast (its slowest plan is more than most people could use if they tried) and reasonably priced. If GFiber is available in your area, it’s definitely worth checking out.

AT&T plans and pricing

AT&T has a much wider range of fiber plans and coverage areas, with plans starting at 100Mbps and going all the way up to 5,000Mbps. Even the slowest of these plans is more than enough for multiple people to stream 4K video at the same time, so you might find that a cheaper plan is plenty for your needs.

Deals and promotions: GFiber vs. AT&T

Extra fees: GFiber vs. AT&T

One great thing about GFiber is that its pricing is very straightforward. Installation is free, as is the equipment. AT&T charges $99 for its professional installation, and its equipment comes with a $10-per-month rental fee. This is a reasonable price for equipment rental compared to many other ISPs, but it does chip away at any monthly savings you might make by going with a cheaper plan.

Customer ratings: GFiber vs. AT&T

GFiber came out far ahead of the pack in our annual customer satisfaction survey. GFiber customers love the speed and reliability of their internet service. GFiber also ranked well above the competition in customer service and price, making it a solid choice for those who might still be sitting on the fence.

AT&T didn’t score nearly as high in our survey when compared to GFiber, but it was still near the top when looking at providers with nationwide coverage. AT&T came in fourth overall, coming in neck-and-neck with providers like Xfinity. Unlike GFiber, which focuses on providing high-quality service to a few small areas, AT&T provides nationwide coverage through several different technology types.

Internet types: GFiber vs. AT&T

Both AT&T and GFiber offer fiber-to-the-home, which means that the fast and reliable fiber-optic cables that make up the backbone of these providers’ networks go all the way to your home, rather than switching to a slower technology like DSL or cable for the “last mile” of your connection.

While fiber is the fastest type of internet connection available, it also has many other benefits. It has low latency, which is good for video chat and online games. It also has high upload speeds, which is good for streamers and other content creators.

AT&T also offers connections other than fiber, though these tend to be slower connections for a similar price.

Find out more about fiber.

Data caps: GFiber vs. AT&T

Neither GFiber nor AT&T has data caps on their fiber plans. This is important when you could be burning through a gigabyte of data every eight seconds (or less!). You should never have to worry about your speeds being throttled after hitting a certain data threshold on either of these plans.

Contracts: GFiber vs. AT&T

GFiber doesn’t make its users sign a contract, trusting that you’ll be satisfied enough with its service that you won’t want to switch. AT&T now offers a similar no-contract plan to new customers. So you won’t have to worry about hefty early termination fees with either provider if you decide to switch.

Installation: GFiber vs. AT&T

Fiber connections are generally quite a bit more complicated than technologies like DSL, so most fiber providers require professional installation. GFiber does this for free (and does an excellent job). AT&T charges $99 for its professional installation, which is a reasonable price but not as good as free.

Availability: GFiber vs. AT&T

GFiber’s biggest drawback is its very limited availability. Although it’s begun expanding to new cities, it still covers less than 1% of the US population.²

AT&T, on the other hand, has been steadily upgrading its nationwide network to offer fiber connections. While so far it’s been able to bring fiber only to 30% of its customers, that’s still over 12 times more households than GFiber currently reaches.²

Final call: GFiber vs. AT&T

Both GFiber and AT&T Fiber offer fast, reliable connections that are a great value. GFiber has some fast options, and AT&T has both cheaper and faster options, though the additional fees with AT&T plans mean that you probably won’t be saving much over GFiber.

Methodology

Our HighSpeedInternet.com editorial team bases our analyses on customer input from our annual customer satisfaction survey, results from our speed test tool, and proprietary internet provider data on speeds and pricing. To strengthen our research, we look closely at provider contracts to get hard-to-find information on price hikes, data caps, and extra fees, and we keep tabs on the latest news reports and online reviews. When applicable, we also rely on our personal experiences testing these services.

Additional resources

• AT&T vs. Spectrum
• AT&T vs. Cox
• GFiber vs. Xfinity
• GFiber vs Spectrum
• How Fast Is Fiber?

1. Blair Levin and Larry Downes, Harvard Business Review, “Why Google Fiber Is High-Speed Internet’s Most Successful Failure,” September 7, 2018. Accessed May 10, 2021.
2. Federal Communications Commission, “Fixed Broadband Deployment,” Accessed May 10, 2021.

Disclaimers