One Nashville Neighborhood Finally Gets Google Fiber, But There’s High-Speed Competition

There was a highly anticipated announcement yesterday after months of little information — and no, we’re not talking about Taylor Swift’s new album.

Google Fiber told residents of Sylvan Park that its gigabit speed service is finally available. But even for some Fiber fans, the wait proved too long, especially as other telecomm companies lined up for their business.

When Google Fiber first announced they were coming to Nashville three and a half years ago, Jessica Rojakovick says she and her husband were pumped, and they proudly wore the #fiberiscoming t-shirt to prove it.

And then, they waited. They saw some construction crews digging trenches. Then, they waited some more.

“I had basically written it off as an option for us, since it had been so long and we’d heard nothing,” she says. “So we actually signed up for AT&T Fiber just a month or two ago.”

AT&T recently added 50,000 homes and businesses to its fiber-optic internet capability, according to the company, including offering gigabit-speed service in Sylvan Park. It also expanded to Germantown, Inglewood and Donelson, among other neighborhoods. 

Rojakovick says if she’d known Google Fiber was really coming, she may have held out. For now, she’ll stick with AT&T at least until her contract ends.

Google Fiber, a relative newcomer to the telecommunications industry, has been notoriously guarded about its schedule. When the Nashville Business Journal
reported earlier this year that it seemed to be slowing down, Google simply reiterated its commitment “to bringing Google Fiber to Nashville residents.” And last week, when company representatives attended a Sylvan Park Neighborhood Association meeting, they didn’t mention there would be a rollout just days later, even though residents asked about the timeline. Google tells WPLN that’s because construction schedules are always moving.

The lack of information bothered Sylvan Park resident Beth Nagy, but not enough to push her away. She says she recently booked an appointment with Comcast to set up service that didn’t require a yearlong commitment.

“I wasn’t willing to do a contract when Google was going to come at any time,” she says.

Now that Fiber is here, she says, she’s given them the benefit of the doubt. Right after she heard about Wednesday’s news, she canceled her Comcast appointment and signed up for Google Fiber.

But then, she was met with some more unknowns: The company will have to come install the service at her house — but didn’t offer her a timeline.

Google Fiber tells WPLN that installations on new service will begin next week.