Google Fiber launches high-speed internet service in Pocatello
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Matt Davenport, KPVI
POCATELLO (KPVI) — Google Fiber has arrived in Idaho.
At a launch event on Thursday, Google Fiber started serving residents in Pocatello. In April 2023, Google Fiber announced it had picked Pocatello to be the first city in Idaho to be served by the high-speed Internet company.
Gigabit internet is a necessity to attract job opportunities and businesses while creating a community with diverse work, online learning and telehealth opportunities.
Thursday’s event at Lookout Point featured comments by Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad and representatives from Google Fiber.
Beixy’s Kitchen food truck served up empanadas to the crowd.
Thursday’s event is a culmination of a lot of work that has been going on behind the scenes.
“There’s a lot of stuff that goes into getting to this point,” says Google Fiber Government and Community Affairs Manager Alberto Garcia. “I have to thank the city of Pocatello, who has just been an incredible collaborative through this whole process. This has probably been a little over two years for us to get to this point. We initially started negotiations, and we had to sign an agreement with the city to allow us to come in, put (in) our infrastructure (and) put our fiber into the ground.”
“The city has done an amazing job of protecting the residents, of protecting the roads of Pocatello and working with us so that we can make sure we get our infrastructure to provide this Internet access,” he said. “It takes a lot of engineering. It takes a lot of technical work with people who know a lot more about that than I do.”
Now, about two years later, Google Fiber is ready to provide its services to certain regions of Pocatello.
“We’ve started serving our first customers this week in the Alameda neighborhood, and we’re going to continue to go move out from there with our goal to serve this entire city and give you another Internet option,” Garcia said.
To check to see if Google Fiber is available in your neighborhood, go to fiber.google.com.