Extremely frustrating experience with required Network Box router upgrade in Raleigh NC
I've been a happy Google Fiber customer for many years. The other day, June 25th, I get an email from Google Fiber out of the blue saying that my existing Network Box has to be replaced by JULY 9TH or I will lose service (that's only TWO WEEKS).
First of all, I thought surely I must have been ignoring emails about this. Surely they didn't wait until two weeks before the deadline to inform me about this. But I searched my email, and this was the first communication from them about this! That alone was very frustrating.
So I order the new Nest WiFi Pro from them immediately. To their credit, they shipped it to my door in less than 48 hours.
Tonight I tried to set it up, following the instructions as best as I can (more details on that later), but I get a "Connection Failed" error message telling me to plug the Ethernet cable into the new Nest WiFi Pro, even though I have verified that the Ethernet cable is plugged into the globe/WAN port on the back of the Nest WiFi Pro.
But regarding the instructions: The instructions are very specific about connecting the Ethernet cable to the Fiber Box. Problem is, I live in an apartment and I don't have a Fiber Box. I have an Ethernet port in the wall. And even though I verified that the new Nest WiFi Pro is connected to the exact same Ethernet port that my old Network Box has successfully used for years, it doesn't work. My guess is that someone (a Google Fiber technician or maybe my apartment complex technician) has to do something in a network hardware closet somewhere in the building.
After attempting the setup multiple times (including power cycling the Nest WiFi Pro and quitting the app multiple times) and getting the same result, I reconnected my old Network Box and tried to chat with the virtual support agent on the Google Fiber support page. The virtual agent immediately rebooted my Network Box remotely and kicked me off the internet!
So now, after waiting for my internet to come back, I have emailed their support and I am waiting.
I have been the biggest Google Fiber fan for many years but this hardware replacement experience is terrible. I wouldn't normally be so stressed about this but I work from home and need internet and I'm going to be traveling for work soon so I have to get this resolved ASAP and they've only given me two weeks to do so. And they obviously didn't consider my apartment situation. Very frustrating.