Getting better all the time - how GFiber uses feedback from independent sources to improve

Continuous improvement has become quite the corporate watchword. No matter where you look, someone is telling you how they constantly focus on making things better for their customers. And that’s as it should be. 

But you can’t just say you want to be getting better, you have to be working towards that goal with a single-minded focus. Improvement requires self-awareness, clear-eyed honest feedback, recognition of your business’s strengths and weaknesses, a vision of where you are going, and a willingness to lean into the uncomfortable. At GFiber, we’re obsessed with this, and we like it when someone tells us we’re doing a good job. And over the last couple years, we’ve had a few. . .maybe more than a few, people tell us we’re doing a good job. 

It’s very nice to have JD Power recognize us as the South’s internet service provider with the highest customer satisfaction, CNET call us the best value from a major ISP, and we are PC Mag’s Most Decorated internet provider including the 2024 PCMag Readers Choice Award, but while that’s a great indicator of how we’ve been doing, it’s not a guarantee of future performance. What’s more important is what these organizations are hearing from our customers, and as much as we love the accolades, we appreciate hearing the holistic feedback that often comes with these awards. In addition to the internal surveys and customer response, it provides a valuable look at where we need to be doing better. 

That’s why we were so excited when Ookla approached us about their doing a white paper on how we use SpeedtestⓇ to ensure we’re meeting our customers, and our, very high expectations, when it comes to internet performance. Staying at the top of Ookla’s ratings for speeds by city is important to us, because it’s an independent indicator that our customers are getting the speeds they are paying for; that our in-home equipment is working across diferent devices and uses; and that our network is healthy and delivering quality internet. We also use those independently collected and verified numbers to help us identify issues. (Like helping us recognize that our legacy network box equipment wasn’t delivering on the latest standards we set. So we proactively swapped them out for new Wi-Fi routers to ensure our customers had the latest technology and were getting the speeds they should, even if the customers never realized the issue themselves). 

As the paper explains, these numbers help us ensure we’re also having the desired effect overall — when we enter a market we see speeds go up and prices come down, and not just for our customers. Having a third-party like Ookla help us see what’s happening keeps us on our toes and striving to push to the next level. Which is what it’s really all about. We know we have a long way to go. Next gen internet requires constant improvement and you can only do that with candid, real world feedback. We’re grateful when we get that input because it helps us continue to improve and get closer to giving our customers the internet we all want to have. GFiber runs on customer insight, understanding our customers allows us to continue to drive the internet forward.

Posted by Melani Griffith, Chief Growth Officer