Decatur City officials celebrate the news about Google Fiber. File Photo by Dan Whisenhunt

Google Fiber promises amazingly fast internet speeds, but the timeline for getting the service up and running is anything but fast.

Lena Stevens, a project manager for the city of Decatur who has been the city’s liaison with Google, told City Commissioners on July 18 that the company hasn’t committed to a launch date for the service.

“We are far from ready to have Google Fiber in our homes,” she said.

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She said the Google Fiber Hut on off Atlanta Avenue “looks fantastic.” But that’s just one step in a multi-step process. Each hut serves about 20,000 homes, connecting them to Google’s gigabit broadband via fiber cables.

“They have to bring the fiber to the hut itself, then run the fiber to small cabinets then out to homes,” she said, adding, “We don’t have a timeline.”

She said she’s hopeful that there will be more information that can be released soon about the Fiber project. As Fiber, joined by its competitor AT&T and Comcast, gets up and running, the public can expect to see more work on the city’s sidewalks and streets.

“We are going to see more things like sidewalk panels removed, digging in the grass strips,” she said.  ” … We’re trying to dour best to get communication out to the public.”

Google Fiber recently released its pricing plans for the Atlanta area. In January 2015, Google Fiber announced plans to expand to the Atlanta area. The planning and build out phase for nine cities – Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, College Park, Decatur, East Point, Hapeville, Sandy Springs and Smyrna – was expected to take at least two years. Fiber service already is available at some Atlanta-area apartments.

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Editor’s note: This report was compiled by viewing the live video stream of the July 18 City Commission meeting.