Google has updated its Fiber Atlanta webpage to include pricing options.  So we no longer need to speculate on how much Google Fiber will cost in Decatur!

There will be 3 plans available for purchase – Fiber 1000 + TV for $130 a month plus fees, Fiber 1000 internet only for $70 a month plus fees, and a slower Fiber 100 internet option for $50 a month plus fees.  Here are the details…

Fiber 1000 + TV – $130/mo

Internet Speed

• Up to 1,000 Mbps upload and download speeds
• Download an entire HD movie in as little as 40 seconds
• Stream 4K HD videos on 10+ devices at the same time

Transparent pricing

• No data caps
• No rental fee for Wi-Fi router
• No rental fee for the first TV Box with HD DVR
• $100 installation fee waived with 1-year commitment for single family homes. No installation fee for apartments and condos

Entertainment:

TV Content

• 220+ channels (HD included)
• 7,500+ On Demand shows and movies included
• Premium and sports channels (HBO®, NFL RedZone® and more) available at additional cost

Streaming:

• Watch TV on the go through streaming TV apps from 50+ channels at no additional cost

Hardware

• Dual-band Wi-Fi router included
• Whole-home HD-DVR included: Record up to 8 shows at once and store up to 500 hours of TV
• 1st TV box & remote includedAdd up to 5 additional TV Boxes + remote sets for +$5/mo each

Cloud storage

• 1 terabyte of cloud storage included: Store 500,000 photos or 200,000 songs

Fiber 1000 – $70/mo

Internet speeds

• Up to 1,000 Mbps upload and download speeds
• Download an entire HD movie in as little as 40 seconds
• Stream 4K HD videos on 10+ devices at the same time

Transparent pricing

• No data caps
• No rental fee for Wi-Fi router
• $100 installation fee waived with 1-year commitment for single family homes. No installation fee for apartments and condos

Fiber 100 -$50/mo

Internet Speed

• Up to 100 Mbps upload and download speeds
• Download an entire HD movie in as little as 6 minutes
• Stream 4K HD videos on 3+ devices at the same time

Transparent pricing

• No data caps
• No rental fee for Wi-Fi router
• $100 installation fee waived with 1-year commitment for single family homes. No installation fee for apartments and condos

Google Fiber installation photo courtesy of Julie

Julie sends in this photo and brief Q&A:

Monday, about 2 pm.
Q: “Hey, beautiful day!  What’s that machine doing?”
A: “Digging a hole for Google Fiber!”

Finally!  Something better than secondhand hearsay from a “survey guy” wandering the neighborhoods regarding Google Fiber!

Marcia took these photos of the arrival and installation of the Google Fiber hut in downtown Decatur last Friday.   This is definitely the most visible sign that Google Fiber is coming to Decatur thus far.

An unofficial map of permits issued for Google around Atlanta shows there are a variety of Google Fiber Huts popping up around the metro.

The Google Fiber website has Atlanta in the “construction” phase of work.   After that it’s just “Sign Up” and “Installation”, so it seems like things are truckin’ along.

From the AJC…

Google is going slower in its push to put super-fast Internet connections around the nation.

The company said Thursday that it has delayed plans to announce this year the next round of cities where it will install residential service connections 100 times faster than the average for U.S. homes.

The city of Atlanta and eight other cities locally are among those Google has been considering.

“While we were hoping to have an update for cities before the holidays, we have a bit more work to wrap up; we’ll be back in touch sometime early next year,” spokesperson Kelly Mason wrote in an email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Photo courtesy of the AJC

After AT&T announced yesterday that they’ll be offering a new “super fast” internet option in Atlanta and Decatur yesterday, we followed up with the City of Decatur to see where we were with finding out whether Google Fiber will be making a decision of whether they will break ground in Georgia.  Here’s the response I received from the City’s Lena Stevens…

The City continues to be in communication with Google about the potential expansion of their fiber network, but their decision timeline has not changed.  They will announce their plans by the end of December 2014.  For now, we are working with them to answer clarifying questions about our existing processes for things like permitting and communications.

As a reminder, Decatur’s response to the Google Fiber Cities Checklist is online- http://www.decaturga.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=4994

People can also sign up to get updates from Google directly at https://fiber.google.com/other/

Map courtesy of Google Fiber website

Looks like Google isn’t the only fiber player in town.  From the AJC…

AT&T is looking to build new fiber optic networks for “ultra-fast” broadband service in Atlanta and dozens of other cities.

AT&T’s new service, for consumers and businesses, is called AT&T U-Verse with GigaPower, the company announced Monday.

…Beth Shiroishi, president of AT&T Georgia, said [Georgia] is at the top of the list of those where investment in ultra-fast fiber optic networks makes sense.

AT&T, however, will make its decision on which areas to enter based on local regulations. In metro Atlanta, the company is considering adding GigaPower in Alpharetta, Atlanta, Decatur, Duluth, Lawrenceville, Lithonia, McDonough, Marietta, Newnan, Norcross, and Woodstock.

At last night’s Decatur City Commission meeting, Decatur’s Environmental Resource Coordinator Lena Stevens gave the commission an update on Google’s efforts to bring Google Fiber to the Atlanta metro.

Among a few other interesting tidbits, Ms. Stevens and City Manager Peggy Merriss made it clear that obtaining Google Fiber wasn’t a competition between other Atlanta cities also on the list, which includes Atlanta and Avondale Estates.  In fact, the opposite is true.  As Ms. Merriss stated, “They won’t start a build in Decatur, until all the metro Atlanta partners are ready to go.”  Google has said they will make determinations on whether to move forward with Fiber in various selected cities by year-end, but according to city staff, if Google feels like a metropolitan area is “ready to go”, they won’t wait to start.

There was then some discussion positing that if Atlanta and some of the smaller cities were ready, whether Google would give the go-ahead to start anyway.  But the answer was unclear and the Mayor made mention of a meeting he will be involved in during the coming days to express the city’s desire to bring Google Fiber to Decatur.  All the commissioners expressed support of the effort.

Other Google Fiber related items of interest included…

• Decatur will be working with Google over the next two months.
• Google has a checklist to streamline the process.
• Google isn’t looking for financial incentives or for the city to waive any fees.  Google will take the most cost-effective route to bring Fiber into the community.  “So if aerial works for them, go across poles, that’s exactly what they want to do.”, according to Ms. Stevens.  However there might be areas of the city where Google would need to consider alternative delivery methods, so Google wants to have conversations with the city over the next couple of months of how to best to do that.
• Decatur is organizing a grassroots campaign for residents to “do more” to help bring Google Fiber to Decatur/Atlanta.  Look for that in the coming weeks.

Decatur are some neighboring cities produced the video above back when Google Fiber was first announced in 2010 to attempt to attract them to the area.