Comcast is preparing to battle Google Fiber in Atlanta, Georgia, despite saying a few months ago that 1 Gbps is too much for the average U.S. citizen.

It's the first move by Comcast to actually compete in the high-speed broadband market. For years, it has held onto a dominant position by working with Verizon, AT&T, TWC and Cablevision in back-room deals to allow full state ownership of the broadband network.

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This has effectively made competition for broadband irrelevant because in one city there will be one broadband provider and one DSL provider. It forces the customer to choose a decent speed at a high-cost or DSL at still a hefty price tag.

Google Fiber changes all of that by entering states where competitors already own most of the subscribers. It forces Comcast and others to make a choice, allowing Google Fiber to steadily grow in subscribers or fight them on price and data speeds.

Comcast's 2 Gbps punt might be the first sign of the internet service provider actively competing with Google Fiber, but don't expect the deployment to be available for all subscribers and don't expect the broadband to be cheap.

The set-up includes professional quality installation and tools, meaning customers wanting 2 Gbps speeds will have to pay up for the luxury. There's no word on the price increase either, although Comcast claims it will be available to 18 million customers by 2016.

Google plans to move into Atlanta in 2015 and set-up full installation by 2016. It's part of a new plan by Google under the #FiberIsComing promo, pushing fiber optics into multiple cities in 2015.

Comcast isn't the first ISP to crack under the pressure of Google Fiber. In Austin, Texas, AT&T announced 1 Gbps data speeds coming to the city in high-end developments.

Verizon and Cablevision seem to be the only ones confident in their service, but they don't provide as much as Comcast, TWC and AT&T. As Google Fiber moves into more cities, we're bound to see more broadband providers start to compete heavily on either price or speed.

TagsComcast, atlanta, Google Fiber, fiber optic