Allhands: Shouldn't we have faster Internet by now?

The commercials assaulted the airwaves earlier this year: Super-fast Internet is coming to the Valley! What will you do with all this speed?

Those promises and the seeming competition between Cox's Gigablast and Google Fiber led many of us to believe that most homes would have some sort of super-fast service by now.

But that's not the case.

Google Fiber has yet to materialize in Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe. Cox has sped existing service and says it eventually plans to offer even faster gigabit connections throughout metro Phoenix. But many communities, including Mesa and Gilbert, have no timeline for the necessary upgrades.

Motherboard magazine explains the problem, which isn't unique to the Valley: It costs a lot to provide the necessary infrastructure. And even if there are a couple of companies theoretically vying for customers, there isn't much effective competition to force much progress.

Internet Service Providers also are actively fighting cities that try to start their own networks, reports the tech site Ars Technica. Not surprisingly, you can now get faster service in Romania than in the U.S.

A couple of Valley cities have tried to grease the private market's wheels.

Chandler relaxed its rules so Cox can hang wiring on existing poles in hopes of speeding gigabit roll-out there. But work won't begin until next year, and there's no timeline for completion.

Tempe also has cemented agreements with Cox and Google Fiber to use existing poles. The latter requires Google to pay Tempe a 5 percent licensing fee (nice cash if you can get it). But it doesn't guarantee that Google will actually offer service citywide.

The deal also seemed to royally honk off Cox, which issued a statement saying Tempe likely violated state and federal law. Heaven help taxpayers if Cox decides to sue, because the city has agreed to foot the court bill as part of the Google deal.

Bottom line? Until the Federal Communications Commission requires ISPs to speed improvements, or customers start throwing their wallets at service providers, saying, "Charge me more for faster speeds, please!" -- neither of which is likely -- we can only dream about the things we'd do with all that speed.