Last week, the city council approved hiring a consulting firm, CTC Technology and Energy, to study what services are available now, and what should be available in the future.
City Administrator Bob Vitas says the pandemic has shown how critical it is for everyone to have reliable internet service.
"Given the fact that a lot of people no longer work in their offices, they're working remotely presents a whole plethora of issues that you need to have reliable services going forward. In terms of education, with remote learning that was going on and we can't predict the future what will happen tomorrow let alone five years from now."
Once fiber optic lines have been installed in Moline, the city would hire an internet service provider.
He thinks the CTC study could be finished by May, followed by the installation of fiber optic lines beginning in the summer. By early next year, broadband service would be available in the city.