US gets first commercial HSPA+ network thanks to BendBroadband. [Update]

Here we are thinking that some big money making corporate machine such as AT&T was going to launch the first HSPA+ network in the states. It takes money to put up and support all of the physical and digital mojo behind such a network which is why the obvious default to the countries largest GSM provider was a given — or so we thought. Thanks to BendBroadband, a central Oregon cable company, the US does now in fact have the sweet, speedy waves of HSPA+ blanketing the fortunate few. Those lucky enough to have found themselves in central Oregon and also a customer of BendBroadband will find their mobile browsing speeds somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-8Mbps down.

Wondering if you’re covered?

• North to south coverage: From Madras to La Pine.

• East to west coverage: From Prineville to Sisters.

What’s nice for central Oregon users eying a possible switch to BendBroadband is that the region in the northwest and even far west as a whole isn’t exactly a wireless hotbed. I mean, coverage on any carrier isn’t as bullet proof as the maps show for central and eastern residents of the US. (Anyone care to chime in?)

One thing is for sure, the added competition that just popped up in Oregon is a god send to the area. If any central Oregon natives were feeling down because of a lack in carrier selections or mobile broadband speeds, they can now feel exponentially better about themselves. They’ve just gone from the back of the pack to the front in no time flat.

Now if only BendBroadband would go national…

**Update: As mentioned below by Frank, the service is for fixed routers or USB modems.

**Update 2: Unlocked devices in the AWS spectrum are game as well!

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