4G coming to Southeast Idaho

   People in Southeast Idaho who want higher speed connections to the “cloud” have some good news. Internet speeds and capabilities in the Pocatello/Blackfoot area are moving up to 4G.
   Kris Bertagnolli, East Idaho Director of Sales and Operations for Mybullfrog. com, a Verizon Wireless premium retailer, told the Bannock Development Corporation that it will expand Verizon’s 4G Long Term Evolution network in Idaho and eastern Oregon in the coming weeks.
   “With increasing demand for faster internet downloading speeds in Eastern Idaho this meeting couldn’t have come at a better time” said Bertagnolli. He said 4G is 10 times faster than 3G and the positive impact on businesses will be significant.
   During his presentation to the development group Bertagnolli made a comparison of 3G at a 1.4 megabit per second download speed as compared to 4G as 14-plus megabits per second. Essentially files that normally take 30 seconds on a 3G network to download would now take 4 to 5 seconds.
   Pocatello was recently ranked one of the slowest cities in the nation for Internet speeds.
   The Blackfoot area will be coming online with the new 4G capacity by the end of the month and Pocatello, Idaho Falls and Twin Falls will be launched by the end of the year.
   Bannock Development executive director John Regetz said any improvements to the infrastructure of the area are welcomed news.
   “Anytime we have a provider increasing bandwidth or services it means it makes communication for businesses easier,” Regetz said.
   The director said some businesses that send larger files via the Internet on a daily basis will benefit from the fast speeds more than others, but overall it is a selling point for Bannock County economic growth.
   The development corporation’s primary mission is to help create jobs and diversify the economy of the greater Pocatello/Chubbuck region and Bannock County through business retention, expansion and relocation.

BY JOURNAL STAFF