Faster CenturyLink Internet debuts

CenturyLink announced Monday its 1-gigabit-per-second Internet service is now available in Bend, along with other locations in Oregon.

The telecommunications company said upgrades allow 9,000 more Oregon businesses access to a faster fiber network for broadband service, which includes faster upload and download speeds for streaming video content, data backup and cloud access.

In its news release, CenturyLink quoted Roger Lee, executive director of Economic Development for Central Oregon, as saying the company’s new service puts Bend on the same level as San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and other metro areas for telecommunications and data.

CenturyLink also announced the expansion of 1 Gbps service Monday in parts of seven other states. In total, the company provides the service to 33,000 business locations in Oregon, and to 490,000 in 17 states, it stated in the news release.

Several other providers including BendBroadband and BendTel also provide 1 Gbps service to businesses.

— Bulletin staff report