Bend, Oregon based BendBroadband isn't particularly well known, with just a handful of reviews in our database. But the carrier got a big spurt of attention last year when they decided to be one of the first US ISPs to implement monthly caps between 10-50GB, and charge $1.50 per additional gigabyte consumed -- something Time Warner Cable tried to do and was smacked on the nose for it by consumers. The company recently unveiled new faster DOCSIS 3.0 service, and now they're doing something else interesting for such a small carrier -- they've launched the nation's fastest wireless service.

According to a company announcement (pdf), Bend has launched a new HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access Plus) network with plans to ultimately upgrade to LTE technology. The service will offer peak speeds of 15 Mbps with average speeds between 6 and 8 Mbps. The pricing, straight from the company's mouth, blows away most wireless carriers:We've taken a shot of their full pricing details (right) so you don't have to fiddle with their paywall. While most HSPA carriers cap their service at between 5-10 GB of monthly consumption, Bend offers service with caps ranging from 2 GB to 50 GB a month. Users who consume more than their alotted amount pay $1.50 for each additional gigabyte.

The company says users of the service must download free F-Secure antivirus software, we can only assume to limit inadvertent spam/trojan bandwidth use by customers who don't know they're infected. Interestingly, the F-Secure software is only free to consumers if they bundle both home and mobile broadband service. Customers who only want to buy the mobile broadband service must pay $2.95 a month for the antivirus service. Update: Bend Broadband's CTO Frank Miller stops by our comments to note they've got the language wrong, and the F-Secure AV is not mandatory.

The launch is partially an effort to fill in coverage gaps, Bend saying they hope to use the service to reach customers "inside their cable footprint which have not been economically feasible to serve via traditional fiber-coax cable infrastructure."