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Firm offers degrees of online speed [Lewiston Tribune, Idaho :: ](Lewiston Morning Tribune (ID) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) March 30--At JPI Worldwide, Jarel Pittman oversees a staff that installs telephone, Internet, email and computer services in areas ravaged by war or natural disaster. To relieve stress, he unwinds with online gaming at his rural Asotin County home. The trouble was the Internet connection was so weak his play was frequently interrupted by brief lags that often altered the outcome of the contests. Rather than complain to his provider, Pittman created a wireless network to his house. It worked off a signal from his Clarkston business using techniques JPI Worldwide has perfected in the challenging environments it faces overseas. When he went live with the network, it was so strong it covered the entire Lewiston-Clarkston Valley and gave birth to Pittman's latest enterprise, Rodeo Internet Services. One of the strengths of his product is it reaches into places like Silcott just west of Chief Timothy Park, Cougar Ridge and Peola Road, Pittman said. Monthly prices for residential use are $39, $69 and $99 per month with no data limits, not including an installation fee of $150. The least costly is the slowest and runs at two megabits per second for downloading and one megabit per second for uploading. The most expensive service is the fastest and has a speed of five megabits per second for downloading and two megabits per second for uploading. Rodeo encourages customers to experiment and they can adjust speeds if they have too much or too little, Pittman said. The $39 service would work well for a single person who games or streams movies. However, in households where several people often stream content on one or more devices at once, the $99 service would likely be a better fit, Pittman said. Rodeo Internet also offers customized packages for commercial accounts. It can do things such as set up private networks at businesses with multiple addresses in town structured so that users at each location can share files in the same way as two people sitting next to each other could, Pittman said. Commercial and residential services come with 24-hour-a-day customer assistance at no additional charge. Demand so far has been strong and Rodeo is looking at expanding into other markets like Orofino, Spokane and Walla Walla. "After the first three weeks, we started adding three to five new customers a day," Pittman said. Ventures that serve the local area are not new to Pittman. Since moving JPI Worldwide to Clarkston from Las Vegas in 2006, he has operated a television station and barbecue joint in Clarkston. The television station is no longer on the air. The equipment was donated to a university in Africa that created a television and radio station, Pittman said. The restaurant closed. It was housed in the historic Smitty's Barrel building, which may be leased soon for a new eatery. Additional information about Rodeo Internet is available by calling (509) 769-3030. Williams may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 848-2261. ___ (c)2014 the Lewiston Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho) Visit the Lewiston Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho) at www.lmtribune.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |