PSA: New broadband maps

[litebright]

Since this is kind of my thing, I figured I'd put this out there and encourage people to help the FCC crowdsource better maps of where there is and isn't access to broadband. Ultimately, this is going to help determine federal subsidies for build-outs from the huge broadband funding pool that was part of the big infrastructure act that was passed last year. 

New mapping tool is here: 

broadbandmap.fcc.gov/home

You can search by address or zoom in on a geographic area. It shows the providers (fiber, DSL, cable, Fixed Wireless Access, satellite, etc.) and the max advertised speed. If you live in a place and know that you CAN'T actually get service from the provider(s) listed, you can file a challenge through the website. 

The map is a draft, and so far it's based on information provided by companies who run the networks. Service providers pretty frequently claim that a place is in their service area but it isn't actually served. It's a way that they prevent their neighboring competitors from getting government subsidies to actually serve an area. And sometimes, believe it or not, they legit don't know where/if they have infrastructure in a certain place that could serve a specific house (because they're companies built of acquisitions of various networks of various ages and technologies, or their FWA coverage is iffy because of geography or line-of-sight issues where they think they can serve but actually can't; or even for fiber if you, say, have a long driveway versus a short one.) 

This is a way, WAY more granular look at broadband than we've ever had available before. The FCC used to base "served/unserved" on census-block data, and if ONE house in a census block was served, the whole census block was considered to have service access -- so there were a ton of households that didn't have & couldn't get broadband but providers couldn't get help with buildout costs b/c the area was considered "served" and the FCC doesn't like to fund over-builds. 

Oh and PSA, they also released a new MOBILE network speed testing app where you can do speed tests on our phone and submit the data to them so they know if providers are living up to the service levels they're 1) reporting to the FCC and 2) selling to consumers. 

And also FYI, if they're not living up to the speed they've sold you, that's a different complaint form. The challenges are solely about whether you can get service from a company that claims to be offering broadband. 

[mala]

This is kinda cool, NGL. My only high speed option is Comcast/Cable. Everything else at our address is a fraction of the speed. Map seems accurate to me.

[deadwing]

A good friend of my mom's only just got broadband internet service at her house within the past year. They live in MA - her town is somewhat rural, but not as rural as you would expect to not have broadband.

[pixy0stix]

This is cool! We just switched over to city owned broadband. Before that we were in an area that was advertised to have higher speeds than we could actually get. I was happy to dump our old provider.