FCC Says Wireless Carriers Lie about Coverage 40% of the Time
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FCC Says Wireless Carriers Lie About Coverage 40% of the Time
A new FCC study confirms what most people already knew: when it comes to wireless coverage maps, your mobile carrier is often lying to you.
If you head to any major wireless carrier website, you'll be inundated with claims of coast to coast, uniform availability of wireless broadband. But, as countless studies have shown, these claims usually have only a tenuous relation to reality, something you've likely noticed if you've ever driving across the country or stopped by mobile carrier forums.
But just how bad is the disconnect? A new FCC study released this week suggests that wireless carriers may be lying about mobile coverage 40 percent of the time or more.
The full study, part of the FCC's efforts to beef up wireless subsidies ahead of fifth-generation (5G) deployments, states that FCC engineers measured real-world network performance across 12 states. Staffers conducted a total of 24,649 tests while driving more than 10,000 miles.
[...] "Only 62.3% of staff drive tests achieved at least the minimum download speed predicted by the coverage maps-with U.S. Cellular achieving that speed in only 45.0% of such tests, T-Mobile in 63.2% of tests, and Verizon in 64.3% of tests," the FCC said.
[...] So why is the Ajit Pai FCC-with a history of cozying up to the whims of major carriers-suddenly changing its tune? As states vie for their slice of billions in looming rural wireless deployment subsidies, Senators have started to get irritated by the fact we don't actually know where wireless is, making it hard to know which areas need the most help.
At an FCC oversight hearing last year, Montana Senator Jon Tester said the FCC's broadband maps "stink," adding that "we've got to kick somebody's ass" and fix the problem.
In short the backlash to the government and industry's dysfunction has become so obvious, even the industry-friendly FCC has acknowledged that something needs to be done about it if taxpayers are going to keep footing the bill.
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