The long-awaited US broadband internet maps are here – for you to challenge

We’ve shown you—time and time again, both with data and anecdotally—that the internet is down in the United States. We pay more for less and deal with a lot of crap. And one big reason is that wolves guard the henhouse. The FCC relied on Internet service providers themselves to honestly say which homes they cover, the data the FCC has not reviewed.

So if you think Internet access is important, do every like-minded person a favor: write your address in it The long-awaited new broadband maps from the FCC And find out if your ISPs are lying about providing coverage for your home. If so, hit the little Availability Challenge button and submit your proof.

Today, the FCC has finally put out the first version of a “pre-production draft” of new interactive broadband maps on the web, and they’re just better in one way — they no longer automatically assume you’re covered. Just because there is one home somewhere in the census area I got on the Internet. (Yes, that’s how it worked before.) Now, you can see each individual address and press a button to challenge what ISPs are reporting to the government.

Unfortunately, you’ll likely need to get involved here (and/or make it stink political) if you want this map to be truly accurate. Because, as correspondents dedicated to broadband Like Nicole Ferraro And the Carl Budd New maps have been warned resident Rely on ISPs to be honest. Heck, CEO of the company that built it for the FCC, CostQuest, admitted that they depend on “how well the broadband providers actually report.” And I think I can already see some errors in my block.

You also won’t find actual internet speeds in the map, only the maximum advertised speeds for each tier that your ISP claims it will sell to your address.

Still, new maps SomethingIt’s interesting to filter by specific type or speed of service and actually see the holes. At the top of this post, you can see that even the self-reported data shows that fiber has a long way to go.

The FCC acknowledges that there is more to be done and that it needs your help. “While today marks an important milestone in the effort to create more accurate and accurate broadband maps, this work is far from finished,” reads part of the article. a permit From FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “The release of this early version of the new maps is intended to start an ongoing iterative process where we are constantly adding new data to improve and refine the maps.”

This week, the FCC also released its final order on broadband feed labels. They are coming! I’ll have another quick story on that shortly.