FCC Finds Carriers Lie About Rural Coverage 40 Percent of the Time
Mobile data coverage is better than it was in years past as we reach the end of the LTE era, but we’ve all suspected from time to time that carriers aren’t being entirely truthful. Now, there’s proof, at least according to the FCC. After testing LTE data across the rural US, the agency has concluded that Verizon, T-Mobile, and US Cellular were . If you were hoping carriers would face some consequences for this, prepare to be disappointed.
The FCC receives numerous complaints about coverage, but the volume of complaints about rural coverage from the aforementioned carriers spurred the agency to investigate.
According to the report, the investigators were only able to get the required speeds 62.3 percent of the time. T-Mobile hit the mark in 63.2 percent of tests, and Verizon was slightly higher at 64.3 percent. US Cellular, on the other hand, only hit 5Mbps 45 percent of the time. There was no LTE signal available in 38 percent of test locations for US Cellular. T-Mobile had dead spots covering 21.3 percent of the drive, and Verizon had no bars 16.2 percent of the drive. Even in stationary tests, about half of all tests failed to reach the required speeds.
Just one example of poor data speeds in an area Verizon shows as blanketed in 4G.
FCC staff have come up with several recommendations to fix this situation. They suggest a permanent team that could . The team also says carriers should be punished in some fashion for publishing misleading coverage maps but offered no specifics. Verizon and US Cellular blamed the FCC’s system for submitting coverage data, which they say is inaccurate and leads to overstating coverage maps.
The only actual outcome of this analysis is that FCC chairman Ajit Pai has canceled a planned $4.5 billion government program to subsidize the deployment of rural 4G. In its place, Pai wants to create a $9 billion fund to help roll out faster 5G service in rural areas. Yes, carriers could get more government subsidies after this screw-up. Well played, FCC.
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