The FCC finally made a new US broadband card

The Federal Communications Commission has launched a new map designed to show consumers what type of cellular coverage they can expect in a given area from AT&T, T-Mobile, US Cellular and Verizon. It’s been a long time coming, and it looks like an improvement over the agency’s past attempts to show the gaps in the country’s broadband coverage, which were woefully inadequate and inaccurate.

Like Edge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel highlighted on Twitter, it shouldn’t have taken that long for this card to be available. The law requiring these cards to be in place, known as the Broadband Technology Availability and Deployment Accuracy (DATA) Act, was signed in March 2020, and the lack of details on broadband coverage has plagued confusion over the so-called digital divide for years.

It should also be noted that the map is not based on data that the FCC has collected or outsourced. Acting FCC President Jessica Rosenworcel said in a press release that the data was provided by operators who do not have a reputation for having the most accurate picture of where they are delivering. and do not provide broadband (although the FCC is working to get a better picture of home internet availability, and The edge and Consumer Reports are working on examining the profitability of broadband).

The interactive map allows users to select the carrier coverage map they wish to view and provides information on LTE coverage, voice coverage, or both. The FCC says the card is the work of its broadband data task force. The menu is quite user-friendly; instead of having to switch between coverage maps from T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon, users can see all of the data in one place, overlaid on top of each other. The card also distinguishes between data availability and voice availability, which is useful, because being able to make a call and being able to connect are obviously two very different things.

One big thing that the map lacks is data on 5G coverage, or really any indicator of the kind of speed users can expect. In a note on the launch of the card, Rosenworcel says the network must provide at least 5 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up to be considered 4G data coverage. If one operator provided one area with speeds of 100 Mbps and another with speeds of 10 Mbps, it might be difficult to distinguish on the map.

Rosenworcel also admits that this card is just a first step in the FCC’s work to improve the information available to consumers, but it is an important step. This at least allows consumers to know the minimum of what to expect in a given area and gives them the tools to make more informed decisions about their mobile provider.