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Man Drives 6,000 Miles to Prove Uncle Sam's Cellphone Coverage Maps are Wrong

posted by mrpg on Friday January 18 2019, @10:34AM   
from the in-six-weeks dept.

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Man drives 6,000 miles to prove Uncle Sam's cellphone coverage maps are wrong – and, boy, did he manage it

A Vermont state employee drove 6,000 miles in six weeks to prove that the cellular coverage maps from the US government suck – and was wildly successful.

In fact not only did he prove conclusively that reports delivered to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by mobile operators aren't worth the paper they're printed on but also swung a spotlight on just how bad bureaucracy can get when it comes to Washington DC.

Corey Chase, a telecommunications infrastructure specialist who works for the Vermont Department of Public Service (PSD), undertook the monster road trip with some specialized equipment: six phones, each connected to a different mobile nework, and a custom piece of software, G-NetTrack, that carried out constant measurements of download speeds.

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Original Submission

• Been telling you that! Been telling you that! (Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday January 18 2019, @03:42PM (3 children)

  by Runaway1956 (2926) on Friday January 18 2019, @03:42PM (#788262) Journal

  Rural people get jack shit for cellphone coverage. Don't believe the rural people? Find any truck driver. You don't exactly want the (in)famous coast-to-coast drivers, who haunt the interstate highways. I mean, they'll give you a decent picture of cellphone coverage. Ideally, get one of those household movers. They get into every two-horse town in America, and they take the scenic routes getting there. Get their opinion on coverage.

  Starting Score:	1		point
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• Re:Been telling you that! Re:Been telling you that! (Score: 5, Informative) by DavePolaschek on Friday January 18 2019, @04:55PM (2 children)

  by DavePolaschek (6129) on Friday January 18 2019, @04:55PM (#788298) Homepage Journal

  I drive across the country a couple times a year (don't fly since the blue-gloved meanies took away my scissors one too many times).

  T-Mobile says there's signal all over the western half of the country, but there's an awful lot of places where if you want data, you're "roaming" onto AT&T's network. Or getting Edge or GPRS if you pull more than a mile away from the interstates.

  The story qualifies as news more because someone actually gathered the data. Shame that's newsworthy, but there it is.

  Parent

  • Re:Been telling you that! Re:Been telling you that! (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 19 2019, @03:30AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 19 2019, @03:30AM (#788536)

    why do you have your scissors stored where the blue-glove testing is done?

    Parent

    • Re:Been telling you that! (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 19 2019, @02:50PM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) on Saturday January 19 2019, @02:50PM (#788640) Journal

      It's one of those god-given inalienable rights to have a pair of scissors at hand. You never know when you have to cut off some touchy-feely fingers.

      Parent